#Economicstress

Groundbreaking research from Taiwan has unveiled a shocking mental health crisis affecting fathers across East Asia, with over 43% of fathers with children under 18 displaying significant depression symptoms, providing critical insights for Thailand’s own overlooked paternal mental health challenges. This comprehensive survey, conducted by Taiwan’s Child Welfare League Foundation, reveals alarming patterns of economic stress, emotional isolation, and untreated depression among fathers that mirror emerging concerns throughout Southeast Asia, including Thailand where traditional expectations of paternal strength and silence may mask widespread mental health struggles affecting entire family systems.

A groundbreaking study from Taiwan reveals a hidden mental health crisis among fathers, with nearly half showing significant depression symptoms. The findings offer crucial lessons for Thailand’s own overlooked paternal mental health challenges, where cultural expectations of strength often mask family-wide struggles.

The study, conducted by the Taiwan Child Welfare League Foundation in April–May 2025, surveyed 547 fathers of children under 18. Results show that 43.3 percent exhibited symptoms from moderate to extremely severe depression, and 14.4 percent faced severe or extremely severe depression requiring urgent clinical attention. Economic hardship emerged as the main stressor, with about 80 percent of fathers reporting difficulty covering household expenses since becoming parents. In many cases, these men were the family breadwinners, intensifying financial and emotional burdens carried largely alone.

A recent survey by Taiwan’s Child Welfare League Foundation has uncovered that over 43% of Taiwanese fathers with children under 18 show signs of depression, a figure described by local experts as “staggeringly high.” With economic stress emerging as the chief culprit, the findings are sparking urgent conversations not only in Taiwan, but also throughout Asia where paternal mental health is often overlooked—including in Thailand, which faces similar social and economic pressures on young families.