Darby Saxbe
Professor of Psychology at the University of Southern California and director of USC’s Center for the Changing Family. Her research examines how family relationships, hormones, and neurobiology shape parents’ mental health and adjustment during the transition to parenthood.
Postpartum Depression May Reflect the Collapse of Shared Childcare
Psychologist Darby Saxbe argues that postpartum depression may reflect a mismatch between humans’ cooperative caregiving history and the isolation imposed on many modern parents. She says new mothers and fathers need more than encouragement: paid leave, a participating partner, time to recover, and a social network in which others take responsibility for specific childcare and household tasks. Saxbe points to evidence linking paternity leave and practical support with better maternal mental-health outcomes.
Fatherhood Rewires the Brain Through Direct Caregiving
USC psychology professor Darby Saxbe argues that the physical changes associated with fatherhood—including modest reductions in gray matter and roughly 25% lower testosterone in hands-on dads—are better understood as adaptive responses to caregiving than as biological decline. Drawing on her research into parental brains, hormones and relationships, she says fathers develop through direct participation in care, while couples and public policy determine how much opportunity they have to do so.
New Fathers Face Elevated Depression Risk as Caregiving Demands Rise
Clinical psychologist Darby Saxbe argues that fathers’ growing role in infant care carries real psychological demands that are often dismissed: about 10% of new fathers experience depressive symptoms, while sleep loss, relationship strain, financial pressure and uncertainty can compound the transition. Her research frames “dad brain,” hormonal shifts and changes in attention not as evidence of paternal decline, but as adaptations shaped by direct caregiving. If fathers are expected to share care, Saxbe argues, they need the leave, preparation and support that make it sustainable.