Depression is Associated with Spatial Restriction in Fathers and Mothers on Parental Leave: a GPS Tracking Study

Parenthood introduces new constraints on adults' spatial exploration, yet associations between mobility and parental mental health remain unexplored. We conducted continuous GPS tracking of 171 first-time parents in Denmark during maternity leave and paternity leave, combined with postnatal depression and sleep quality assessments. Using Bayesian multilevel models with zero-inflated distributions, we revealed three key insights. First, parental leave restricted spatial mobility for both mothers and fathers, but with distinct patterns: fathers spent more time at home yet showed greater spatial dispersion when mobile. Second, parental leave coincided with elevated depression scores and poorer sleep quality for the on-leave parent, with mothers showing consistently higher depression levels than fathers. Third, parents with more depression symptoms showed increased probability of staying home entirely and reduced mobility range when mobile. These findings demonstrate population-level associations between GPS-derived mobility patterns and parental depression, even within the constrained spatial context of parental leave.