Men's attitude towards fatherhood 'affects child behaviour'

Conclusion It may seem obvious that children would benefit from having fathers who are happy and confident about their role. But there hasn't been much research on which aspects of a father's role are important for children, so this study adds some useful information. It's important to remember that all the children in the study had both parents living with them in early childhood, so this isn't a comparison of children in single parent families with dual parent families. The study only looked at the attitudes of fathers who were living with their children, asking questions including whether they had a strong bond with their child, regretted having the child, enjoyed spending time with the child and felt confident looking after them. It's surprising that paternal time spent on childcare and domestic work did not seem to affect the results. However, as the researchers say, this apparent anomaly might not reflect the father's long-term parenting, but might be a short-term factor. Some mothers were probably able to take a lengthy maternity leave and had help from other sources, but opportunities for paternal leave were far more limited during the 1990s. The study has some strengths. It is a big study, carried out over many years, collecting a large amount of data. However, there are many limitations. Observational studies can't prove that factors such as men's attitudes to fatherhood are the reason for the children's behavioural outcomes. The researchers took account of some p...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Pregnancy/child Mental health Source Type: news