Why dads matter

Father figure…

Dads who are closely involved in parenting have kids who behave better, have higher IQs and cope more easily with emotional problems as they grow up, according to a European review of research carried out over the last 20 years.

The review, by researchers at Sweden’s Uppsala University, revealed that boys were less likely to exhibit aggressive behavior in childhood and delinquency in their teen years if they had a highly engaged father. Girls who had a close relationship with their father in their teens had better relationships with partners and a greater sense of mental and physical wellbeing in adulthood.

Both boys and girls were less likely to smoke, achieved better levels of education and developed good friendships with children of both sexes if they had positively involved father figures. The effects were most marked among children who were at greater risk of poor outcomes due socio-economic disadvantages.

The type of engagement the father figure needs to provide can range from talking and sharing activities to playing an active role in the child's day-to-day care – but whether governments and employers will step up to the plate when it comes to enabling dads to spend more time with their families is the $64,000 question. While they have the potential to serve as a facilitator or barrier to fathers spending time with their children during the crucial early years of development, in practice institutional policies both in the US and elsewhere don’t support the increased involvement of dads – for example, paid paternity leave is still a dream in most countries.

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