How a new father behaves toward his baby can change family dynamics in a way that affects the child's heart and metabolic health years later, according to a new study by researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development.
In the study, recently published in Health Psychology, the research team found that fathers who were warm and developmentally supportive with their babies at 10 months of age had more positive co-parenting with the child's mother when the child was two years old. In families where this pattern played out, the child's bloodwork indicated better markers of physical health at seven years of age. In contrast, neither the mother's warmth when the child was 10 months old nor her positive or negative co-parenting when the child was two predicted the child's physical health at age seven.
This doesn't mean that mothers do not matter, the researchers said.
"Everyone in the family matters a lot," said Alp Aytuglu, postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Biobehavioral Health. "Mothers are often the primary caregivers, and children are experiencing the most growth and development. The takeaway here is that in families with a father in the household, dads affect the environment in ways that can support - or undermine - the health of the child for years to come."
