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In the News > Health Story
13 February 2008

Children with active fathers 'less likely' to be disturbed

Children brought up by an active father figure are less likely to
develop psychological and behavioural problems, according to a new
investigation.

Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden have carried out a review
of studies published in the US and UK between 1987 and 2007 and found
that regular positive contact between a child and a father figure
decreased the likelihood of children taking up smoking or being
arrested.

Published in the February issue of the Acta Paediatrica journal, the
study also revealed that children who lived with both a mother and
father figure had less behavioural problems than those brought up
solely by their mother.

Dr Anna Sarkadi from the Department of Women's and Children's Health
at Uppsala University explained that children who talked regularly and
shared activities with their fathers "achieved better levels of
education and developed good friendships with children of both sexes".

"Long-term benefits included women who had better relationships with
partners and a greater sense of mental and physical wellbeing at the
age of 33 if they had a good relationship with their father at 16,"
she added.

Although Dr Sarkadi added that further research is needed to ascertain
whether the positive outcomes depend on the father figure being the
child's biological father, she added that the research "backs up the
intuitive assumption that engaged biological fathers or father figures
are good for children, especially when the children are socially or
economically disadvantaged"

.

The research examined 24 papers published within the 20-year period,
which covered 22,300 individual sets of data from 16 studies, the
smallest of which looked at 17 children while the largest detailed
8,441 people.

The researchers hope the study will inspire governments and healthcare
professionals to stress the importance of fatherly involvement in
child rearing.