Who'd have thought!

Several articles on this news item.

Note the use of the term "father figure" as a coverword escape clause
to get out of the necessity for biological (aka real) fathers.

"Mother figure" doesn't have the same under-the-radar acceptance and
currency. It would attract more attention (and possible 'outrage').

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<http://lib.bioinfo.pl/auth:Sarkadi,A>

Anna Anna Sarkadi

Latest Paper: http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:18052995

Acta Paediatr. 2007 December 3; 18052995

Fathers' involvement and children's developmental outcomes: a
systematic review of longitudinal studies.
Anna Sarkadi 1,4, Robert Kristiansson 2, Frank Oberklaid 3, Sven Bremberg 4

Objective: This systematic review aims to describe longitudinal
evidence on the effects of father involvement on children's
developmental outcomes.

Methods: Father involvement was conceptualized as accessibility
(cohabitation), engagement, responsibility or other complex measures
of involvement. Both biological fathers and father figures were
included. We searched all major databases from the first dates. Data
on father involvement had to be generated at least 1 year before
measuring offspring outcomes.

Results: N = 24 publications were included in the overview: 22 of
these described positive effects of father involvement, whereof 16
studies had controlled for SES and 11 concerned the study population
as a whole [five socio-economic status (SES)-controlled]. There is
certain evidence that cohabitation with the mother and her male
partner is associated with less externalising behavioural problems.
Active and regular engagement with the child predicts a range of
positive outcomes, although no specific form of engagement has been
shown to yield better outcomes than another. Father engagement seems
to have differential effects on desirable outcomes by reducing the
frequency of behavioural problems in boys and psychological problems
in young women, and enhancing cognitive development, while decreasing
delinquency and economic disadvantage in low SES families.

Conclusions: There is evidence to support the positive influence of
father engagement on offspring social, behavioural and psychological
outcomes. Although the literature only provides sufficient basis for
engagement (direct interaction with the child) as the specific form of
'effective' father involvement, there is enough support to urge both
professionals and policy makers to improve circumstances for involved
fathering.

Correspondence: A Sarkadi, Dept. of Women's and Chidren's Health, Unit
for Child Public Health, Uppsala Academic Hospital, Gate 17, 751 85
Uppsala, Sweden. Tel: +46 18 611 59 65 | Fax: +46 18 50 45 11 | Email:
Anna.Sarkadi@kbh.uu.se

1.Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University,
Sweden 2.Centre of Clinical Research, Västerås County, Sweden 3.Centre
for Community Child Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne,
Australia 4.National Institute of Public Health, Östersund, Sweden

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http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1150648

Daily News & Analysis (DNA India)
13 February 2008

Father's love good for children

London: Father's love proves beneficial for children to behave better
and learn more, a study shows.

A good relationship between fathers and children had a positive effect
that could last for decades as father's love goes far in a child's
life, researchers found.

''Overall, children reap positive benefits if they have active and
regular engagement with a father figure,'' Daily Mail quoted Anna
Sarkadi, of Sweden's Uppsala University as saying.

''Children who had positively involved father figures were less likely
to smoke and get into trouble with the police, achieved better levels
of education and developed good friendship with children of both the
sexes,'' she added.

In low-income homes regular contact also lead to less juvenile crime.

The study showed the value of the father's input as a role model from
babyhood to the teenage years.

The smallest study focused on 17 infants and the largest covered 8,441
people ranging from premature babies to 33-year-olds.

It was found that children who lived with both the mother and father
had fewer behavioural problems than those who lived with their mother
only.

Behavioural problems in boys, and psychological problems in girls,
were seen less frequent. Intelligence, reasoning and language were
more advanced in children who had good contact with both the parents.

''Fathers and mothers complement each other and together provide a
rich care within the family which can't be replicated in any other
setting,'' she concluded.