From the tiniest microbe or fragment of DNA to the origins of the universe, it sometimes feels as though every subject generates a vast tide of scientific studies and that virtually nothing escapes detailed scrutiny.
But the veteran science writer Paul Raeburn noticed an oversight: the role of fathers in parenting.
In Do Fathers Matter? Raeburn tells how, until fairly recently, scholars, parenting experts and pop culture have overlooked the importance of fathers. In the 1970s, some experts even suggested that fathers were "an almost irrelevant entity" in an infant's world – but did so without really studying father-child interactions. A 2013 Clorox advertisement proclaimed that "Like dogs or other house pets, new dads are filled with good intentions but lacking in judgement and fine-motor skills." (The ad was later withdrawn.)
Raeburn, a father himself, discovered that good scientific studies told a different story.
"When we bother to look for the father's impact, we find it – always," noted one researcher. Passages such as that make Do Fathers Matter? a valuable, compelling book for fathers, mothers, grandparents and parents-to-be – and perhaps even for the children.
Do Fathers Matter? uncovers a trove of good research about fathers and parenting. In the Aka tribe of Africa, fathers spend 47 per cent of their days holding their infant children or keeping them within arm's reach. The Aka fathers sing to their children, play with them and do the equivalent of nappy duty.
And while psychologists have known that a mother’s depression during pregnancy can increase depression in children, it turns out that a depressed father can have the same negative impact – from genetic input or from his moods affecting the mother.
Studies have also shown that the experience of motherhood actually changes mothers’ brains in the first few months after giving birth, and Raeburn found that when researchers looked at fathers, they found significant brain changes in them, too – but not exactly the same as those in mothers.
Raeburn doesn’t knock single parents, noting that they can raise healthy, successful children, too. But he firmly points out that there is still far too much anti-father bias in society.
For example, a 2012 family law newsletter from the National Organisation for Women linked to a website that lists “myths” about family, where myth number one was that “a father’s involvement is crucial for the well-being of a child”.
The British researcher Michael Lamb notes that negative stereotypes about fathers can have consequences. “Fathers can hardly be expected to maintain a belief in their importance when they are continually being told of their irrelevance, other than as economic supporters.”
Raeburn, a former Associated Press science editor, concludes by noting that there are companies producing adverts that portray fathers in a positive light. He also notes that reading all the research on fatherhood helped open his eyes to better ways to be a parent.
That's a priceless lesson that makes Do Fathers Matter? an important addition to parenting literature.
• Do Fathers Matter? is available on Amazon
