Those of us who have blamed or credited our mothers for our behavior may be pointing fingers in the wrong direction, says father-daughter duo R. Dean Peterson, Ph.D., and Shelly Kilpatrick, Ph.D, psychologists at the National Institute of Healthcare Research.
Rather than focusing on the usual areas of parent-child research--the influence of mothers on their children's development, or fathers on their sons--Kilpatrick and Peterson focus on father-daughter attachments.
They have just begun to interview college women and their fathers, asking questions such as: "How close do you feel to your father/your daughter?" but their preliminary research shows that a father's moral judgment and education is a strong predictor of his daughter's moral reasoning during early adulthood.
Based on this new study and on a comprehensive review of research conducted throughout the '90s, the family research team emphasizes that the level of a father's involvement with his family significantly impacts children's cognitive growth--including perception, judgment and memory--particularly daughters. While fathers have historically taken a backseat in parenting, children who have both parents involved in their life have double the intellectual stimulation. "And this same stimulus causes faster movement through developmental stages," notes Kilpatrick.
