About Fathers

Perspectives on fathers and their children

Journalist Paul Raeburn is the author of the soon to be published Are Fathers Necessary: The New Science of Fatherhood. He is also the author of the Fathers and Families blog. See full bio

June 20, 2008, Child Development

Comments on "The Attentive Father"

The Attentive Father

By Paul Raeburn on June 20, 2008 in About Fathers

A newly published review of 24 studies finds that fathers have an important positive influence on their kids: When fathers are engaged with their children, boys have fewer behavior problems, girls have fewer psychological problems, and both show enhanced cognitive development. Read More

Binary Homes?

Submitted by Shamrock on June 25, 2008 - 1:03pm.

I would interested in knowing if this survey was conducted with fathers of binary parenting situations or whether if was given to single fathers. Certainly, it seems relevant that father-child engagement boosters resilience and lowers delinquency, but I'm looking into this gaping hole where I wonder how thorough is the information. I would like to see a survey catered specifically to the single father, so that we may discover the parental affect of being raised by one father. And certainly I feel that same sex parents should be surveyed as well. Finaly, an indept analysis of maternal single parenting, paternal single parenting, binary family system with highly involved father and/or mother, same sex family system, and all the other myriad styles of parenting carried out in the United States. Then come back and tell me about it. At this point, this study seems a bit insufficient.

Paul Raeburn This study was

Submitted by Paul Raeburn on June 26, 2008 - 7:32am.

Paul Raeburn

This study was a review of various studies of two-parent families. You raise a legitimate point, however--other non-traditional families are worth looking at, too. Perhaps I'll address that in a future post.