The way fathers interact with their babies may shape their children’s long-term physical health in unexpected ways, according to new research that tracked families for several years. The study found links between fathers’ early parenting behaviour and markers of heart and metabolic health in children later on, while no such association was found with mothers.
Why the way fathers interact with babies could affect health years later
The findings come from a long-term study of 292 families led by researchers at Pennsylvania State University. The team observed interactions between mothers, fathers and their infants when the children were just 10 months old, then followed up with the families again when the children were aged two and seven.
The research, published in Health Psychology, focused on how parents behaved during three-way interactions with their child. Researchers then looked at how those early dynamics played out over time and found that fathers who were less attentive to their babies at 10 months were more likely to experience difficulties with co-parenting as their children grew. Some became disengaged from family interactions, while others competed with mothers for the child’s attention.
These strained dynamics were then associated with poorer health outcomes in the children by age seven, including higher levels of inflammation and raised blood sugar. Both markers are linked to long-term health outcomes and can point to a higher risk of chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes later in life.
According to Dr Alp Aytuglu, a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development and one of the study’s authors, mothers’ behaviour during early interactions did not show the same pattern.
He said: “We of course expected that family dynamics - everybody in the family, fathers and mothers - would impact child development, but it was only fathers, in this case.”
The study builds on earlier research showing that children raised in stressful family environments face higher risks of health problems in adulthood. Much of that earlier work, however, focused on the behaviour of a single parent, usually the mother.
Not all experts are convinced the link is straightforward. Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, a professor of psychology at Ohio State University who was not involved in the research, cautioned against drawing firm conclusions.
She said: “People tend to jump to conclusions about cause and effect. There is a risk of overinterpreting this.”
She added that shared genetic factors or broader family stress could influence both parenting behaviour and later health outcomes, something the study could not fully rule out.
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