The Science Savvy Daddy: Sad Dads Can Lead to Sad Kids
November 18, 2011, By Steve Kissing 0 comments
Sad Dads Can Lead to Sad Kids
Children of depressed fathers are 33 to 70 percent more likely to have emotional and behavioral problems. While a lot of attention has been placed on how a mother's depression affects her kids, this research, published in the journal "Pediatrics," covers new ground. As study author Dr. Michael Weitzman, a professor of pediatric medicine at New York University, told CNN: "These findings reinforce what we already assumed⎯that fathers matter, too, and they matter quite a lot."
News Flash: Dads Don't Place Career Over Kids
Some recent research debunks the old-school stereotype of dads being mostly fixated on their careers and less so on their families. Conducted by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the study indicated that 77% of American men (both dads and non-dads) said that being a good father is very important. Only 49% said the same thing about having a rewarding career. Fortunately, it's not an either/or choice: one can have a rewarding career and be fully engaged with the family. Clearly, more and more men are finding such a balance.
Uh...Don't...Um...Worry About It
When we parents find ourselves literally stumbling over our words with "uh's" and "um's," we sometimes cringe, afraid we may pass on a bad habit to our kids. New research suggests we need not worry about it. That's because these pauses, called "disfluencies," often happen right before we say a new or infrequently used word. Researchers at the University of Rochester have shown that kids as young as two realize that these "disinfluencies" are often signs that a special word will follow. This helps them build their language skills. And that's, well, um, uh, terrific.
Materialistic Couples More Apt to Land in Divorce Court
Researchers at Brigham Young University found that when one or both spouses place a higher than average value on "having money and lots of things," they're more apt to have relationship problems. The research suggests that these materialistic couples score lower on just about every relationship measure and are more apt to have issues caused by "eroding communication, poor conflict resolution and low responsiveness to each other." Moral of the story: If money really matters to you, perhaps it's time to invest some of it in relationship counseling.
NEXT: Be Wary of Self Praise
