Children who spend time with their fathers have a higher IQ
Thursday, January 7th, 2016
An older post published by the Telegraph has recently been ‘most shared’. The article discusses a study about children whose father’s spend more time with them had a higher IQ. It was also stated that children were more socially mobile than those who had received little attention.
The article reads:
Strong fatherly involvement in their early life can also improve a child’s future career prospects, the research shows.
Academics at the University of Newcastle, who carried out the study, also found that men tended to pay more attention to their sons than their daughters.
The researchers warned that it was not enough for parents to live together, but that a father should be actively involved in a child’s life to benefit their development.
The study looked at more than 11,000 British men and women, born in 1958.
The scientists asked their mothers how often the father of their child took part in activities with them, including reading, organising outings and general “quality time”.
The findings, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, show that those children whose fathers spent more time with them had a higher IQ and were more socially mobile than those who had received little attention.
The differences were still detectable by the age of 42.
Dr Daniel Nettle, who led the research, said: “What was surprising about this research was the real sizeable difference in the progress of children who benefited from paternal interest and how thirty years later, people whose dads were involved are more upwardly mobile.
“The data suggests that having a second adult involved during childhood produces benefits in terms of skills and abilities that endure throughout adult life,” he added.
Jon Davies, chief executive for Families Need Fathers, said: “We hope that research like this will lead to the government to reconsider how poorly served separated families often are and how a child needs a father as well as mother.”
KNBP also believe shared parenting is extremely important for a child’s development and growth. Findings such as the above will hopefully form greater evidence in order to improve the impact of separated families.
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