Do Fathers Matter?: What Science Is Telling Us About the Parent We've Overlooked (29 page)

related to children’s transition to school
: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, “Fathers’ and Mothers’ Parenting Behavior and Beliefs as Predictors of Children’s Social Adjustment in the Transition to School,”
Journal of Family Psychology
18, no. 4 (2004): 628–38.

more parental leave for fathers
: Anna Sarkadi et al., “Fathers’ Involvement and Children’s Developmental Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies,”
Acta Paediatrica
97 (2008): 153–58,
www.rikshandboken-bhv.se/Dokument/Sarkadi_fathersinvolvement.pdf
.

new relationships and friendships
: University of California, Riverside, Department of Psychology, Ross D. Parke biography,
http://psych.ucr.edu/faculty/parke/index.html
.

children whose fathers were away at war
: Ross D. Parke, “Fathering and Children’s Peer Relationships,” in Lamb,
Role of the Father
, 4th ed., 309.

watched fathers in their homes playing
: Ibid., 312.

sensitive to the needs and feelings
: Ibid.

Fathers’ work schedules were
: S. L. Champion et al., “Parental Work Schedules and Child Overweight and Obesity,”
International Journal of Obesity
36, no. 4 (2012): 573–80.

Fathers’ smoking has been associated
: Man Ki Kwok et al., “Paternal Smoking and Childhood Overweight: Evidence from the Hong Kong ‘Children of 1997,’”
Pediatrics
126, no. 1 (2009): e46–e56,
www.pediatricsdigest.mobi/content/126/1/e46.full
.

“Who Keeps Children Alive?”
: Rebecca Sear and Ruth Mace, “Who Keeps Children Alive?: A Review of the Effects of Kin on Child Survival,”
Evolution and Human Behavior
29, no. 1 (2008): 1–18,
http://evolution.binghamton.edu/evos/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/who-keeps.pdf
.

7. TEENAGERS: ABSENCE, PUBERTY, AND FAITHFUL VOLES

departed from the usual formality
: Danielle J. DelPriore and Sarah E. Hill, “The Effects of Paternal Disengagement on Women’s Sexual Decision Making: An Experimental Approach,”
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
105, no. 2 (2013): 234–46.

the disturbing rate of teen pregnancy
: James Eng, “90 Pregnancies at One High School,” NBC News, Jan. 14, 2011,
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/01/14/5841767-90-pregnancies-at-one-high-school?lite
.

His work on fathers began in the late 1990s
: Bruce J. Ellis, telephone interview with the author, Aug. 7, 2013.

“set” the reproductive strategy
: Jay Belsky, “Childhood Experience and the Development of Reproductive Strategies,”
Psicothema
22, no. 1 (1991): 28–34,
www.tinyurl.com/luo3o2s
.

a “quasi-experiment”
: Jacqueline M. Tither and Bruce J. Ellis, “Impact of Fathers on Daughters’ Age at Menarche: A Genetically and Environmentally Controlled Sibling Study,”
Developmental Psychology
44, no. 5 (2008): 1409–20,
http://cals.arizona.edu/fcs/sites/cals.arizona.edu.fcs/files/DP%20Tither_Ellis%202008.pdf
.

One of the best animals for exploring
: Kate Egan, “Love and Sex: The Vole Story,”
Emory Medicine
, Summer 1998,
http://whsc.emory.edu/_pubs/em/1998summer/vole.html
.

one of the key factors underlying vole behavior
: Larry J. Young, TEDxEmory talk, April 20, 2013,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoweLVvR7-8#at=401
.

brains of prairie and montane voles
: Thomas R. Insel and Lawrence E. Shapiro, “Oxytocin Receptor Distribution Reflects Social Organization in Monogamous and Polygamous Voles,”
PNAS
89 (1992): 5981–85,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC402122/pdf/pnas01087-0291.pdf
.

describes as“mind-blowing”
: Young, TEDxEmory talk.

whether the boost in vasopressin receptors
: Miranda M. Lim et al., “Enhanced Partner Preference in a Promiscuous Species by Manipulating the Expression of a Single Gene,”
Nature
429 (2004): 754–57.

looked at hormonal changes in voles
: William M. Kenkel et al., “Neuroendocrine and Behavioural Responses to Exposure to an Infant in Male Prairie Voles,”
Journal of Neuroendocrinology
24, no. 6 (2012): 874–86.

The pups raised without a father displayed
: Rui Jia et al., “Effects of Neonatal Paternal Deprivation or Early Deprivation on Anxiety and Social Behaviors of the Adults in Mandarin Voles,”
Behavioural Processes
82, no. 3 (2009): 271–78.

a particular vasopressin receptor gene
: Hasse Walum et al., “Genetic Variation in the Vasopressin Receptor 1a Gene (AVPR1A) Associates with Pair-Bonding Behavior in Humans,”
PNAS
105, no. 37 (2008): 14153–56.

variations in an oxytocin receptor gene
: Hasse Walum et al., “Variation in the Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR) Is Associated with Pair-Bonding and Social Behavior,”
Biological Psychiatry
71, no. 5 (2012): 419–26.

it can reduce stress, encourage trust
: Peter A. Bos et al., “Acute Effects of Steroid Hormones and Neuropeptides on Human Social-Emotional Behavior: A Review of Single Administration Studies,”
Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology
33, no. 1 (2012): 17–35, doi:10.1016/j.yfrne.2011.01.002.

each father was given a whiff of oxytocin
: Fabienne Naber et al., “Intranasal Oxytocin Increases Fathers’ Observed Responsiveness During Play with Their Children: A Double-Blind Within-Subject Experiment,”
Psychoneuroendocrinology
35, no. 10 (2010), 1583–86,
www.marinusvanijzendoorn.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/NaberVanIJzendoornDeschampsetal2010PNECoxytocinincreasesfathersobservedresponsiveness.pdf
.

“provided high levels of affectionate contact”
: Ruth Feldman et al., “Natural Variations in Maternal and Paternal Care Are Associated with Systematic Changes in Oxytocin Following Parent-Infant Contact,”
Psychoneuroendocrinology
35, no. 8 (2010),
www.utm.utoronto.ca/~crp1/downloads/Feldman/Oxytocin%20PNEC%202010%20final.pdf
.

their ability to interact socially with others
: Omri Weisman et al., “Oxytocin Administration to Parent Enhances Infant Physiological and Behavioral Readiness for Social Engagement,”
Biological Psychiatry
72, no. 12 (2012): 982–89,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.06.011
.

prolactin has an important role to play
: Ilanit Gordon et al., “Prolactin, Oxytocin, and the Development of Paternal Behavior Across the First Six Months of Fatherhood,”
Hormones and Behavior
58, no. 3 (2010): 513–18,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3247300
.

the work on oxytocin and relationships
: Ruth Feldman, “Oxytocin and Social Affiliation in Humans,”
Hormones and Behavior
61 (2012): 380–91,
www.tinyurl.com/kv7jd64
.

how parenting influences risky sexual behavior
: Rebekah Levine Coley et al., “Fathers’ and Mothers’ Parenting Predicting and Responding to Adolescent Sexual Risk Behaviors,”
Child Development
80, no. 3 (2009): 808–27, doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01299.x.

sons of teenage fathers were 1.8 times more likely
: Heather Sipsma et al., “Like Father, Like Son: The Intergenerational Cycle of Adolescent Fatherhood,”
American Journal of Public Health
100, no. 3 (2010): 517–24.

consequences for children who perceive themselves
: Abdul Khaleque and Ronald P. Rohner, “Transnational Relations Between Perceived Parental Acceptance and Personality Dispositions of Children and Adults: A Meta-Analytic Review,”
Personality and Social Psychology Review
16, no. 2 (2012): 103–15,
www.sakkyndig.com/psykologi/artvit/khaleque2012.pdf
.

how much time their fathers spent with them
: Daniel Goleman, “Studies on Development of Empathy Challenge Some Old Assumptions,”
New York Times
, July 12, 1990,
www.nytimes.com/1990/07/12/us/health-studies-on-development-of-empathy-challenge-some-old-assumptions.html
.

handle the day-to-day stresses of adulthood
: American Psychological Association, “Childhood Memories of Father Have Lasting Impact on Men’s Ability to Handle Stress,” press release, Aug. 12, 2010,
www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2010/08/childhood-memories.aspx
.

activity in the caudate, a deep brain structure
: Marie Arsalidou et al., “Brain Responses Differ to Faces of Mothers and Fathers,”
Brain and Cognition
74 (2010): 47–51,
www.tinyurl.com/l4tnxsr
.

8. OLDER FATHERS: THE REWARDS AND RISKS OF WAITING

This confusion was wonderfully captured
: Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron,
You’ve Got Mail
, Internet Movie Script Database,
www.imsdb.com/scripts/You%27ve-Got-Mail.html
.

the children of fathers forty and over
: Rebecca G. Smith et al., “Advancing Paternal Age Is Associated with Deficits in Social and Exploratory Behaviors in the Offspring: A Mouse Model,”
PLoS One
4, no. 12 (2009),
www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0008456
.

associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia
: Abraham Reichenberg et al., “Advancing Paternal Age and Autism,”
Archives of General Psychiatry
63, no. 9 (2006): 1026–32,
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=668208
.

I called the U.S. Census Bureau
: U.S. Census Bureau, “Father’s Day: June 16, 2013,”
www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/census-bureau-profile-america-facts-for-features-fathers-day-june-16-2013-203603321.html
.

Information is available from birth certificates
: Stephanie Ventura, National Center for Health Statistics, personal communication, Jan. 15, 2007.

fathers who are having their first child after age thirty-five
: Matthew Weinshenker, personal communication, Sept. 15, 2006.

the risk of dwarfism rose with the father’s age
: James F. Crow, “Hardy, Weinberg and Language Impediments,” in “Perspectives: Anecdotal, Historical and Critical Commentaries on Genetics,” edited by J. F. Crow and William F. Dove,
Genetics
152 (1999): 821–25,
www.genetics.org/content/152/3/821.full.pdf
.

women whose partners are thirty-five or older
: Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, “Higher Paternal Age Associated with Increased Rates of Miscarriage,”
At the Frontline
1, no. 5 (Nov. 2006),
www.mailmanschool.org/e-newsletter/AtTheFrontline-vol1no5/r-PaternalAgeMiscarriage.html
.

Autism spectrum disorders occurred at a rate
: Reichenberg et al., “Advancing Paternal Age and Autism.”

looked at the genetics of older fathers
: Sukanta Saha et al., “Advanced Paternal Age Is Associated with Impaired Neurocognitive Outcomes During Infancy and Childhood,”
PLoS Medicine
6, no. 3 (2009): e1000040,
www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000040
.

3,443 patients with intellectual disabilities
: Jayne Y. Hehir-Kwa et al., “De Novo Copy Number Variants Associated with Intellectual Disability Have a Paternal Origin and Age Bias,”
Journal of Medical Genetics
48, no. 11 (2011): 776–78,
http://autismdialogues.blogspot.com/2011/10/de-novo-copy-number-variants-associated.html
.

bred female mice with older males
: Reichenberg et al., “Advancing Paternal Age and Autism.”

rise in autism is due to the growing number of older fathers
: deCODE Genetics, “Science,”
www.decode.com/research
.

how many new cases of autism could arise as the consequence
: Augustine Kong et al., “Rate of
De Novo
Mutations, Father’s Age, and Disease Risk,”
Nature
488 (2012): 471–75,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3548427
.

the cause of 20 to 30 percent of all cases of autism
: Benedict Carey, “Father’s Age Is Linked to Risk of Autism and Schizophrenia,”
New York Times
, Aug. 22, 2012,
www.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/health/fathers-age-is-linked-to-risk-of-autism-and-schizophrenia.html?_r=0
.

The American College of Medical Genetics notes the risks
: Helga V. Toriello and Jeanne M. Meck, “Statement on Guidance for Genetic Counseling in Advanced Paternal Age,”
Genetics in Medicine
, 10, no. 6 (2008): 457–60.

two past presidents of the American College of Medical Genetics
: Charles J. Epstein and Marilyn C. Jones, telephone interviews with the author, Jan. 30, 2007 (Epstein) and Jan. 28, 2007 (Jones).

“They should be revealing information”
: Arthur L. Caplan, telephone interview with the author, Jan. 31, 2007.

“It’s going to be more and more of an issue”
: Herbert Y. Meltzer, telephone interview with the author, Jan. 30, 2007.

telomeres shorten as we age
: Dan T. A. Eisenberg et al., “Delayed Paternal Age of Reproduction in Humans Is Associated with Longer Telomeres Across Two Generations of Descendants,”
PNAS
109, no. 26 (2012): 10251–56,
www.pnas.org/content/109/26/10251.full.pdf
.

they can grow to be slightly taller and slimmer
: Kristina Fiore, “Dad’s Age Tied to Kid’s Weight, Height, LDL,” MedPage Today, July 22, 2013,
www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/GeneralEndocrinology/40605
.