 News
1st October 2008
Hands-on dads bring up brighter kidsFathers
who play an active and hands-on role in their children's lives leave them with
a rich legacy, according to a major study. The youngsters grow up to be
more intelligent and climb higher up the social ladder than those whose mothers
are left to do the bringing up, it suggests. A 50-year project following
17,000 babies born in the same week found those whose fathers took a more active
role in reading and playing with them went on to be more successful in later life.
The study followed up with later interviews as the subjects grew up to see if
they had children of their own and to test their social mobility, and examine
whether they had done better than their parents. In 2004, more than 5,700
of them were interviewed as 46-year-olds. The report, by Daniel Nettle
of the Centre for Behaviour and Evolution at Newcastle University, found that
fathers who spent time with their children produced offspring with a higher IQ
and greater social status. Although fathers were more likely to spend time
with boys than girls, both sexes benefited equally from the interaction with their
fathers. Where to next? | 
