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Fatherhood makes the man

November 10th, 2011

by Carolyn Moynihan

dad

There is an increasing amount of fatherhood research going on, which is a good thing. A father’s place in the family has been undervalued in recent decades while single motherhood was socially accepted and supported. Children need their fathers.

But it’s not just kids who benefit from having a dad; dads benefit too. A new study finds that, after men become fathers for the first time, they show significant decreases in crime, tobacco and alcohol use. Researchers discovered that by following 200 “at risk” boys from the age of 12 until they turned 31.

According to the news release about the study, these effects of fatherhood were in addition to those from marriage (whose positive effects are well documented) and from the simple process of getting older. But the effects were stronger for men who were well into their 20s and up to age 31 when they became fathers (and were therefore more likely to be married?) compared with those who had their first child in their teens or early 20s.

I think this means that an older, married man is more likely to give up smoking when his first child comes. Hopefully, he has already given up crime and drunkenness.

Lead author David Kerr of Oregon State University says:

Keep reading.

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