DaddiLife
  • Home
  • Family
    • Modern Fatherhood
    • Trying
    • Expecting
    • New Dad
    • Stay At Home Dad
    • Separation
    • Single Dads
    • Step Dads
  • Things To Do
    • Kids at Home
    • Newborn
    • Toddler
    • 5 – 10
    • 10+
  • Health
    • Fitness
    • Family Meal Recipes
    • Safety
    • Wellness
  • Lifestyle
    • Work / Life Balance
    • Money
    • Education
    • Sports
    • Gear
  • Book Squad
  • Reviews
    • Gift Ideas
    • Family Fun
    • Toys
  • Dads at Work
    • Guides for Dads at Work
    • Case Studies
    • Q&A
    • Mentoring Programme
  • Join
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Write With Us
  • Home
  • Family
    • Modern Fatherhood
    • Trying
    • Expecting
    • New Dad
    • Stay At Home Dad
    • Separation
    • Single Dads
    • Step Dads
  • Things To Do
    • Kids at Home
    • Newborn
    • Toddler
    • 5 – 10
    • 10+
  • Health
    • Fitness
    • Family Meal Recipes
    • Safety
    • Wellness
  • Lifestyle
    • Work / Life Balance
    • Money
    • Education
    • Sports
    • Gear
  • Book Squad
  • Reviews
    • Gift Ideas
    • Family Fun
    • Toys
  • Dads at Work
    • Guides for Dads at Work
    • Case Studies
    • Q&A
    • Mentoring Programme
  • Join

DaddiLife

A parenting website for dads

ExpectingTryingWellness

Stressed dads pass stress to their children

written by Hugh Wilson 13th November 2018
stress

Dads pass on traits to their children in ways science is only beginning to understand.

For many years scientists have known that conditions endured by dads can be passed to their children in the form of increased susceptibility to disease. Statistics from famine-ravaged Europe after the First World War revealed a generation of children with an increased vulnerability to conditions like obesity and diabetes. All of that seemed to stem directly from their fathers’ unhappy experiences.

What we didn’t know was the mechanism behind that association, but now researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine are starting to fill in the gaps. And their conclusions go further. It appears that stressed out dads can pass stress on to their children. Dads pass on susceptibility to mental as well as physical illness.

 

Stress changes sperm


The experiments have so far been confined to mice, but the results could be significant for humans too.

To cut a long story short, the researchers discovered that when dads experience a period of stress – even months before conception – the brains of their offspring develop differently.

In effect, the stress that dads endure changes their sperm in ways that scientists are only just beginning to understand. That altered sperm affects the brain development of their offspring, potentially leading to a greater susceptibility to conditions like depression and anxiety.

when dads experience a period of stress – even months before conception – the brains of their offspring develop differently

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Just don’t ask what happened 2 seconds after this…😂 #daddilifeoftheday by @dadultlife 🏅

A post shared by DaddiLife (@daddilife) on Aug 9, 2018 at 10:08am PDT

Calmer dads, healthier children


The new research sheds light on how this happens, which has something to do with ‘epigenetic’ changes that take place in instructions held in our DNA code. But the important point is that even quite mildly stressed dads potentially affect the health of their offspring. The same team has previously found that the offspring of male mice that experience chronic periods of mild stress prior to conception cope with stress less effectively.

“Researchers have known for years that stress can increase the risk of mental disorders,” Dr Tracy Bale, said professor of neuroscience at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “What’s interesting here is that we are finding intergenerational effect.”

Researchers have also known for years that a mother’s environment and lifestyle during pregnancy can affect their developing offspring. What is increasingly clear is that the stresses a dad endures prior to conception can also be passed onto children.

 

Dads’ influence on child development


It’s becoming increasingly clear that dads influence the development of their children in all sorts of ways, good and bad. Here are just a few.

  • According to research collected by the The Fatherhood Project, children who are close to their dads are twice as likely as those who are not to enter college or find stable employment after high school.
  • Those children are also 80% less likely to spend time in jail.
  • And half as likely to experience multiple depression symptoms.
  • Children with involved fathers are more sociable, confident, and more self-controlled than those without involved dads.
  • Research from the University of Michigan found that the mental health of dads influences children’s social skills (e.g. self-control/cooperation). It has a bigger influence in this area than the mental health of mums.
  • A Harvard University study from 2015 found that children benefit more from dads reading bedtime stories than mums, because reading with dad tended to spark more imaginative discussions.
Stressed dads pass stress to their children was last modified: November 13th, 2018 by Hugh Wilson

Related

Comments

comments

child developmentconceptionstresstrying
0 comment
0
Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Hugh Wilson

voting
previous post
Having daughters makes dads vote differently
advent
next post
The DaddiLife debate: how much should you spend on an advent calendar?

You may also like

Older dads have brighter, geekier sons (says...

21st June 2017

Pregnancy lessons from an expectant dad

29th April 2017

Post-Partum Mental Health And Dads

1st March 2021

Pre Potty Training: The Steps Before Potty...

8th September 2017

Play More, dad

13th July 2017

Are dads shirking shared parental leave?

2nd May 2018

DaddiLife Beliefs

2nd May 2016

DaddiLifeForce – The Baby Night Feed

13th April 2017

Shared Parental Leave – What you need...

5th April 2017

Diet plans are all about healthy eating

20th July 2018

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

business dad of the year, award, dad award

Get The Latest Dad News

Keep In Touch

Facebook 140,000Fans
Twitter 2,269Followers
Instagram 21,100Followers




Popular Things to Do

  • Play More Month

  • A Parent’s Guide To Tuff Trays

  • DaddiLifeForce – The Power of Lego

  • DaddiLifeForce – the magic of story time

  • An important announcement

The Dad Index

download the dad index

Download the UK's first ever in-depth profile of the Millennial Father

Writers Community

write with us, daddilife


  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Youtube

© 2017 - DaddiLife. All Right Reserved. DaddiLife is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.


Back To Top