Researchers Ronald P. Rohner, Abdul Khaleque and David E. of Cournoyer
of University of Connecticut found that children who has both mother
and father in the home are well off developmentally but If a father is
missing in a family the child will have physiological problems than if
a mother is missing when children become older. “Father/paternal love
explain a unique and independent portion of the variance in specific
child outcomes over and above the portion explained by maternal love
(Veneziano, 2003).”
Evidence from PARTheory research documents the fact that fathers'
love-related behaviors often have as strong or even stronger
implications for children's social-emotional development than do
mothers' love-related behaviors. For example, fathers' love-related
behavior (or the love-related behavior of other significant male
caregivers) is often as strongly--or more so--associated with
offspring's sense of health and well-being in childhood and later
adulthood. Paternal (fathers') rejection, however, is sometimes more
strongly associated than mothers' rejection with such negative
developmental outcomes as depression and depressed affect, conduct
problems and behavior disorders, and substance abuse, to mention but
three outcomes.
Don't blame it all on mothers. The love of fathers and other important
caregivers is, in many contexts, as important developmentally to
children as that of mothers--and sometimes more so.
http://www.cspar.uconn.edu/intro_partheory.html
They also found that
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/113/5/1406
Fathers positively influence the behavior and relationships of the
mother or other parent, siblings, and other family members. For
example, fathers play an important role in the initiation, support,
continuation, and ultimate ongoing success of breastfeeding.29–35
Father involvement also stabilizes and promotes healthy family
functioning. Fathers, as much as mothers, can and often do provide
affection, nurturing, and comfort to their children. As teachers,
disciplinarians, and role models, fathers assume some of the
responsibility for teaching their children what they need to know for
life-survival skills and for school learning. These lessons may come in
the form of teaching about letters, numbers, and shapes; helping the
school-aged child with homework; coaching the child in an athletic
skill or hobby; teaching manners and social skills; and encouraging a
healthy lifestyle. Rituals that involve special time with fathers, such
as homework, play, sports activities, bathing routines, bedtime
rituals, household chores, shopping, or reading together, also help
strengthen the father-child bond. Such involvement may even prove to be
protective. In families in which even mild levels of maternal
depression exist, for example, a nurturing father-child relationship
counteracts behavioral and interactional problems often associated with
maternal depression.36–38
In families experiencing divorce, the relationships between father,
mother, and children can become especially strained.46 Divorce affects
children’s relationships with their parents and their sense of trust,
acceptance, and support, creating feelings of loss and sadness.47 The
quality of the parents’ pre- and postdivorce relationship plays a
significant role in the child’s emotional and social response and the
father’s involvement with his children. The quality of a father’s
parenting has been found to be inversely related to sibling conflict,
adolescent depression, delinquent behavior, and affiliation with
deviant peers.48 Yet, there is a negative relationship between divorce
and the quality of father’s parenting; in other words, divorce can lead
to less quality parenting by fathers, compounding the aforementioned
problems.
There are situations, however, in which divorce can improve paternal
involvement. In these situations, positive changes in the father-child
bond are a result of increased opportunities to relate to the child in
a conflict-free atmosphere.49 Fathers may find themselves in the role
of primary caregiver and, for the first time, engaging the health care
system. Keeping both parents apprised of the child’s health and
involved in the child’s life as well as keeping track of the emerging
important adult figures in the child’s life becomes part of the
pediatrician’s responsibilities.
My wife has decided to cut me out of my kid’s life. What do you think the outcome of my kids in the future?
Rohner, R. P. (1998). Father love and child development: History and
current evidence. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7,
157-161.
http://www.cspar.uconn.edu/intro_partheory.html