The Power of a Dad

Are you a dad? Do you have anxiety? As luck (and math) would have it, that could work in your child's favor! In a recent small study, it was observed that children raised by fathers who are slightly anxious or depressed tend to raise children with fewer behavioral problems and better test scores. Before you get too excited, it was a small population study of 61 children (36 boys and 25 girls) and their parents. The father's depression and anxiety were measured during their wives' pregnancy and again when the children were aged between 6 and 8.

The results, while having low statistical power, are quite interesting. Children whose fathers reported higher levels of depressive symptoms were able to sit still for longer periods, lost their tempers less frequently, and had good attention spans according to a questionnaire filled out by both parents. These children also had higher IQs according to standardized tests.

Why is this interesting? Because the opposite is true for children raised by mothers with depression and/or anxiety. A paper released in 2018 reviewed 18 other studies and as a result showed that both paternal and maternal anxiety negatively impacted children, but it was noted that the maternal influence was greater. The working theory on why paternal anxiety results in better behaved kids with higher IQs is that maybe the fathers show better parental attunement to compensate for environmental risk factors caused by their depression and anxiety or their partner's depression and anxiety. We might be seeing more studies about this topic in 2024.

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