Father's Role

The father's role in society has changed during the last 20 years, with a trend towards acceptance of a nurturant father who is more involved in child care responsibilities. With the birth of a child, father-child issues may resurface from the family in which the father was born and raised. The healthy, adjusted father is able to put these issues in perspective and resolve them. Thus, bitterness, hostility, or resentment from the family of origin does not spill into the immediate family. While fathers contribute to their own psychosocial development, they also have an important impact on their children from infancy through adulthood. One researcher concludes that fathers who are more involved in infant care giving have infants with greater cognitive development at one year of age than fathers who are less involved in infant care giving. Infants can distinguish fathers from other adults early.