Fathers crucial to children’s development

SINGLE parenting is the reality of many Jamaican families, and more often than not in these arrangements, the fathers are absent. Clinical psychologist Dr Pearnel Bell argues that more fathers need to assume their role in the family because it supports the development of more stable children, especially in the case of boys.

“It is very important for a child, especially a boy, to have the involvement of a father in his life. This has been supported by a catalogue of research conducted in the US, which reveals that the father’s impact begins as early as the day of the child’s birth,” Dr Bell said.In addition, the study showed that the more involved fathers are in their sons’ lives, the more likely it is that the children will be emotionally secure, confident, and will develop better social connections in adolescence. The emotional and social development of children will improve with the active engagement of fathers with their children in a playful manner.Dr Bell said an added benefit of father-child interaction is that caring fathers tend to spend a higher percentage of one-on-one interactions with their infants in playful activities than mothers. From these interactions, Dr Bell notes that children learn how to become emotionally intelligent and how to regulate their feelings and behaviours.But character building and early developmental benefits are not the only advantages of having fathers involved in the lives of their children. Dr Bell argues that the fathers’ involvement has also been shown to increase the children’s cognitive development and educational performance.“One other finding that we have linked to fathers being involved in their children’s lives [is the advantage of] better educational outcomes. Interestingly, the benefits of this early involvement extend into adolescence and young adulthood. Similarly, we find that the active involvement of fathers in their children’s lives, and particularly in their sons’ lives, is associated with better verbal skills, intellectual functioning, and academic achievement among adolescents,” Dr Bell shared.Also, she points out that better behavioural patterns are noticed in children who are constantly exposed to or interact with their fathers. Citing a 1994 report conducted by Jamaican researchers, Dr Bell said that adolescents’ behavioural problems can be linked to uninvolved and absent fathers in many Jamaican homes. This, she said, rests on a number of factors, including lack of a male figure to look up to or emulate, as well as other distressing household challenges which are often emotional and economic-based.“Studies have consistently shown that a [caring]father’s presence in the life of a child helps to provide economic support, and helps in promoting emotionally intelligent children. When fathers are absent, this can impact negatively on children’s academic achievement, gender-specific development, general behavioural adjustment, and how they manage anger. The argument for fathers to be involved in their children’s lives is compelling and should never be ignored.”Having analysed the negative effects on children of the absence of their father, Dr Bell said that it is very important for fathers who are not cohabiting with their spouses or the mothers of their children to be allowed access to their children to spend quality time for extended periods in order to encourage the desired effect of a father’s influence.— Penda Honeyghan