Happy Father’s Day~

For Father’s Day I had intended to post an in-depth article about the genetic and epigenetic influence fathers have on their children. In doing so, I’d hoped to talk about Annie Murphy Paul’s book Origens, among others. Sadly, Father’s Day follows the last week of school in our house, which is just about the busiest time of the year for us. 

Therefore, to save myself time and sanity, and to ensure I will be available to the fathers in my life tomorrow (especially the amazing father  of my daughters), I’ll direct you to a few articles that will give you a hint about where future research will take us:

Dad’s Life Stress Exposure Can Affect Offspring Brain Development

PHILADELPHIA, PA; June 12, 2013—Sperm doesn’t appear to forget anything. Stress felt by dad—whether as a preadolescent or adult—leaves a lasting impression on his sperm that gives sons and daughters a blunted reaction to stress, a response linked to several mental disorders. The findings, published in a new preclinical study in the Journal of Neuroscience by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, point to a never-before-seen epigenetic link to stress-related diseases such as anxiety and depression passed from father to child.
(Full story . . . )

Like Father, Like . . . Daughter

Baseball hard-hitter Harmon Killebrew tells a story that hints at the importance of fathers to boys: “My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard,” he says on his Web site. “Mother would come out and say, ‘You’re tearing up the grass.’ ‘We’re not raising grass,’ Dad would reply. ‘We’re raising boys.’”  Obviously, Killebrew’s father was tuned in to the needs of his sons, an admirable quality that seems only natural in a man. We accept that every boy needs a father as easily as we accept the notion that he needs a dog. But while society is beginning to acknowledge that a father is more beneficial than a dog to a boy’s well-being, the question of how fathers contribute to the well-being of their daughters has all but been ignored.
(Full story . . . )

Linda Nielsen: The Lost Relationship: Fathers and Daughters

Linda Nielsen is a psychologist and professor of adolescent psychology and women’s studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Author of Embracing Your Father: How to Build the Relationship You Always Wanted with Your Dad (2004), Nielsen also teaches a “Fathers and Daughters” course, the only one of its kind in the United States for nearly 20 years.
(Full story . . . )

Happy Father’s Day to all from Mom Psych~