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For example, children raised with significant positive father involvement display greater empathy, higher self-esteem, increased curiosity, higher verbal skills, and higher scores of cognitive competence." [7] Increasingly, the responsible fatherhood movement has defined itself by focusing on the development of healthy father-child relationships.
Studies have found that the father is a child's preferred attachment figure in approximately 5–20% of cases. [1] [2] [3] Fathers and mothers may react differently to the same behaviour in an infant, and the infant may react to the parents' behaviour differently depending on which parent performs it.
In addition to these findings, researchers have used the data to examine the importance of fathers in young adults’ lives, [19] childhood sleep, [22] adolescent relationships, [23] child protective service contact, [24] exposure to deadly gun violence, [25] eviction prevalence, [26] and law enforcement exposure, [27] among many other topics.
Statistics show that fathers' levels of testosterone tend to decline several months before the birth of the child. Since high testosterone levels are linked to more aggressive behaviour, low levels may enhance the ability to develop a new relationship bond. [4] [5] Fathers also have an important bonding role after the child is born.
The International Dictionary of Psychology defines "father figure" as "A man to whom a person looks up and whom he treats like a father." [4] The APA Concise Dictionary of Psychology offers a more extensive definition: "a substitute for a person's biological father, who performs typical paternal functions and serves as an object of identification and attachment.
Fathers contribute equally with mothers to the care of offspring in as many as 90% of bird species, sometimes including incubating the eggs. Most paternal care is associated with biparental care in socially monogamous mating systems (about 81% of species), but in approximately 1% of species, fathers provide all care after eggs are laid. [5]
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Older parents also tend to occupy a higher socio-economic position and report feeling more devoted to their children and satisfied with their family. [43] On the other hand, the risk of the father dying before the child becomes an adult increases with paternal age. [43] To adjust for genetic liability, some studies compare full siblings.