• Mothers and fathers show similar patterns of brain activity when exposed to stimuli from their infant.
• The observed brain changes occur in areas involved with reward, motivation, and empathy, and are associated with hormonal changes in moms and dads.
• Brain systems may reflect parental potential available to human fathers and other mammalian fathers when they are more involved in caregiving.

Fathers’ brains respond when they are exposed to stimuli from their baby

The neurobiology of fatherhood in humans seems to be similar to the neurobiology of motherhood, involving two brain systems – a “motivational” system that refers to the drive to nurture offspring, and an “empathy” system that refers to the ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others.

Fathers shown pictures of their own newborns experienced more activation of empathy and reward systems than when shown pictures of unknown newborns.

For example, brain responses of mothers and fathers to pictures or videos of their infants overlap. Increased activity is found in parts of the brain associated with reward, motivation, and empathy. In one study, increased activity in brain reward systems also correlated with the father’s active engagement in caregiving, as reported by the mother.

In another study, fathers shown pictures of their own newborns experienced more activation of empathy and reward systems than fathers shown pictures of unknown newborns. In another study, a new father’s self-reported positive thoughts about his infant correlated with reward system activation in response to his infant’s cries. Future research will look at other brain responses in fathers – to children’s laughter, speech, and movements.

Brain changes are connected to hormonal changes activated by involved parenting

There is growing evidence that these changes are linked with the hormones that are produced when fathers care for their children. The key difference between human mothers and fathers is the degree of variability in fatherhood. After birth, most mothers are actively involved in parenting, but fatherhood is activated only when circumstances require or allow it, and even then it is highly variable.

When fatherhood is activated, neural processes take place in fathers that are similar to those in mothers.

In societies with small family units living apart from extended family networks and in families with scarce resources, paternal involvement is necessary. When fatherhood is activated, neural processes take place in fathers that are similar to those in mothers. It is as if a parental potential resides in all humans and is activated when circumstances require.

In the wild, fathers are actively engaged in caring for their young in only 5% of mammalian species (e.g., some primates, rodents, and canids, in particular). As in humans, this paternal behavior involves similar brain processes as those involved with maternal behavior. But when animals are held in captivity and in non-natural conditions, fathers can become more active. This suggests that parental brain systems may exist in many male mammals, and that they can be activated when an active paternal role is desirable or possible.

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• Supportive fathers influence their children in significant ways, including the development of cognitive and social skills.
• The positive impact of fathers is greater when fathers’ relationships with mothers are strong and supportive.
• Fathers can help their children’s development through supportive and involved parenting and engaging activities, such as reading books and playing.

To fully understand the significance of a father’s influence on his children, we will explore four key areas:

1. Father-child attachment and later development
2. Father influence on a child’s achievements
3. Father influence on a child’s social skills
4. The mother-father relationship

1. Father-child attachment influences children’s later development

When there is a strong father-child attachment in the first two years, research shows a link with the child’s later social skills, cognitive skills (e.g., language, school achievement) and behavior. In this way, fathers influence their children’s futures.

These links between strong father-child attachment and later child development are greatest when fathers are more involved in parenting. This suggests that involved fathers have the potential to make a big difference in their child’s life.

Involved fathers have the potential to make a big difference in their child’s life.

2. Fathers have a significant influence on their child’s achievements

Fathers who provide primary care for their two-year-olds have children who achieve higher scores on academic tests. (The same is true of mothers.) Anne Martin and her team found that mothers and fathers who provided primary care for their children when they were two had five-year-olds with higher arithmetic and language scores.

Eirini Flouri and Ann Buchanan found that British children with more involved fathers had higher IQs at age seven than did children with less involved fathers. Other researchers have found similar associations at 11 years and 16 years.

Some researchers have worked to distinguish fathers’ influences on educational performance from the effects of other wider family and community influences. The links remain: Fathers who are supportive appear to promote their children’s language and cognitive development.

3. Fathers influence their children’s social skills

In a large British study, when mothers reported that fathers were involved with their seven-year-olds, the children were more likely to report being close to their fathers at 16 and to have less contact with police during adolescence. Other researchers have found even longer-lasting links – fathers’ involvement with their six-year-olds appeared to positively influence  the feelings of their offspring when they were in their 30s, more than 25 years later.

Photo: Mieke Campbell. Pexels.

High levels of paternal involvement in childhood also predict offspring’s social interaction styles in adulthood, as well as their married relationships, parenting skills, and mental health. The converse has also been shown – low paternal involvement and poor child-father attachments predict more psychological and social problems later.

Ross Parke and his colleagues found that a physically playful and affectionate father-son relationship predicted sons’ later popularity with peers. Other researchers have found that fathers who were more sensitive to their five-year-olds’ emotional states had more socially competent children three years later.

Researchers have examined whether fathers and mothers exert different influences on the social development of their children. It is very difficult to separate these influences from the many roles mothers and fathers play in different families. However, researchers have found that children who reported secure attachments to both their parents were more likely to report positive friendships than children who did not.

Mothers influence father-child relationships and fathers influence mother-child relationships.

4. The mother-father relationship influences children

The last 20 years have seen a lot of research on how family members influence the relationships of other family members with children. Studies suggest that mothers influence father-child relationships and fathers influence mother-child relationships.

A key influence on the father-child relationship is how supportive the mother is of this relationship, as well as the quality of the mother-father relationship.

The inverse is also true: Both the father and the mother-father relationship influence the mother-child relationship, but the influence is less. This may be because maternal behavior is framed by clearer conventions and role definitions, while fathers’ roles and behavior are more influenced by what mothers believe.

Mothers’ mental health also affects the father-child relationship, and fathers’ mental health affects the mother-child relationship. Sometimes the response can be compensatory. For example, when mothers suffer from postnatal depression, fathers often engage in more positive interactions with their babies.

Conclusion

The conclusion of this research is clear: A father who wants to be close to his children and positively influence their future should invest in relationships with both the children and their mothers.

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1. The loving care of a father is a foundation for his child’s wellbeing and creates a life-long relationship.

2. The loving care of father can be as powerful and important as that of a mother.

3. All fathers, both biological and non-biological, have an innate ability to bond with their babies from the first days. A father’s brain changes when he actively cares for his child, generating enhanced capacity for care and empathy.

4. Loving care takes many forms. Each family and each father-child relationship is unique.

5. Fathers are family, and family carers are among the most important influences on children’s development, wellbeing and health. This is so even when fathers do not live permanently with their children.

6. A harmonious community of care around a child, with parents and carers supporting each other, is a foundation for the child’s healthy development.

7. Fatherhood, like motherhood, is a journey. Fathers need time and practice – to care for, nurture, play with, and teach their children.

8. Loving fatherhood means respect for and collaboration with the mother and the absence of violence.

9. To provide the care and form the relationships that children need, fathers need support and validation from their partners, families, communities and society.

10. Maternal and newborn health services, early years services, and economic self-sufficiency services should offer, and encourage the use of, support for fathers and other family carers in ways that engage creatively with the local culture and socioeconomic conditions. They should provide information and help about how to support maternal and child health and child development. They should support family carers’ relationships with their children and a harmonious community of care for children within families. They should offer support for all carers to meet their children’s financial needs. This support should be accessible to fathers even if they live apart from the mother.

11. Workplaces and employment laws should honour and support the caring responsibilities of both fathers and mothers.

12. Fathers’ involvement in the first 1,000 days of their children’s life should be a focus of international early childhood development strategies.

13. Promotion of gender equality needs to include support for fatherhood. Equal economic opportunities for women and men must include the opportunity to share the care of their children.

14. Men are inherently loving and caring beings. Men’s caring instincts and emotional life should be celebrated as part of what it is to be a man in today’s cultures.

15. Loving fatherhood and men’s caregiving of all kinds should be recognised and celebrated as an inspiration to other fathers, mothers, grandparents and carers, in this generation and the next.

The Charter was coordinated by Duncan Fisher, Editor of the Child & Family Blog. The authors would like to thank the following researchers for their help in drafting the Charter: Andrea Doucet (Canada), John & Lynn Rempel (Canada), Richard Fletcher (Australia), Margaret O’Brien (UK), Kate Ellis-Davis (UK), Jaipaul Roopnarine (USA), Ruth Feldman (Israel), Ron Mincy (USA), Brenda Volling (USA), Marsha & Kyle Pruett (USA), Gary Barker (Brazil).

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Early child development is underpinned by brain development, by genetic and epigenetic inheritance and by physical development. Two key features of early childhood development that researchers study are ‘self-regulation’ and ‘executive function’.

Parental care shapes early childhood development. Neglect, the absence of adequate parental care, is a severe threat to early childhood development. Over-exposure to stress – ‘toxic stress’ – undermines development while strong relationships with parents provide protection and build resilience.

The mechanics of early childhood development

The brain

The human brain develops continually through childhood development, from before the birth and into adulthood. Like the construction of a building, the foundations are laid early. The brain builds from the bottom up in clearly defined development stages. That’s why early support for development is so important. A stronger foundation not only means the child is further ahead at a given moment in time, it also means learning and development can proceed more rapidly in the future.

Early childhood development sees the brain developing extremely rapidly. Billions of new connections are created every hour among neurons in different parts of the brain. After this rapid proliferation, brain development shifts towards efficiency. Some neural connections are made stronger and faster and others are pruned and lost. Meanwhile, the brain builds ever more sophisticated connections during later childhood and adolescence, associated with more enhanced skills. Pruning continues.

Brain development fundamentally shapes early child development stages. More basic capacities, such as vision, hearing and touch, develop earlier on. Later comes the development of more complex capacities, such as communication, understanding facial expressions, reasoning, and decision-making. Higher-level skills, such as the ability to sustain attention, set goals, follow rules, solve problems and control impulses, start developing in early childhood and continue through adolescence.

Children’s experiences of the world – how they see, hear and feel, and how they relate with parents and other carers – shape every aspect of the brain’s development. This reinforces some circuits and allowing others to be lost.

Genetics and epigenetics

The genes that children receive from their mothers and fathers give them certain predispositions and susceptibilities that influence early child development. Some children are naturally less fearful than others, for example, and those who are less fearful are less at risk of long-term anxiety and depression.

Photo: will kay. Creative Commons.

But some researchers have found that children who are more vulnerable to adverse environments may also be more sensitive to positive experiences and profit from them more. (See our article, Tackling child behaviour problems effectively requires better understanding of differences between an ‘orchid’ child and a ‘dandelion’ child.) This provides great hope for supporting more vulnerable children.

Experiences of the world, including relationships within the family and community, can influence the expression of genes rather than the genes themselves. Positive and negative experiences result in the production of proteins that regulate gene activity, creating temporary or permanent changes in the “epigenome”. These epigenetic changes to how genes are expressed can be inherited by the next generation. For example, the children of men and women who survived the Holocaust have inherited epigenetic changes associated with response to extreme stress. (See our article, Epigenetics offers hope for disadvantaged children.)

Physical development in early childhood

Early childhood development is defined not only by brain development and genetics/epigenetics. Cardiovascular, immune, neuroendocrine and metabolic systems all have a role to play in shaping a child’s capacities for the future.

Everything is intertwined. Supporting early child development is about ensuring that all the strands are strong.

Components of early child development

Although researchers still debate how to define different components of early childhood development, a number of concepts have become mainstream in the field.

The three domains of development most widely discussed are cognitive (thinking), social and emotional. Research has demonstrated that these are closely intertwined. Their development is associated with neural activity across the entire brain.

The connections can also be seen in children’s behaviour. For example, children develop the ability to think through relationships with carers. A child with high social skills will typically develop cognitive skills more quickly.

Self-regulation

Based in a part of the brain called the amygdala is an automatic and impulsive response to risk and danger, commonly known as the “fight or flight response”. Self-regulation is the ability to bring in a more conscious response to a situation, working out how to respond in that moment. It may be that more planned responses counteract the initial fight or flight instinct. The ability to regulate emotion is a vital skill acquired in early childhood in part through relationship with carers.

Executive function

Executive function is a cluster of skills that emerge in early child development that create the foundations for learning and interacting well with others. Researchers have divided executive function into several distinct abilities:

• Working memory – holding and using information for short periods of time.
• Mental flexibility (or cognitive flexibility) – adapting quickly in response to external stimuli.
• Self-control (or inhibitory control) – resisting impulsive behaviour.
• Sustaining focus and attention throughout a task.
• Solving problems.
• Following rules.
• Setting goals.
• Delaying immediate gratification for more reward later.

Photo: kris krüg. Creative Commons.

Developing executive function is a key part of the early childhood development stages. By the age of three, basic executive functions are in place – remembering and following simple rules. The skills develop substantially between the ages of three and five, but they continue to develop right through adolescence.

These more advanced stages of early child development involve increased speed and efficiency of neural circuits acting across different parts of the brain.

Parental care shapes early child development

Responsive caregiving from parents, the wider family and all those involved in a child’s life, along with experience of the world, shape children’s development. Researchers have coined the term “serve and return” to describe the reciprocal actions with parents and carers.

Multiple relationships enhance social and emotional development, building the child’s ability to sustain strong relationships in future. A child with multiple stable and caring relationships has a strong advantage. Conversely, a child without even one stable and responsive relationship is at a severe disadvantage.

Researchers have used the term “scaffolding” to describe the environment that caregivers can create for children to practice skills. Scaffolding includes establishing routines, modelling social behaviour, enabling creative play, facilitating social connection and encouraging physical exercise.

Threats to healthy early child development: neglect and toxic stress

Neglect

The world’s most widespread risk to children is a lack of responsive care, known as neglect: 78% of all child maltreatment cases in the world relate to neglect, which can have a more detrimental impact on early child development than physical abuse.

Photo: Brandon Warren. Creative Commons. 

Like physical abuse, neglect severely disrupts the brain’s development in early childhood by depriving children of adequate relationships, thereby altering the development of biological stress-response systems. Neglect is related to a multitude of poor outcomes in children’s later life – mental health, physical health, social relations and educational achievement.

Toxic stress

Stress, as a part of learning how to cope with adversity, is a normal and essential part of early child development. A threat triggers physiological changes associated with the hormone cortisol that support a quick response to mitigate the danger. A child exposed to simple stresses, and protected by strong relationships with adults, learns to cope, and to regulate the stress response system. Strong relationships can also mitigate the potentially damaging effects of high levels of stress caused by events like the death of a loved one, serious injury, or a local disaster.

Excessive and prolonged stress, termed toxic stress, is not a normal part of early child development. Examples of toxic stress include physical and emotional abuse, chronic neglect, poor care as a result of drugs or mental illness, persistent poverty and prolonged exposure to violence.

Exposure to chaos and constant threat impairs the development of self-regulation, trapping children in an instinctive fight and flight response. Toxic stress that undermines early childhood development stages is associated with many poor outcomes in later life.

Building resilience through relationships

Relationships with caregivers are the key to protecting children from the adverse effects of stress. Early in life, such care can prevent or even reverse the damaging effects of toxic stress.

Resilience emerges when a child exposed to stress also has access to reliable and nurturing relationships. A child’s heightened physiological response to stress can be restored by relating to a caring adult. Exposure to stress in the presence of a caring adult can help the child learn to feel some control in the situation and to develop self-regulation.

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