Two-year-old children of fathers who reported parenting stress were less advanced on average in their cognitive development measured a year later. Two-year-old boys\u2014but not girls\u2014with stressed fathers were also less advanced in their language skills at age three.<\/p>\n
Tamesha Harewood<\/a> and colleagues at Michigan State University examined data from a large US study of low-income parents across 17 areas, called the Early Head Start Start Research and Evaluation Project, in which 732 fathers were interviewed when their children were two years old and again one year later. The development of children in these families was assessed annually at the ages of 1, 2, 3 and 4 years.<\/p>\n Children\u2019s cognitive development was assessed using the Bayley Mental Development Index. Rather than an intelligence quotient (IQ), the Bayley index measures a \u201cdevelopment quotient\u201d that includes attention to familiar and unfamiliar objects; looking for a fallen object; pretend play; and the understanding and use of language and of motor skills such as grasping, sitting, stacking blocks, and climbing stairs.<\/p>\n Parenting stress was measured by asking fathers to rate questions like \u201cmy child rarely does things for me that make me feel good\u201d and \u201csometimes I feel my child doesn\u2019t like me and doesn\u2019t want to be close to me\u201d.<\/p>\n Why might fathers\u2019 stress affect their boys\u2019 language development but not their girls? (Other research shows the same pattern for mothers\u2019 stress \u2013 it affects boys more the girls.) Perhaps this occurs because parental stress is related to a decrease in communication with the child, but girls are better protected because their own language skills are greater than boys\u2019 at age 2, so they keep the communication going to a greater extent.<\/p>\n The researchers conclude that fathers\u2019 parenting-related stress has direct effects on children\u2019s development even when fathers aren\u2019t their children\u2019s primary caregivers<\/a>. As a result, they say, \u201cearly interventions designed to address the effects of family risks such as poverty, unemployment and low education should include both fathers and mothers in their efforts\u201d to reduce parenting-related stress.<\/p>\n