Men’s Health and Fatherhood
Men’s health usually focuses on cardiovascular disease, reproductive and sexual health, hormones or the shorter life expectancy of men. The physical and psychological effects of fatherhood are almost always overlooked. Butt here are 66.3 million fathers in the United States (61 percent of adult men) and how is their health affected by parenting? Studying fatherhood and health is a new field and many questions need to be studied.Changes in Patterns of Fatherhood
In the U.S., the concept of a “traditional” family is outdated and not very useful when looking at fathers as a group. Fathers could find themselves as a single parent, married with children, divorced, living with stepchildren, as a foster parent or adopting children. Fatherhood itself could come as a result of natural conception, fertility treatments, adoption or marriage (e.g. stepchildren). A father may work outside the house during the day, work from home or be the primary caregiver to his children. Fathers can be gay or straight, young or old. Fathers may live in the same house as their children, the same city or across the country. There is no normal when it comes to fatherhood. Before the question of fatherhood and health can be addressed, we must first understand many important elements of modern fatherhood, and which things are common to all fathers and which things are different.How Health Might be Affected by Fatherhood
We don’t know much about this. Theoretically, fathers may affect their children’s health through teaching a healthy lifestyle and setting examples. Children may impact their father’s health through positive changes in a man’s behavior and emotional pathways when he becomes a father and as his children grow. However, it is possible that the effect could be reversed. A father’s health may suffer if he feels pressure to provide for children, sacrifice his own resources (such as health care) for his child or suffer negative emotions due to the inability to “be a good dad” due to divorce, geography or other circumstance. Children can also impact the relationship between a father and his wife (or partner) due to illness, financial strain and time constraints. Fatherhood may increase life expectancy or shorten it. We simply don’t know the full impact of fatherhood on health.The Future
The role of father is one of the most important roles a man can assume. As mentioned above, the impact of fatherhood on a man’s life and health is not well-understood. Additionally, the ability of a father to impact the health of his children is unexplored. In the coming years, expect to see increasing interest in researching how fathers impact the health of their children and on how being a father impacts a man’s health. Don’t be surprised if, one day, you doctor asks questions about your involvement with your children and your role as father.Sources:
Craig F. Garfield, MD, MAPP; Elizabeth Clark-Kauffman, MHS; Matthew M. Davis, MD, MAPP. Fatherhood as a Component of Men's Health. JAMA. 2006;296:2365-2368.
