外刊阅读 | 今日心理学 | 成为父亲是一种怎样的心理？

Vaccination is one of the most effective tools avail­able against infectious dis­ease. Nonetheless, opti­mizing vaccine efficacy remains a top priority for scientists, especially to better protect high-risk populations.

疫苗接种是预防传染病最有效的手段之一。尽管如此，优化疫苗效力仍然是科学家的首要任务，特别是为了更好地保护高危人群。

The Psychology of Fathering

为人父之心理学

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Most of the body of research dedicated to fatherhood has understandably been focused on how children benefit from the presence of a male parent or guardian. More attention is gradually being paid to the value of fatherhood to men themselves, however. Not just kids benefit immensely from involved and engaged dads, but so do adults, studies have shown, something that holds true across economic lines. Research has demonstrated there to be a host of positive effects of parenting among men, with fathers finding the time spent with their children to be rewarding and fulfilling on many levels.

The emotional benefits to be realized from fatherhood relate directly to the level of involvement in their kids’ lives. In 1989, Marjory Roberts reported in Psychology Today the results of a recently conducted longitudinal study of more than 200 fathers showing that being a dad was a positive experience in a psychological sense, specifically by functioning as a means of developing greater empathy and compassion. The finding was consistent with Erik Erikson’s theory of “generativity,” which held that humans achieved full maturity only when they advanced the lives of children in some way.

The other good news in this study was that, contrary to popular belief, the careers of men did not suffer when they became fathers or stepped up their involvement. And, as many previous studies had showed, children benefitted greatly from having their dads around. Both boys and girls became more confident, mature, and autonomous adults with the presence of an engaged father, the study by psychologists Joseph Pleck, John Snarey, and Anthony Maier found, with the authors declaring fatherhood to clearly be a win-win experience. “The role of the father is just as important as the role of the mother,” Snarey stated, something many dads likely suspected but were still happy to hear.

Neuroscientific research related to fatherhood backs up such stories. “When men morph into fathers, they experience a neural revival that benefits their children,” Brian Mossop explained in Scientific American Mind in 2011, with both baby’s and dad’s brains forever altered in the days following birth. A biochemical bond is quickly established between fathers and their children, analogous to the one forged between mothers and their fetuses during pregnancy.

More specifically, dads’ brains are hardwired to respond to any threat to their infants’ comfort and survival, just one way oxytocin affects early paternal behavior. Fathers’ and babies’ brains function symbiotically, neuroscientists are finding, each party benefiting in some way from the other’s cognitive influence. Men even grow new, additional neurons after becoming fathers, studies have shown, nature’s way of establishing an emotional connection that will pay off dividends throughout the child’s life.

文末有一个投票环节，诚邀各位读者积极参与！

Journal：psychologytoday

Title：The Psychology of Fathering(October 11, 2024 )

Category：Parenting

Although fatherhood has been around as long as humans, we are clearly embarking on a new frontier of understanding it, with many exciting adventures no doubt looming for the future.

虽然父亲身份与人类一样古老，但我们显然正在踏上理解它的新领域，未来无疑会有许多令人兴奋的冒险。

As any dad will tell you, fathers can learn a great deal from a child by spending both quality and quantity time with him or her, so much so that the former’s perspective of the world is typically irrevocably altered.

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