DadTalk

Fathers DO Matter

In a world where advances in cloning and genetics are threatening to make men redundant, scientists finally have some reassuring news.

A study has shown that fathers play a crucial in family life - and that without a dad present in the crucial first stage of life, offspring grow up to be less sociable.

A team at McGill University, Canada, used a strain of mice which, like people, are usually monogamous and tend to rear their young pups together. They removed the fathers from some of the mouse pups three days after birth until they were weaned at 30 to 40 days old.

The scientists, led by Dr Gabriella Gobbi, then analysed the behaviour and brain cells of the pups - and compared them to mice brought up with both parents. Brain cells in the 'single parent' mice had a muted response to the 'cuddle hormone' oxytocin, a feel-good chemical released in the brain during sex or moments of intimacy. That meant they were less likely to feel positive when in the company of others. The fatherless mice were also more anti-social.

'Usually if you put two animals in the same cage they investigate and touch each other, but when we put to animals deprived of a father together they ignored each other,' said Dr Gobbi.

The finding follows another study which showed that men experience a huge surge in oxytocin after a child is born. Dr Ruth Feldman of Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel tested oxytocin levels of 80 couples before a child was born and six months afterwards.

She found that levels of the feel-good chemical rose in mothers and fathers after the arrival of a child. The chemical affected the parents in different ways. Mothers with the highest levels spent much longer gazing at their children, stroking and kissing them and speaking in a "sing song" voice, she found. Dads with the highest levels played more with their child than fathers with the lowest levels. 'Fathers and mothers contribute in a very specific and different way,' she told the magazine.

She believes fathers may be 'biologically programmed' to help raise children.

Read more on the Daily Mail's website