A new study reported by MSNBC says, ‘Moms help, but an involved father has twice the influence’.

The more attentive the dad - and the more he knows about his teenage child's friends - the bigger the impact on the teen's sexual behaviour, the researchers found.

Parental knowledge of a teen’s friends and activities was rated on a five point scale. When it came to the dads, each point higher in parental knowledge translated into a 7 percent lower rate of sexual activity in the teen. For the moms, one point higher in knowledge translated to a 3 percent lower rate of teen sexual activity.

The impact of family time overall was even more striking. One additional family activity per week predicted a 9 percent drop in sexual activity.

Why would dads have a more powerful influence? Child development expert, Alan E. Kazdin responds: “Dads vary markedly in their roles as caretakers from not there at all to really helping moms,” Kazdin said. “The greater impact of dads might be that moms are more of a constant and when dads are there their impact is magnified.”

Also, Kazdin said “when dads are involved with families, the stress on the mom is usually reduced because of the diffusion of child-rearing or the support for the mom."

In other words, dad's positive effect on mom makes life better for the child, Kazdin explains.

The study underscores the importance of parental engagement overall, said Patrick Tolan, a professor of psychiatry and director of the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

“For one thing, the more time you spend with them, the less time they’re going to be on their own in places where they can get into risky behaviour,” Tolan explained. “Also, if you’re spending time talking to them, they’re going to get your values and they’re more likely to think things through rather than acting impulsively.”

Read the full story at MSNBC

Read the DadTalk article Why do Dads matter to daughters?