A large-scale follow-up survey of children by a group at the National Center for Child Health and Development shows that when fathers are often involved in child-rearing young children, the risk of mental health problems at puberty tends to be lower. As a result of the analysis, it was found that
It is said that the father's involvement in childcare may lead to the prevention of risk.
The results of the analysis were published in an international scientific journal in the field of psychiatry by a group led by Tsuguhiko Kato, Chief of the Department of Social Medicine, National Center for Child Health and Development.
Based on a national follow-up survey that investigated the growth and life of children born in 2001 over the long term, the research group found that fathers' involvement in childcare and puberty in households with approximately 18,500 children. We analyzed the relationship with mental state.
As a result, when the child was 6 months old, the number of cases where the father answered that the father changed diapers, bathed him, played with him, etc., was always, sometimes, or almost never. Children had about 10% less risk of developing mental health problems when they were 16 years old.
It is possible that fathers' involvement in child-rearing from an early stage when attachments to familiar people are formed may lead to the prevention of the risk of children's mental health problems in the long term. It's getting easier to get a child, but it's necessary to create an environment that makes it easier for fathers to participate in childcare."