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• Posted February 4, 2026

Dad’s Early Bond May Affect a Child’s Health Years Later, Study Finds

For decades, researchers mostly blamed moms when children developed long-term mental or physical health problems.

Now, a new study suggests someone else may play a bigger role than once thought: Dad.

By age 7, children whose fathers were less attentive to them at 10 months of age were more likely to have signs of poorer health, including higher inflammation and blood sugar, Pennsylvania State University researchers found.

The study, published recently in the journal Health Psychology, followed families when babies were 10 months old, then again at ages 2 and 7.

Scientists watched short play sessions involving mothers, fathers and infants. Later, the children underwent blood tests.

They found that fathers who were less engaged with their babies often struggled to co-parent. Some withdrew, while others competed with moms for the child’s attention.

By age 7, children in these families were more likely to show higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, and HbA1c, a measure of long-term blood sugar.

Mothers’ behavior did not show the same pattern.

“We of course expected that family dynamics, everybody in the family, fathers and mothers, would impact child development — but it was only fathers, in this case,” said Alp Aytuglu, a postdoctoral researcher at Penn State and an author of the study.

He said that when the father’s behavior in three-way interactions is negative, "then we start seeing how that negativity potentially bleeds over the family and eventually impacts child health.”

The research team studied videotaped 18-minute play sessions and scored parents on sensitivity, positive behavior and co-parenting habits such as withdrawal or competition.

Later, when the children turned 7, researchers tested four health markers using finger-prick blood samples.

Two clear patterns emerged:

• Fathers who were more caring early on co-parented better.

• Children from those families had lower inflammation and healthier blood sugar levels.

These markers affect health over a long period of time, the researchers said, meaning kids with higher levels could face higher risks of chronic disease later in life.

“This does not mean that only the dads matter, not the moms,” study co-author Hannah Schreier, an associate professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State, told The New York Times.

Instead, she explained, engaged fathers may help improve the emotional health of the whole family.

The researchers suggested something they call the “father vulnerability hypothesis.” It proposes that fathers may react more strongly to relationship stress, which can ripple through the household and affect children’s health.

Another possible reason: Babies often spend more one-on-one time with mothers, making fathers’ behavior during group interactions stand out more.

“It is kind of a missed chance for that parent who has to go and make money,” Aytuglu said, noting that family leave programs could help both parents spend more early time with their children.

Greg Miller, a psychology professor at Northwestern University who reviewed the findings, said most past studies barely included fathers at all.

There’s been a long-standing assumption that “mothers are the most instrumental in shaping kids’ well-being,” Miller said. “We don’t know what role fathers play because we haven’t studied them.”

The new research is just one study, he added, "so we are all asking questions, but it is certainly a tantalizing lead.”

Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, a psychology professor at Ohio State University, also reviewed the findings. She emphasized that the study doesn’t prove that parents’ behavior caused the kids’ health effects, only that there’s an association.

“People tend to jump to conclusions about cause and effect,” she said.

Schoppe-Sullivan added that most families in the study were white, middle-class and two-parent households, which limits how broadly the results apply.

More information

All For Kids has more on a father's impact on child development.

SOURCE: The New York Times, Feb. 3, 2026