WHERE’S DAD? (NAME FOR DIGITAL COPY: HOW DADS INFLUENCE TEENS’ HAPPINESS)

“The influence of their fathers on their teenage children has long been overlooked. Now researchers are finding surprising ways in which dads make a difference”

By: Paul Raeburn

Published: Scientific American Mind, May / June 2014 issue http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-dads-influence-teens-happiness/ 

The article will be freely available until the end of June 2014. To access it, go to the Scientific American website, click “ S A Mind” at the top of the screen towards the right and scroll down. If you are looking for a past issue, then write the issue in the search section.

Level of Difficulty: ****

BEFORE YOU READ

·         What is the role of the father in the family in your view?

·         What should a father’s relationship with his children be like? Formal and respectful or close and amicable?

·         How can a close relationship with their dad benefit children?

QUESTIONS

1.       Did Sarah E. Hill and J. DelPriore’s 2013 paper support or refute the widely held belief concerning the reason for teenage pregnancies? How do you know?

2.       The main purpose of the article is to explain the link between…………………………………………….

3.       Read two more paragraphs as far as the next subtitle and decide whether the statements below are true or false.

·         A faster reproductive strategy is a conscious choice

·         A slower reproductive strategy is a conscious choice

·         Daughters believe that men don’t stick around

·         Close family ties lead daughters to wish to have the same for themselves

·         A good family life is closely linked to how much money is put into the marriage

4.       What traditional role of fathers is believed to be vital for children’s well-being?

5.       In the statement “The situation has now begun to change”, what does “The situation” refer to?

6.       What does “This shift” in the phrase “This shift matters because the effects of a missing father can be profound…” refer to?

7.       What does the phrase “And that is what happened” refer to?

8.       Read Ellis’ initial research to the end. Did this research confirm or disprove earlier research by Hill and DelPriore?

9.       What conclusion can we draw from both sets of experiments conducted by Ellis?

10.   The hypothesis that pheromones can be the answer to the question  concerning how fathers exert an influence on their daughters is based on the fact that………………………………………………

11.   According to Ronald P. Rohner, a child’s emotional well-being and future happiness are closely related to whether ………………………………………………………………………………………………………

12.   The injustice involved in focusing too much …………………………..can now be redressed because in fact………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

13.   The Yale university study proved, to the surprise of everyone, that…………………………………………

14.   We can draw the conclusion that ……………………………………..from Melanie Horn Mallers’ study and the University of Toronto study.

15.   The fact that others can fill in for the father proves that……………………………………………………..

WRITING TASK

Use the information in the text and your own opinions to write an essay in which you discuss why fathers are important for the healthy development of their children.

WHERE IS DAD? KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES

A lot is written about the role of mothers in a child’s life and to such an extent that if one didn’t know any better, one would think that they brought up the kids on their own. Finally, we have some wonderful research into the role of fathers and there are plenty of surprises. This is not the kind of text that is full of familiar clichés so be prepared for an interesting read. True to Scientific American Mind style, the text also presents the opportunity for some good questions too.

1.       It refuted them. They revealed a robust association between father absence – both physical and psychological – and accelerated reproductive development and sexual risk taking in daughters.

2.       The departure of the father and the daughter’s reproductive development

3.       They are all False

4.       Bringing home the paycheck / keeping children fed housed and out of poverty

5.       Overlooking fathers in scientific studies

6.       The disappearance of fathers / the fact that fathers are disappearing

7.       Women became more sexually unrestricted after recalling an incident in which their father was disengaged.

8.       Confirmed

9.       Growing up with emotionally or physically distant fathers in early to middle childhood could be a key life transition that alters sexual development.

10.   Many animals emit pheromones; chemical messengers that can be picked up by others and can alter their behavior.

11.   They were accepted or rejected

12.   On mothers and mothering; fathers are often more implicated than mothers in the development of problems.

13.   How affectionate parents were to their children made no difference in empathy

14.    Fathers make unique contributions to their children

15.   Children in families without fathers in the home are not doomed to failure or anything close to that