“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
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
