Well all babies look adorable, don’t they? But in a recent study conducted, researchers claim that infants who resemble their father at birth are more likely to spend more time together with their father and, in turn, are healthier before they reach their first birthday. The research was conducted by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York. The professors based their analysis on data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) study conducted on 715 families in which babies live only with their mother. The findings from the data suggested that father-child resemblance induces a father to spend more time with their baby in turn engaging in positive parenting. These fathers spent an average of 2.5 more days per month with their babies than fathers who didn’t resemble their offspring.

The result encourages non-resident fathers to frequently engage with their babies to enhance their early childhood health. Research Professor of Economics at Binghamton University, Solomon Polachek, says, “Those fathers that perceive the baby’s resemblance to them are more certain the baby is theirs, and thus spend more time with the baby.” The result has implications regarding the role of a father’s time especially in fragile families.

“The main explanation behind a healthier baby that resembles his father is that frequent father visits allow for greater parental time for care-giving, supervision and information gathering about child health and economic needs. Having an involved father certainly helps,” added Polachek. The researchers said that greater efforts could be made to encourage these fathers to frequently engage with their children through parenting classes, health education and job-training to enhance earnings.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 07, 2018 11:34 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).