Child gender influences paternal behavior, language, and brain function.

Abstract

Multiple lines of research indicate that fathers often treat boys and girls differently in ways that impact child outcomes. The complex picture that has emerged, however, is obscured by methodological challenges inherent to the study of parental caregiving, and no studies to date have examined the possibility that gender differences in observed real-world paternal behavior are related to differential paternal brain responses to male and female children. Here we compare fathers of daughters and fathers of sons in terms of naturalistically observed everyday caregiving behavior and neural responses to child picture stimuli. Compared to fathers of sons, fathers of daughters were more attentively engaged with their daughters, sang more to their daughters, used more analytical language and language related to sadness and the body with their daughters, and had a stronger neural response to their daughter’s happy facial expressions in areas of the brain important for reward and emotion regulation (medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex [OFC]). In contrast, fathers of sons engaged in more rough and tumble play (RTP), used more achievement language with their sons, and had a stronger neural response to their son’s neutral facial expressions in the medial OFC (mOFC). Whereas the mOFC response to happy faces was negatively related to RTP, the mOFC response to neutral faces was positively related to RTP, specifically for fathers of boys. These results indicate that real world paternal behavior and brain function differ as a function of child gender.

Best practices for Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) research: A practical guide to coding and processing EAR data

“…We have also designed new, project-specific modules to capture, for example, breast cancer survivors' interactions with their support networks (e.g., positive and negative received support; Robbins et al, 2014), and pro-social behaviors in the context of meditation training (gratitude, affection; Kaplan et al, 2018). In recent projects, we have further expanded the SECSI system to assess family-level environments and interactions (e.g., Alisic et al, 2015;Mascaro, Rentscher, A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CODING AND PROCESSING EAR DATA 8 Hackett, Mehl, Rilling, 2017), which required significant modifications to the basic coding system in order to capture the complexities of daily family life. Examples of these and other coding systems are available by request and as part of the OSF EAR Repository.…”

Female pups receive more maltreatment from stressed dams

“…Boys, as compared to girls, are more likely to be the target of aggression by abusive fathers (Jouriles & Norwood, ). A recent study found that fathers interacted differently with their sons and daughters, engaging in more rough and tumble play with their sons while singing more to their daughters (Mascaro, Rentscher, Hackett, Mehl, & Rilling, ). These behavioral differences corresponded with different patterns of brain activation in response to their child's facial expressions (Mascaro et al, ), suggesting a biological underpinning of these gender differences in caregiving.…”

“…A recent study found that fathers interacted differently with their sons and daughters, engaging in more rough and tumble play with their sons while singing more to their daughters (Mascaro, Rentscher, Hackett, Mehl, & Rilling, ). These behavioral differences corresponded with different patterns of brain activation in response to their child's facial expressions (Mascaro et al, ), suggesting a biological underpinning of these gender differences in caregiving. It is unclear how a two‐parent dynamic could contribute to outcomes of caregiver experience in human populations.…”

Temperament and social competence in preschool children from San Juan de Lurigancho: a preliminary study

“…A pesar de ello, el estudio brinda información de dos de las áreas temáticas más relevantes del desarrollo socioemocional de niños y niñas en edad preescolar y reporta resultados coherentes con las evidencias teóricas y empíricas actuales (Rothbart & Bates, 2006). Para futuras investigaciones, se recomienda incorporar variables del entorno como las prácticas de crianza familiar (Mascaro, Rentscher, Hackett, Mehl, & Rilling, 2017;Olson, Lopez-Duran, Lunkenheimer, Chang, & Sameroff, 2011;Raya, Pino, & Herruzo, 2009), el vínculo con las figuras de apego (Hong & Park, 2012) o la socialización de los roles de género (Olino et al, 2013).…”