Photo/Illutration A father out walking with his children while pushing a stroller (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Children whose fathers actively get involved in child-rearing during infancy are less likely to suffer from mental issues when they turn 16, research suggests.

The findings of the National Center for Child Health and Development in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward indicate that a strong commitment to helping out with childcare from an early age “has a positive effect on the growth of offspring,” underscoring the significance of having programs in place to help new parents.

“Fathers who devote themselves to parenting from infancy tend to build good parent-child relationships, which in turn favorably impacts the mental health of 16-year-olds,” said Tsuguhiko Kato, a divisional chief at the center.

Kato and his colleagues analyzed the results of a follow-up survey by the health and education ministries on 18,510 households with children born in 2001.

The families were divided into four groups based on how often fathers performed childcare-linked tasks, such as feeding, changing diapers and bathing duties, when their offspring were 6 months old. The mental state of the children was assessed when they turned 16.

The outcome showed that children whose fathers actively helped raise their kids were 10 percent less likely to develop psychological problems compared with those born with passive fathers.

The other two groups were more than 5 percent less likely to develop mental issues, compared with children whose fathers tended to shun childcare duties.

The center’s December 2021 survey also looked at possible mental health issues that may have arisen from the COVID-19 crisis. It found that 9 to 13 percent of fifth- and sixth-graders at elementary school, as well as 13 to 22 percent of junior high school students, displayed signs of moderate or serious depression.

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