I just read a fascinating post at FamilyStudies.org about the effect of fathers on daughters’ development. In addition to what you might expect (better academic, social, relationship outcomes) there
was this nugget about how fathering affects their daughters biological ability to process stress and the consequences that has on mental and relational health.
An emerging body of research suggests one more way that dads may shape their daughters’ mental health and relationships in adulthood: scholars have found an intriguing link between the way daughters deal with stress as adults and the kind of relationships they had with their dads during childhood. For example, undergraduate women who did not have good relationships with their fathers had lower than normal cortisol levels. And people with low cortisol levels tend to be overly sensitive and overly reactive when confronted with stress. Indeed, the low cortisol daughters were more likely than the higher cortisol daughters (who had the better relationships with their dads) to describe their relationships with men in stressful terms of rejection, unpredictability or coercion. READ THE FULL POST HERE.
To learn more about building healthy, godly, and loving relationships with your kids, check out Parenting with Grace: A Catholic Parents’ Guide to Raising (almost) Perfect Kids.