Quality parenting by dads cuts daughters’ risky sexual behaviour

A new study conducted by researchers from Norton School shows that fathers who provided high-quality parenting to their daughters, reduced the incidence of risky sexual behavior.

"Girls who receive lower quality fathering tend to engage in more risky sexual behavior in adolescence. We know that poor fathering and daughters' risky sexual behavior go together, but we haven't known why and haven't known how. Our study was meant to figure out that issue," said Bruce J Ellis, the study's lead author.

Ellis and his colleagues developed a special methodology to test for the impact of fathers on their daughters' sexual risk-taking behaviour.

They looked at 59 pairs of sisters from families in which the parents had divorced and the father moved out and compared them with 42 pairs of sisters from intact families. Sisters were full biological siblings whose age difference spanned an average of about 7 years.

"It turned out that it didn't matter that much how long each daughter lived with her father, but rather what he did when he was there," explained Ellis.

The comparative study showed that living for longer periods of time with a father who provided high-quality fathering reduced risky sexual behavior.

On the other hand, spending more time with a dad who provided low-quality fathering actually increased risky sexual behavior.

The study will be published in the journal Development and Psychopathology.