The father's role in the facilitation of infant mental health

Many recent studies have focused on the nature and significance of father-infant relationships. These studies show that men are as capable of behaving sensitively as women are, although cultural sex-stereotypes usually prevent them from assuming a prominent role in child care. Nevertheless, most infants become attached to both their parents during the first year of life although they tend to establish primary relationships with their primary caretakers. During the second year of life, fathers encourage boys to focus attention on their fathers. This may facilitate the development of gender identity. In addition, the security of the father-infant attachment relationship may affect the infant's orientation to novel social situations. Fathers also affect infants indirectly via their influence on the children's mothers.