School of Social Work, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA.
Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
Am J Mens Health. 2022 Jan-Feb;16(1):15579883221079152. doi: 10.1177/15579883221079152.
Fathers' engagement in infant caregiving is linked with positive social, emotional, and developmental outcomes in children; however, its relationship with fathers' own health is largely unknown. This longitudinal study examined associations between fathers' caregiving engagement with their 6-month-old infants and their physical activity, sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption, nighttime sleep duration, and depressive symptoms 6 months later when infants were 12 months old. Participants were 143 fathers of infants (62.7% non-Hispanic White, 82.3% with a bachelor's degree). Fathers reported their frequency of engagement in seven caregiving activities when infants were 6 months old. Fathers' physical activity, SSB consumption, nighttime sleep duration, and depressive symptoms were assessed when infants were 6 and 12 months old. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to assess if fathers who reported higher infant caregiving at 6 months had more positive health outcomes at 12 months, controlling for fathers' age, race/ethnicity, education, employment, household income, and the outcome at 6 months. Fathers who reported higher caregiving engagement when infants were 6 months old had increased odds of being sufficiently physically active 6 months later (unadjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.00, 1.41]; adjusted OR = 1.47, 95% CI = [1.11, 1.96]). No links were identified between fathers' caregiving engagement and their SSB consumption, nighttime sleep duration, or depressive symptoms. In summary, fathers' engagement in infant caregiving may be beneficial to their physical activity in the first year after birth. There was insufficient evidence in this study that the benefits of caregiving engagement were experienced broadly across multiple health outcomes.
父亲参与婴儿护理与儿童的积极社会、情感和发展结果有关；然而，其与父亲自身健康的关系在很大程度上尚不清楚。本纵向研究考察了父亲对 6 个月大婴儿的照顾参与度与其 6 个月后（婴儿 12 个月大时）身体活动、含糖饮料（SSB）摄入、夜间睡眠时间和抑郁症状之间的关联。参与者为 143 名婴儿的父亲（62.7%为非西班牙裔白人，82.3%拥有学士学位）。父亲报告了婴儿 6 个月大时参与 7 种照顾活动的频率。当婴儿 6 个月和 12 个月大时，评估了父亲的身体活动、SSB 摄入、夜间睡眠时间和抑郁症状。使用多变量逻辑回归分析来评估在婴儿 6 个月时报告更高的婴儿护理参与度的父亲在 12 个月时是否有更积极的健康结果，控制了父亲的年龄、种族/族裔、教育程度、就业状况、家庭收入以及 6 个月时的结果。在婴儿 6 个月大时报告更高的照顾参与度的父亲，在 6 个月后有更高的可能性进行足够的身体活动（未调整的优势比 [OR] = 1.19，95%置信区间 [CI] = [1.00，1.41]；调整后的 OR = 1.47，95% CI = [1.11，1.96]）。未发现父亲的照顾参与度与 SSB 摄入、夜间睡眠时间或抑郁症状之间存在关联。总之，父亲参与婴儿护理可能对他们出生后第一年的身体活动有益。本研究没有充分的证据表明照顾参与的益处广泛体现在多种健康结果上。
