Fatherhood as a Component of Men's Health
- Craig F. Garfield, MD, MAPP;
- Elizabeth Clark-Kauffman, MHS;
- Matthew M. Davis, MD, MAPP
- Author Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute (Dr Garfield and Ms Clark-Kauffman) and Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University (Dr Garfield), Evanston, Ill; and Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit, Departments of Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Dr Davis).
- Corresponding Author: Craig F. Garfield, MD, MAPP, Department of Pediatrics, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute, 1001 University Pl, Evanston, IL 60201 (c-garfield{at}northwestern.edu).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- FAMILY
- FATHERS
- MEN
- RESEARCH
- SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Modern medicine increasingly understands phenomena specific to men's health. The notion of “men's health,” as distinguished from “women's health,” often centers on differences related to diseases of the reproductive organs, to conditions such as cardiovascular disease that manifest differently in part because of the influence of sex-specific hormones, or to shorter life expectancy for men vs women. This conceptualization of men's health, however, overlooks a central aspect of many men's lives—fatherhood.
The physical and mental health effects of being a father are understudied and largely unknown. This gap in current understanding is important because of its potential magnitude. Of the 108 million adult men in the United States, 66.3 million are fathers and the majority of men younger than 55 years have children in their homes.1
In addition, marked sociodemographic shifts in the US population are reminders that the stereotypical image of a traditional family, including a wage-earning father …
