Credit: Sean Gallup

Researchers of a new study have found that fathers of toddler daughters tend to be more attentive to their children compared with fathers with sons.

Daughters And Sons Treated Differently By Fathers

Jennifer Mascaro, from Emory University in Atlanta, and colleagues monitored the interaction of fathers and their toddler children over a 48-hour period and found a striking difference with the way fathers spoke to and played with their children depending on the child’s gender.

Fathers of girls spend about 60 percent more time attentively responding to their child than those with sons. They also spent about five times more whistling and singing with their daughter and talked more openly about emotions such as sadness.

Fathers of boys, on the other hand, were observed to spend about three times as long daily engaging in rough and tumble play with their children. They also tend to use more words linked to achievement such as “win,” “best,” and “proud.”

The researchers also conducted MRI brain scans on the fathers who participated […]