



3. Your dad may have an influence on how quickly you age, even before you're born

All chromosomes are capped with what are called telomeres, which basically prevent your DNA from unraveling. As you grow older, your telomeres become shorter. What's interesting is that a man's telomere length appears to be a strong predictor for his children's -- and that's true for both male and female offspring. Mothers also have a similar effect, but it's not nearly as strong. The research, published in the European Journal of Human Genetics, suggests that at least some of your natural lifespan is inherited -- although the scientists were quick to point out that "the father-child correlations diminished with increasing age," indicating the effect of life choices on aging.





4. Kids with tough but loving dads learn to be more persistent

Are you a patient person? You might just thank your dad. According to a study by Brigham Young researchers monitoring 325 heterosexual couples and their children, authoritative parenting -- not to be confused with authoritarian parenting -- was linked to an increased ability among children to stick with a difficult task.





5. Minorities are really good at playing with their kids

In today's media-saturated and hyper-programmed childrearing environment, making time to play with your kids can seem like a daunting task. What kind of families are best at doing it? Well, minority families, maybe. It turns out that Latino and African-American fathers are likely to be more engaged in caregiving and physical play with their children than fathers in white households, according to research from the University of Maryland. Drawing data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, scientists looked at everything from parental socioeconomic data, quality of the relationship between fathers and mothers, and symptoms of parental depression. Although blacks reported the highest rates of depressive symptoms, across all races and ethnicities higher educational attainment was linked to more verbally engaging activities like reading and singing (although negatively linked to physical play). How much fathers engage with their kids, the researchers conclude, has a lot to do with the kind of engagement they undertake -- whether via caregiving, physical play, or verbal.

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