长期以来，我们认为父亲只不过是孩子生活中权威和经济稳定的来源。然而，尖端研究在父亲和孩子之间画出了意想不到的联系，这迫使我们重新考虑我们的假设，并提出新的问题：当男性“怀孕”时，他们会发生什么变化？父亲会影响孩子的语言发展吗？在孩子出生时，作为一个比一般父亲年长的父亲，有什么风险和回报？在孩子发育的每个阶段，父亲的激素水平会发生什么变化？孩子会影响父亲的健康吗？父亲到底有多重要？
父亲重要吗？获奖记者、五个孩子的父亲保罗·雷伯恩（Paul Raeburn）在研究我们经常忽视的关于父母的最新科学发现时，推翻了许多关于父亲身份的神话和刻板印象。雷伯恩借鉴了神经科学家、动物行为学家、遗传学家和发展心理学家等的研究成果，带领我们经历了父亲身份的各个阶段，揭示了儿童和父亲之间从受孕到青春期直至成年的深刻生理联系，以及母亲和父亲之间关系的重要性。在这个过程中，他挑战了弗洛伊德的遗产和关于父母依恋的主流观点，并解释了我们如何自己成为更好的父母。
最终，雷伯恩向我们展示了父亲的角色与母亲的角色有着明显的不同，而接受父亲在年轻人生活中的重要性是我们都能从中受益的。
这是一本引人入胜、令人大开眼界、极具个人色彩的书，它为我们提供了一个全新的视角，来看待父亲在我们生活中的重要性，无论我们的家庭结构如何，父亲是否重要？将改变我们今天对父亲身份的看法。
Do Fathers Matter?: What Science Is Telling Us about the Parent We’ve Overlooked (Audiobook)
For too long, we’ve thought of fathers as little more than sources of authority and economic stability in the lives of their children. Yet cutting-edge studies drawing unexpected links between fathers and children are forcing us to reconsider our assumptions and ask new questions: What changes occur in men when they are “expecting”? Do fathers affect their children’s language development? What are the risks and rewards of being an older-than-average father at the time the child is born? What happens to a father’s hormone levels at every stage of his child’s development, and can a child influence the father’s health? Just how much do fathers matter?
In Do Fathers Matter? the award-winning journalist and father of five Paul Raeburn overturns the many myths and stereotypes of fatherhood as he examines the latest scientific findings on the parent we’ve often overlooked. Drawing on research from neuroscientists, animal behaviorists, geneticists, and developmental psychologists, among others, Raeburn takes us through the various stages of fatherhood, revealing the profound physiological connections between children and fathers, from conception through adolescence and into adulthood – and the importance of the relationship between mothers and fathers. In the process, he challenges the legacy of Freud and mainstream views of parental attachment, and also explains how we can become better parents ourselves.
Ultimately, Raeburn shows how the role of the father is distinctly different from that of the mother, and that embracing fathers’ significance in the lives of young people is something we can all benefit from.
An engrossing, eye-opening, and deeply personal book that makes a case for a new perspective on the importance of fathers in our lives no matter what our family structure, Do Fathers Matter? will change the way we view fatherhood today.
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