Being a parent is a very intense experience for some men, to the point of approaching what a woman lives when she is a mother, as confirmed by several studies with parents who have shown physiological changes similar to those that occur in women.
These studies show that, biologically, men come into the world with the tools to be parents and enjoy this experience. You might think that some are not given to getting deeply involved in this wonderful situation because of the influence of cultural factors.
- Just as being a mother has different meanings for a woman.
- Men also have many different ways of coping with the experience of being a father.
- The truth is that nature has laid the foundation for the arrival of a child in both cases to be a pleasure.
- And something meaningful.
“I think being a parent inevitably changes your outlook on life. Don’t I get enough sleep and the simplest things in life satisfy me completely?Hugh Jackman?
Research conducted by Emory University and published in the journal Hormones and Behavior has investigated the relationship between the experience of parenting and hormonal changes, for this purpose a group of volunteers was recruited with one thing in common: they all had healthy children between the ages of 1 and 2.
All participants were followed by functional MRI of the brain. Each of the volunteers saw a photograph of their son, as well as another of an unknown child and adult.
Experience revealed that there was increased neural activity in the brain systems associated with reward and empathy when these parents looked at their children’s photos, due to an increase in the production of oxytocin, the famous ‘love hormone’. Previous studies have shown that the same is true of mothers.
These data corroborate the findings of other research conducted in 2014 and published in PNAS, which noted that parents who become the primary caregivers of a baby have brain activity very similar to that of mothers.
Postpartum depression is a state of sadness, emptiness and apathy that many women experience after the birth of their children, is estimated to affect up to 30% of mothers, and in some of them it is so remarkable that they are often mistaken for psychosis.
However, a study published in the journal Pediatrics led by Dr. Craig Garfield shows another situation, research found that a significant number of parents also showed signs of postpartum depression, it was concluded that these traits were more visible in parents who did not live with their children than in those who lived near puppies.
According to the survey, up to 10% of men who have children for the first time are also present, and it has been established that, unlike mothers, in parents, the equivalent of postpartum depression appears between the third and sixth months of life. The baby’s life.
According to Canadian psychologist Francine de Montigny, who has also studied the subject, one in ten parents suffer from postpartum depression, in her opinion, what triggers this situation is the fear of failure as a father and the competition for the attention and affection of the mother. .
Fatherhood has often been devalued, especially in strictly patriarchal societies. There is the idea that being a parent is an experience more associated with affection than responsibility. In recent years, many parents have been deeply involved in their children’s education and have shown that it is possible to strike a balance in this regard and move away from the traditional distribution of tasks.
The studies cited in this article support this. In fact, they show that the experience of being a parent causes positive hormonal changes. The increase in oxytocin production, observed in the first experiment mentioned above, implies the presence of a mood close to what we call happiness.
In the second study, which focuses on postpartum depression, the factors influencing it are not so much physiological, but psychological, the truth is that they are there and traditionally neglected, being a father is a wonderful experience that, if fully assumed, increases well-being, however, it is clear that men also need support and understanding to face this beautiful experience.