Paternal care may influence perceptions of paternal resemblance

Volk, Anthony A.; Darrell-Cheng, Carolynn; Marini, Zopito A.

Original article:

Paternal care may influence perceptions of paternal resemblance

Evolutionary Psychology 8(3): 516-529 Anthony A. Volk, Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, tvolk@brocku.caCarolynn Darrell-Cheng, Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, CanadaZopito A. Marini, Department of Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Father-child resemblance is increasingly attracting attention from researchers interested in studying paternal investment. The current study sought to determine whether a quasi-experimental infant massage intervention would increase father’s perceptions of resemblance. The study included a dozen fathers in each of two groups: the first received an intensive series of lessons on infant-father massage along with their infants, while the second group served as a neutral control. We failed to find significant correlations between paternal investment and resemblance, but we found that fathers who participated in the infant massage intervention reported significantly larger post-study ratings of resemblance and lower ratings of paternal stress. This suggests that the relationship between father-child resemblance and paternal investment may be bidirectional.

Keywords

resemblance, infant facial cues, paternal care

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