Bounty

Fathers who provide their sons with happy memories help them to become more stable and less stressed in later life, it has been suggested.

Memories of fishing trips or football matches with fathers could make young men more resistant to anxiety and more emotionally stable, scientists claim.

Motherly affection has the same effect, helping reduce the risk of babies suffering from stress and anxiety as they grow older, past research has shown.

The new US study focused on 912 men and women, aged 25 to 74, who were asked about the quality of the relationships they had with their parents as children. Men who remembered their fathers fondly were better able to cope with day-to-day stressful events than those who did not.

Psychologist Professor Melanie Mallers, from California State University, Fullerton, who led the research, said: "Most studies on parenting focus on the relationship with the mother. But, as our study shows, fathers do play a unique and important role in the mental health of their children much later in life."

Copyright Press Association 2010