Comments on: Younger Dads, Healthier Child?

By: Not Good News for my Jake | Late to the Show

Not Good News for my Jake | Late to the Show — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:20:55 +0000

[...] Younger Dads, Healthier Child? [...]

By: Moi

Moi — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:16:59 +0000

I say, go for Younger husband, Cougar mom. At least That would be a more fun study….

By: Donna

Donna — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:17:52 +0000

I agree that people may warn, and they may also blame. I know that science is a communal process; scientists must get out their information in order to have it confirmed or refuted. I would say it isn’t like inventing which can be done more on your own. I don’t know how you stop people from misusing scientific discussion, either because they don’t understand the process or because they are using it for their own agenda.

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:43:22 +0000

What I wonder especially about these studies is what people (not necessarily scientists) will do with them—-will there be not so subtle “warnings” about what might happen if you’re older and have a child?

By: farmwifetwo

farmwifetwo — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:15:38 +0000

I hate these studies, no matter what the topic.

They are simply VENN diagrams. They are never scientific based, just assumptions. If they picked and chose another group of men… their study may have different results.

We could do the exact same here on this blog. Start a thread asking who was how old when our kids were born… probably have a bigger sample base… the results would be interesting.

By: Donna

Donna — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:49:05 +0000

I was glad that the article about the paper included two other possible interpretations. I guess it is just a pet peeve of mine, but I hate when associations are explained as if they are cause and effect.

“[Dr. Weiser says] It could be that men with poorer social skills get married later in life”

“Dr. Weiser doesn’t rule out the possibility that older fathers may have better resources for getting their boys tested for autism when symptoms arise.”

By: Naydi

Naydi — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:31:06 +0000

I think this actually reinforces the genetic theory- the older the parent, the older the genetic material, and the higher the chance of a random mutation. It happens with Down Syndrome too.

By: Regan

Regan — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:02:00 +0000

Weiser, M., Reichenberg, A., Werbeloff, N., Kleinhaus, K., Lubin, G., et. al. (2008). Advanced parental age at birth is associated with poorer social functioning in adolescent males: Shedding light on a core symptom of schizophrenia and autism. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34(6), 1042-1046. From abstract: "...Results: Compared with offspring of parents aged 25–29 years, the prevalence of poor social functioning was increased both in offspring of fathers younger than 20 years (odds ratio [OR] = 1.27, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08–1.49) and in offspring of fathers 45 years old (OR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.43–1.61). Male adolescent children of mothers aged 40 years and above were 1.15 (95% CI = 1.07–1.24) times more likely to have poor social functioning. Conclusions: These modest associations between parental age and poor social functioning in the general population parallel the associations between parental age and risk for schizophrenia and autism and suggest that the risk pathways between advanced parental age and schizophrenia and autism might, at least partially, include mildly deleterious effects on social functioning." Please note, "modest", "association", "suggest", "partially", and "mildly".

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 06:09:30 +0000

Yes, you should see Jim and Charlie bike-riding — too much fun!

By: M

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:42:53 +0000

“Younger dads, healthier child?”

Please. Scientists are always leaping to conclusions.

It’s just as likely that healthy children are causing their dads to age in reverse.

Obviously.