Harvard Study Points to Improved Dad-Child Relationships During Pandemic

If I were to ask you to guess the percentage of dads who say their relationships with their children have improved during the pandemic, how would you respond? Would it be 30 percent, 45 percent, 55 percent?

Try 68 percent. That’s right, according to a new study of dads by the Making Caring Common Project at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. More good news is the percentage holds regardless of dads’ race, class, educational attainment, and political affiliation.

The study takes a deep dive into how the pandemic has affected dads’ relationships with their children. It found that dads are:

• Having more meaningful conversations with their children.
• Getting to know their children better.
• Sharing more with their children about their own lives.
• Appreciating their children more.
• Discovering new, shared interests with their children.

Want to know more details about the study’s findings? Download the report here. (It’s a quick read. I promise!).

Have you discussed with the dads you serve about how the pandemic has affected their relationships with their children?

If so, what have they said about its positive or negative effects?