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'Older Fathers Have Geekier Sons' (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the interesting-studies dept.

An anonymous reader shares a BBC article: Men who delay starting a family are more likely to have "geekier" sons, a study suggests. They were brighter, more focused and less bothered about fitting in -- according to the "Geek Index" devised by King's College London. The mother's age had no impact, and daughters seemed to be immune. One scientist said a trend for delayed parenthood might mean we were heading towards a "society of geniuses" able to solve the world's problems. The findings are rare good news in the science of delayed fatherhood. Repeated studies have shown that older sperm is more prone to genetic errors and children are more likely to develop autism and schizophrenia.

17 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. "Good news" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Followed immediately by pointing out that men over 45 are virtually guaranteed to have autistic children.

    1. Re:"Good news" by GeekWithAKnife · · Score: 3, Interesting


      Your sarcasm is amusing...but the take away on the sperm front would probably be that you can should keep it as healthy as you can.

      We know that activities like smoking damages the quantity and quality of sperm. We also know that eating healthily and being physically active have wide ranging benefits including having a positive effect on sperm.

      My take away is that men should take care of themselves so their sperm is still very good quality at 35 and at the same time they have the financial, emotional and intellectual basis to become not only caring and loving but also effective fathers.

      Also, the likelihood of autism, schizophrenia and down syndrome in babies of older healthy parents is greatly over played. If memory serves a couple aged forty are three times as likely to have a child with down syndrome! - sounds like a huge risk...until you see figures like 1 in 350 is your base chance and that goes to 1 in 100 at 40. (Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/dise... )

      So if you are a young man or woman and you drink or you smoke, or you don't sleep, or you eat junk all the time, you dont exercise or even dabble in drugs - think about it.

      It never ceases to amaze me how a young guy can spend hours fixing and polishing his car or a young woman puts in so much effort into her looks and dress but their body?! it suffers abuses to no end. Your body is your only vehicle, treat it well and it will carry you.

      --
      A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
    2. Re:"Good news" by wyHunter · · Score: 2

      It is interesting to be a living case study - but I wonder how much was correlation versus causation? Computer science jobs existed by time your Dad was born.

  2. Can confirm. by dtmancom · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Had my only child, a male child, at the age of 35. He is now 11 and is very much Dad's science geek.

    Couldn't be prouder.

    1. Re:Can confirm. by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Funny

      I have the same, but my kid is as dumb as a rock but good at sports. We cancel each other out.

    2. Re:Can confirm. by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Anyone who has four degrees isn't too bright. They just don't want to get a real job.

  3. Can't play with kids since they're too old and... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    tired so the kids have to get smarter and play with themselves.

  4. Re:Correlation. by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    Correlation? More like a tautology.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  5. It's about the money by chispito · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The older you are when you have kids, the more you are earning, the more disposable income you (and your parents or in-laws) can spend on quality toys and activities, instead of just trying to keep the heat on and food on the table. Also you're probably more educated, so there's that.

    --
    The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    1. Re:It's about the money by AthanasiusKircher · · Score: 2

      Let's not forget maturity and life experience. Guys in the 20s (particularly early 20s) frankly still tend to a lot of stupid stuff. No, I'm not intending to insult any young people around here, and I'll fully cop to this myself. But it's the reason why insurance rates, for example, are so high for young men -- they get into more accidents because they do riskier things and simply aren't as mature.

      Eventually life experience kicks in -- for some later than others. By the time you're a little older, you also have had time to think about kids and maybe think about imparting your "wisdom" to them a bit. If you're a 20-year-old guy with a baby, you're just running around trying to make the damn thing stop screaming. If you're a 35-year-old guy with a kid, you're likely thinking about all the stupid crap you did when you were 20 and how to not do that with your kid.

      Also, let's face it -- older guys are less physical. If you're a young guy, you're probably out still playing stuff on the fields with your friends. If you're a little older, you may not be doing that as much. So what do you choose to do with your kids? Are you out there playing football and soccer every day, or are you more likely to spend some days doing something more intellectual with your kid indoors?

      Just generalizing wildly here, but there's a lot of possible factors...

  6. Likely the best explenation by ark1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "Geekier dads could be taking longer to start a family and pass on geeky traits to their children"

    1. Re:Likely the best explenation by quantaman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Geekier dads could be taking longer to start a family and pass on geeky traits to their children"

      Possibly, but I think another aspect could be the maturity of the father.

      Guys in their 20s spend more time hanging out with other guys doing active social activities

      Older guys are going more activities that are well structure and individual in nature.

      A child is going to pick up on and emulate those things.

      Shared activities also matter, an older father might spend more time deliberately training the child while a younger man might try to act as the child's playmate.

      --
      I stole this Sig
  7. Post-hoc bullshit by BenBoy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When do smart dads have kids? Later, when they're ready. When do autistic dads have kids? Later, when their successes outweigh their drawbacks, and they've learned to compensate. What sort of kids do dads have when they reproduce later? Smart. Autistic. Like their dads. Cuz genetics. Which is not to say that this is the explanation. It's just to say that the 'conclusions' drawn by this study (at least as summarized) are ... let's say speculative at best.

  8. more sperm mutations too by peter303 · · Score: 2

    On average each parent contributes 30 mutations to offspring. But fathers contribution is approximately one per year of age.

  9. Since when are geeks not worried about fitting in by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    we suck at it, but we worry about it (and a lot of other things, we tend to be neurotic).

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  10. Re:Can't play with kids since they're too old and. by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Funny

    the kids have to get smarter and play with themselves.

    That would explain why they need glasses, which places them higher on the "geek index".

  11. Re:Can't play with kids since they're too old and. by wyHunter · · Score: 2

    But doesn't the hairy palms cancel out the glasses on the geek scale?