Welcoming a baby can be a very daunting task, due to late night feedings, constant crying, incessant nappy changes and sleep deprivation.
The unprecedented pressures of parenting have prompted a handful of tired and exhausted fathers to drink their own water for the first time.
However, an October 2023 study from Stockholm University’s Department of Public Health Sciences in Sweden found that new fathers who took paternity leave from their jobs significantly reduced their risk of alcohol-related hospitalization.
“We found that after that [fathers’ paternal leave policy in Sweden] was implemented, there was a 34% decrease in [alcohol-related] hospitalization among fathers within two years after birth, as well as smaller decreases up to eight and 18 years after birth,” study author Helena Honkaniemi said in a statement.
Honkaniemi and his co-author Sol Juárez found that the more time first-time fathers around the world spent adjusting to parenting — rather than struggling to juggle work and parenting simultaneously — the less likely they were to use booze as a hangover.
Findings show that fathers who are given paid leave are less likely to rely on alcohol when dealing with parenting stress. Getty Images
“Employment-protected and adequately reimbursed parental leave can offer fathers flexibility during the transition to parenthood, a period often defined by financial instability and poor work-life balance,” the authors write. “This can result in decreased coping behaviors such as alcohol consumption.
“Additionally, fathers who spend more time at home may also be encouraged to practice better self-regulation around their children,” reads the report, “with fewer opportunities for leisure-time alcohol use.”
Since the paid parental leave system was first set up in Sweden in 1974, the proportion of days off the office claimed by fathers has increased from 1% to 30%, according to the report.
In 1995, when Swedish dads were given 30 days of paid leave, the percentage of men taking advantage of the time off increased from 43% to 75% — and showed an increase in psychiatry among new fathers.
Today, parents of children born in Northern European countries can use up to 480 days of work-protected paid leave together, of which 390 are reimbursed at approximately 80% of the parents’ earnings and 90 days at the rate universal flat.
But the perks of raising babies aren’t so great for working moms and dads in the US
Although there is no federal law guaranteeing paid parental leave in America, the Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA, provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid parental leave to eligible employees related to the birth or adoption of a child, according to the Department of Labor.
In Sweden, new parents are free to take more than a year of paid paternity leave, while parents in the US are offered more limited leave options. Getty Images/iStockphoto
However, FMLA is only available to 9-to-5ers in certain states and is often at the employer’s discretion based on company size.
In New York, expectant parents hoping to take leave when their child arrives are only eligible for an unpaid sabbatical if they have worked for their employer for at least 12 months — putting in at least 1,250 hours in the 12 months before the leave.
Wannabe live-in temporary caregivers must also work in a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles of the work site.
Researchers determined that the number of alcohol-related hospital visits among new fathers decreased with the number of fathers taking paid paternity leave. Getty Images/iStockphoto
But Big Apple moms like Cassidy Crough, 34, who gave birth to a stillborn baby at 36 weeks in March 2022, don’t qualify for extended absences. Since her loss, Crough — who struggled with medical complications and postpartum depression — has led the charge urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to modify the FMLA law to include mothers and fathers of stillborn babies.
And this may be a worthwhile change for anyone struggling with mental and emotional pain as a parent.
Studies have found that fathers enjoy better mental and physical outcomes as a result of paid paternity leave. Getty Images/iStockphoto
For the new study, analysts observed the alcohol-related hospitalizations and deaths of more than 220,000 first-time fathers of single children born in Sweden from January 1992 to December 1997. Over the course of 18 years, the scientists routinely followed up. investigate each father’s medical issues driven by passion.
Researchers identified alcohol-related hospital stays as issues related to intoxication, alcohol-related mental and behavioral disorders, as well as cardiovascular, stomach, liver and other alcohol-related diseases.
Honkaniemi and Juárez found a large drop in postpartum hospitalizations for fathers who took paid leave during the first two years of having their little one. The decrease in hooch-centric emergency room visits remained true during follow-up at both the eight-year and 18-year check-ins.
“Parents who balance multiple roles, especially between work and family life, may experience so-called role overload which manifests in stress and, ultimately, increased coping behaviors including alcohol use,” read the report. “Through adequate employment-related and financial protection, parental leave can reduce stress, related coping behaviors and, ultimately, poor mental health.”
The study’s authors hope policymakers move to provide paid paternity leave for all. Getty Images
Sweden-based researchers note that previous studies on the benefits of paid leave have proven beneficial for those starting families in the Land of Liberty as well.
“Quasi-experimental evidence from the United States … has found that state policies that introduce paid leave also reduce the risk of self-reported alcohol use among fathers,” the study said.
Juárez hopes the discovery inspires global change.
“Policymakers should consider that parental leave not only encourages more same-sex participation in childcare but can also reduce alcohol-related harm,” he said in a statement.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
