The following story tip sheet is being made available to news editors and directors.
Father’s Day is Sunday June 15. To help honor dads, the University of Iowa is offering a short list of experts who can talk about a range of topics from the role fathers play in society to how they communicate with their infant children.
TV stations from outside the Iowa City area that would like to interview subjects remotely via two-way video, or media looking for experts not included here, may call Amy Mattson in the UI Office of Strategic Communication at 319-384-0070, or email amy-mattson@uiowa.edu.
Masculinity, role of dads in society
Expert: William Ming Liu, professor in the UI College of Education Department of Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
Quote: "During Father's Day, it's important to take time to reflect upon how men's identities as fathers are shaped and influenced by myriad complex factors. The roles of fathers have changed dramatically over the past few decades with more men taking on proactive roles as parents who are just as likely to be involved as engaged co-parents, attending parent teacher conferences, helping a son or daughter with a science or art project, engaging in nurturing and care taking roles, being involved in children’s educations, etc."
Expert contact: 319-335-5295 or william-liu@uiowa.edu
UI Communications contact: Lois J. Gray, 319-384-0077, 319-430-3740 (cell) or lois-gray@uiowa.edu
Dads and parental bonding
Expert: Sanghag Kim (who has published a study showing that fathers can bond as closely with children as mothers and why at least one close parental bond is important to children)
Quote: “Some people think the father is not good enough to be the primary caregiver,” says Kim, who earned his doctorate in sociology at the UI in 2011. “Our data show otherwise.”
Expert contact: 319-335-0500 or sanghkim@iowa.uiowa.edu
UI Communications contact: Richard Lewis, 319-384-0012 or richard-c-lewis@uiowa.edu
Related link: http://now.uiowa.edu/2012/10/parental-bonding-makes-happy-stable-child
Dads and infant communication
Expert: Julie Gros-Louis, assistant professor in the UI Department of Psychology
Quote: "Over the past decade or two, fathers have become increasingly involved in parenting, with more stay-at-home dads and couples who share parenting responsibilities equally.Although research has traditionally focused on mothers’ relationships with infants, more research is focusing on fathers’ relationships. Studies of infant communication have shown that although fathers and mothers respond at similar rates to theirinfants when they babble, point or otherwise try to communicate, both parents respond differently and thus have a unique impact on their child's language development.”
Expert Contact: 319-384-1816 or julie-gros-louis@uiowa.edu
UI Communications Contact: Amy Mattson, 319-384-0070 or amy-mattson@uiowa.edu