What’s the happiest place in the world? Some people would say it’s Disney World. But according to the United Nations’ World Happiness Report, the happiest country is Norway. While it’s impossible to say exactly why this Scandinavian nation is so blissful, citizens of less satisfied countries like the United States — which ranked 14th in the report — should consider Norway’s parental leave laws.
After every birth, both parents are entitled to a two-week leave, and then they divide a subsequent 46-week parental leave at 100 percent of their salary, or 56 weeks at 80 percent. Why is this significant?
Maternal leave has enormous benefits. There are countless advantages to women and babies spending their first months together — from reducing infant mortality to the well-being of mothers to a positive impact on the child’s cognitive development.
[See: 10 Ways to Make Your Childbirth Easier.]
But when evaluating the advantages of maternal leave, one subject often gets lost: the importance of providing fathers the opportunity to spend time their child. In Norway, not only do men have a right to parental leave, but a quota of 10 weeks is reserved for them by law. Ninety percent of fathers take at least 12 weeks’ paternity leave. Research into brain plasticity among both mothers and fathers sheds light on why this effort to get fathers to take leave is so essential.
A mother’s brain changes during pregnancy and when she spends time with her newborn. Immediately after childbirth, the size of her brain increases, for example. Researchers have observed an increase in gray matter in the parts of the brain responsible for emotion and reasoning. The biochemical changes that accompany motherhood likely contribute to the mother becoming “maternal” — more sensitive, protective and even more anxious.
Yet “maternal” is the wrong word here because research suggests that fathers undergo a similar process. In the case of primary-caregiving fathers, the same parts of the brain that are activated in mothers — such as the amygdala which regulates emotion — are activated in fathers.
Motherhood also leads to a rise in oxytocin levels. Oxytocin, sometimes referred to as a “happy hormone,” helps the mother bond with her baby. Because levels rise during labor and nursing, oxytocin was once considered a “maternal” hormone. But here, too, the pattern is similar for fathers, as men experience a rise in oxytocin levels when they spend time with their babies.
[See: 10 Things No One Tells You About Breast-feeding.]
In Sweden, parents are offered 480 days of paid parental leave, with each parent granted an exclusive right to 90 of those days. A study of Swedish fathers who took 120 or more days of leave revealed that they had developed closer emotional relationships with their children. When fathers take leave, they increase their chances of becoming more involved parents, and it can also have a beneficial effect on the child’s development.
Paternal leave laws could also help solve the “emotional labor” gender divide. In part because mothers are more likely to stay home after the babies are born, women typically spend more time than men doing unpaid domestic labor, such as cleaning and child care, even when the mothers return to work. This leads to several complications: Women have less time for higher education and their careers, the children learn stereotypically gendered patterns in the home, which they ‘re likely to repeat, and the imbalance often causes tension within the marriage. When men take their share of parental leave, the new model addresses all of these problems.
Despite the benefits, though, there’s still stigma surrounding paternity leave. We live in a society that generally values men who work over men who take time off from work to be with their families. In the United States, there isn’t yet legislation mandating paid maternity leave, let alone paternal leave. Among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD, and the European Union, the U.S. is the only one that offers no national parental leave program.
[See: How to Promote Safe Sleep for Your Infant.]
Why are Norwegians so happy? It might have something to do with their family leave program. When mothers and fathers are both able to spend time with their babies, it’s good for the entire family.
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Let Fathers Be With Their Babies originally appeared on usnews.com
