The Supporting Father Involvement study represents the first clinical trial focussed on encouraging father's involvement in upbringing of kids in low-and middle-income families.

The study compared father-only and father-mother interventions with each other, and evaluated the impacts on parents and children, said an YSM release.

'The bottom line is that parents experienced reduced stress and anxiety when fathers were given parenting and relationship tools and encouragement, especially along-side mothers,' explained Carolyn Pape Cowan, professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and study co-author.

These results are being published in the Journal of Marriage and the Family.