Old fathers - beneficial or deterimental

[Alfred001]

I understand there's been a lot of research recently on the consequences of fathering children at an older age. From what I've seen most research has shown that the older a guy gets the more mutations happen in the DNA his sperm carries, which has been associated with a greater risk of mental health in offspring.

I've seen some people suggest that it's correlation rather than causation with the reasoning, IIRC, that maybe the kind of guys who have children later in life are the kind of guys who have DNA that carries a greater risk of mental problems and that it's THAT that the studies are detecting, not a result of mutations. But this seems to be the minority view, from what I understand.

On the other hand, there's also been research showing that older fathers produce offspring with longer telomeres, which gives greater longevity (and health?).

I'm wondering whether anyone's aware of any other research into this and which do you think is better, given this and any other potential research - early or late fatherhood?

[mistermack]

52 minutes ago, Alfred001 said:

the kind of guys who have children later in life

Is there such a "kind of guy" ? And if there is, is the similarity genetic?

I find that idea highly unlikely.

[CharonY]

3 hours ago, Alfred001 said:

I've seen some people suggest that it's correlation rather than causation with the reasoning, IIRC, that maybe the kind of guys who have children later in life are the kind of guys who have DNA that carries a greater risk of mental problems and that it's THAT that the studies are detecting, not a result of mutations. But this seems to be the minority view, from what I understand.

In the scientific community this is most likely not a view at all. Typical indicators for late fatherhood are e.g. higher levels of education or advanced careers. 

[Alfred001]

On 8/23/2018 at 3:50 PM, mistermack said:

Is there such a "kind of guy" ? And if there is, is the similarity genetic?

I find that idea highly unlikely.

It could be guys who have the very kind of mental problems that they confer a larger risk of in the offspring, or at least guys who have tendencies in the direction of those problems.

So guys who are to a milder or more severer degree autistic, schizophrenic or socially inept in other ways that have connection to mental problems.

[Sensei]

On 8/23/2018 at 2:55 PM, Alfred001 said:

I understand there's been a lot of research recently on the consequences of fathering children at an older age.

Then show your references..

 

Governments could have such kind of data: they know who is father and mother of almost any citizen (at least officially, on "paper"), and at what age, they have/had offspring, and what happened with them during their lifetime. Whether these people ended up in e.g. psychiatric hospital, and how much of them, and how it correlates (or not correlates) with parent's age. From schools and universities it is possible to estimate their education level (at least on "paper").

 

Edited January 9, 2019 by Sensei

[Janus]

Second generation " late-born" here.  Grand dad was a bit shy of 54 when Dad was born, and Dad was just a few weeks short of 50 when I was born.  Don't know what kind of  formal education my Grandfather had, but Dad was pulled out of school after the 8th grade in order to help with the family farm.

[CharonY]

!

Moderator Note

Considering the highly speculative nature of OP I have moved the thread over here.

 

[peterwlocke]

can you give us a study.