他她話題:叫男人改掉壞習慣? 等他成爲父親吧!

If you're fed up with a feckless man in your life, don't despair ... there may be an age-old solution.

據英國《每日郵報》11月9日報道，如果你對生活中不負責任的男性伴侶感到厭倦，不要絕望……有一個古老的解決辦法。

Becoming a father for the first time really does make men grow up enough to turn their backs on alcohol, cigarettes and even crime, according to researchers.

調查發現，第一次做父親的確能使男人成熟起來，足以讓他們拋棄酒精、香菸，甚至不再犯罪。

And the "transformative effect" of fatherhood is particularly apparent in older men, they claim.

研究人員還聲稱，這種父性的“轉變效應”在年齡較大的男人身上表現得更加明顯。

The study reveals that fatherhood made men curb their reckless behaviour, with males in their mid-20s and early 30s more likely to mature when they become a dad than those who are younger.

研究顯示，成爲父親能使男性約束自己魯莽不負責任的行爲，那些二十四五歲到三十歲出頭的男人，在他們成爲父親時，比那些更年輕的男性更容易趨於成熟。

The U.S.-based scientists say that older men are especially likely to change their ways because they have matured to the point where they are willing to embrace fatherhood and leave bad habits behind.

美國科學家說，年長的男性尤其有可能轉變生活方式，因爲他們已經足夠成熟，願意接受成爲一個父親，並拋棄往日的壞習慣。

Researchers from Oregon State University studied 200 males aged 12-31 who were classed as "at risk" because of their destructive behaviour.

來自俄勒岡州立大學的研究人員調查了兩百名年齡在12歲到31歲之間的男性，這些人都因爲他們的破壞性行爲而被歸類爲“危險人羣”。

They monitored volunteers annually for 19 years, looking at how their intake of alcohol and cigarettes had changed, as well as the number of crimes they committed.

研究人員在19年間不間斷監測這些志願者，觀察他們酒精和香菸攝入量發生的變化，以及他們犯罪的次數。

While previous studies showed that marriage can change a man's negative behavior, they had not isolated the additional effects of fatherhood.

雖然以前的研究表明婚姻能夠改變一個男人的消極行爲，但他們並沒有將做父親產生的附加效果單獨分離出來。

The results, published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, found that men who were well into their 20s and early 30s when they first had children showed greater decreases in crime and alcohol use than their younger counterparts.

發表在《婚姻與家庭》雜誌上的研究成果指出，男性如果恰好在20多歲到30歲出頭這個年齡段有了自己的第一個孩子，那麼在犯罪率和酒精攝入量方面比起那些更年輕的男性會減少的更多。

Levels of tobacco use dropped among both older and younger men following the birth of their first child, probably because of warnings given over the dangers to infants' health posed by second-hand smoke.

隨着第一個孩子的誕生，菸草的使用量在較年長和較年輕的男性羣體中都會下降，這可能是出於二手菸會危及嬰兒健康的考慮。

Professor David Kerr, of Oregon State University and author of the study, said: "Fatherhood can be a transformative experience, even for men engaging in high risk behaviour. This presents a unique window of opportunity for intervention, because new fathers might be especially willing to make behavioural changes."

研究報告的作者，俄勒岡州立大學教授大衛•科爾說：“做父親是一種變革性的體驗，即使是對於那些總是做出高危行爲的男性來說也是如此。這也爲改變不良習慣創造了一個新的機會，因爲新上任的父親很可能特別渴望有一些行爲上的改變。”