@katrina2017 Here is a link to a
meta-analysis of multiple studies on roughhousing with fathers. It is
peer-reviewed (as are all 16 studies it analyzes), and the
total sample size is 1,521:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/imhj.21676
It's behind a paywall, because
academia sucks, but I will include some excerpts directly from the text:
- Aggression has a varied association with physical play. In the majority of studies, results were nonsignificant. However, two studies described moderate negative associations (e.g., r = −.43, p < .05), showing that aggression was lower when rough-and-tumble play was higher.
- Aggression appears to have a negative or nil association with father–child physical play, although the link between father control or dominance and higher child aggression when RTP is frequent is an important detail.
So regarding aggression, roughhousing probably doesn't have much of an effect, but if it does it's a good effect (less aggression).
The caveat in the second point is that if fathers are domineering and aggressive, then the RTP can increase aggression. This seems pretty obvious to me!
What about other outcomes?
Social competence (comprising popularity, peer competence, nonaggressive competitiveness, and social skills) was positively associated with all measured attributes of physical play. This effect was equal for boys and girls. The strong positive relationship between physical play and social competence also was demonstrated at the population level. This suggests it's not just good for individuals, but for communities/populations as well!
Emotional skills (anxiety, emotional skills, and emotional symptoms) were positively associated with physical play across all studies. In sum, emotional skills are higher in children who engage in regular roughhousing.
Self-regulation (composed of effortful control, participation in risky behaviors, hyperactivity, and attention regulation) effects varied from non-significant to large. In sum, self-regulation was positively associated with physical play frequency, duration, and quality in the individual studies, but the population effect size suggests great variation.
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Sounds like the research into this might be stronger and more comprehensive than you thought! Worth considering, since you seem to care about this topic. Cheers!