The ticking of the male biological clock?

Remember this exchange from When Harry Met Sally?

Sally: But it's there. It's just sitting there, like some big dead end. And it's not the same for men. Charlie Chaplin had kids when he was 73.

Harry: Yeah, but he was too old to pick them up.

Just as with women, the number of men having children later in life is increasing. People are marrying later, often starting a second family. Men, of course, are largely unrestricted by any biological reproductive timeline, although that seems to be changing for women with assisted reproduction, showcased to the extreme by this story.

Anecdotally, a number of older fathers report benefits to approaching parenthood later in life. They feel able to be more committed to parenting, being more financially secure, less pressured by work, having more leisure time. Certainly, this seems to have been the case in my own family. There's a sizeable gap between myself and my siblings and the relationship I had with my father seems to have been both qualitatively and quantitatively different to that reported by my siblings. My father eventually went on to have a second family and I could see the father-daughter relationship became even stronger and richer. The flipside of that, of course, is that my father unfortunately died when my half-sister was very young.

Social issues aside, increasing attention is being paid to potential health problems associated with late fatherhood. The risk of birth defects in women having children later in life is well documented. However, studies have reported potential links to increased risk of autism, schizophrenia among other health conditions in the offspring of older fathers.

This should not necessarily be a red flag to embracing fatherhood later in life. Like anything else, there's always a trade off. What it does suggest, however, is that men may have their own version of the so-called biological clock and might want to take that in consideration when planning their family.

Older fatherhood. What do you think? Try the new fangled poll in the sidebar (as long as this technical imbecile can get the code to work, that is!)

Postscript

If you're interested in reading more on late fatherhood and autism, check out this informative post from Moof.

Poll results

Is it ever too late to consider fatherhood?

Absolutely not. Maturity makes for better parenting. 9% (1 vote).

No, within reason (under 60). 18% (2 votes).

Yes, I'd worry about the father being there for the child. 64% (7 votes).

Yes, I'm concerned about the health risks for the child. 9% (1 vote).

Resources

Bray, I., Gunnell, D., & Davey Smith, G. (2006). Advanced paternal age: How old is too old? Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 60, 851-853. *
Reichenberg, A., Gross, M.D., Weiser, M.,Bresnahan, M., Silverman, J., Harlap, S. et al. (2006). Advancing Paternal Age and Autism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63, 1026-1032. *

*Abstracts only, subscription required for full article

Thanks to Leslie for sending me the references underlying this post.