Quality time with Dad decreases a daughter’s propensity for risky sexual activity, according to a study released last month.

The study, published in the journal Developmental Psychology, adds to a host of research that continues to highlight the importance of fathering for daughters.

Researchers Danielle DelPriore and Bruce Ellis of the University of Utah, and Gabriel Schlomer of the State University of New York at Albany, found an inverse relationship between the amount of quality fathering a daughter receives and her likelihood for promiscuous sex, unprotected sex, and sex while intoxicated.

While previous studies showed a link between less time with dad and risky sexual activity, some observers wondered whether genetics was somewhat to blame—a father prone to absence might pass on genes that made his daughter prone to risky behavior.

But this study derails that hypothesis.

For this study, researchers looked at families with two biological sisters, at least four years apart, in intact families, as well as families with a divorce or separation before the younger sister turned 14. Same family, same genetics, but two daughters with different amounts of quality fathering.

“We wanted to look into that ‘black box’ to see how a father’s behavior might change daughters’ environments in ways that promote or protect against risky sexual behavior,” DelPriore said.

Their conclusion: A quality relationship with a dad significantly influences a daughter’s behavior when it comes to risky sex.

“The prolonged presence of a warm and engaged father can buffer girls against early, high-risk sex,” said DelPriore, according to the The Wall Street Journal.

The authors note it was the quality of dad’s time in the home that made the biggest impact. When his influence and presence was positive, the older daughter—who spent more time with her father—delayed sexual activity and spent less time with sexually risk-prone peers. But more time with a distant and cold father seemed to have a negative impact on the older sister.

“It’s all about dosage of exposure to dads; the bigger the dose, the more fathering matters—for better and for worse,” concluded Ellis.

Marriage remains relevant

A new report from scholars at Washington’s American Enterprise Institute claims young adults succeed when they take traditional routes into marriage and parenthood.

As more Americans delay marriage and choose nontraditional paths, AEI says millennials may want to reevaluate. Young Americans are more likely to economically flourish if they follow the “success sequence”—getting at least a high school degree, working full-time, and marrying before having any children, in that order.

Millennials are the largest generation in U.S. history and 55 percent of those aged 28-34 had kids before they tied the knot. Nearly half who had a baby before marriage live in poverty while only 14 percent of those who married first are poor.

Report authors Wendy Williams and W. Bradford Wilcox found 97 percent of millennials who follow the full “success sequence” are not poor by the time they reach their prime young adult years, ages 28-34.

Regardless of race, socioeconomic class, or geography, education, work, and marriage continue to be fundamental pillars of the American dream, Wilcox said.

The report acknowledges higher income families, particularly white households, find it easier to adhere to the traditional adult progression. But Wilcox and Williams assert getting young Americans to sign onto the “success sequence” is more than just a cultural issue.

They argue lawmakers can help incentivize marriage by increasing the earned income tax credit and making sure Medicaid or other safety-net recipients don’t lose their benefits when they get married. The government also can help with public campaigns to promote marriage, as it did to curb high rates of teen pregnancy.

“We had great success there because we’re all in agreement that teen pregnancy is bad,” said Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “We’re not all in agreement on marriage.”

Haskins added it shouldn’t be a hard sell: “Kids who come from married families are better in just about every measurable way.” —Evan Wilt

States sort out lesbian parental rights

The Idaho Supreme Court last week ruled against a lesbian woman seeking custody and visitation rights for her former partner’s biological child.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, other states have heard similar cases and decided to give custody to former partners who consented to one partner’s insemination and participated in raising the child, even if they did not adopt the child.

But Idaho’s highest court disagreed. The judges ruled they were constrained by the state’s laws as written, and would not give a same-sex, non-married partner parental rights.

The Idaho case details are familiar: The couple decided they wanted to have a baby. One woman conceived using an anonymous sperm donor. The couple split when the baby was 2, but continued to share parenting responsibilities. In 2015, the child’s biological mother barred her former partner from contacting the child and rejected her financial support.

The ousted partner petitioned a court for adoption, guardianship, and visitation. A lower court dismissed her claim, but kept her visitation order in place. Both sides appealed.

Last week the Idaho Supreme Court ruled the former partner has no parental rights and terminated her visitation rights, claiming the biological mother has full custody because Idaho has no law allowing same-sex partners to seek the same rights as other biological or adoptive relatives.

“This court understands that family structures are changing, but it is not the role of this court to create new legal relations,” wrote Idaho Supreme Court Justice Robyn Brody for the court. “That is the business of the Idaho Legislature.” —K.C.

Young adults to parents: We want more relationship advice

Millennials are overwhelmingly interested in guidance from their parents on how to form loving, lasting relationships, according to a new Harvard study.

In a survey of more than 3,000 young adults and high school students nationwide, 70 percent said they wished their parents had given them more information about the emotional aspects of romantic relationships.

More respondents said they wanted guidance from their parents than those who asked for more guidance from health or sex-ed classes.

Older generations “are failing … miserably to prepare young people for romantic love, probably the most important thing they will do in life,” study author Richard Weissbourd told ABC News.

And while nearly 1 in 4 Millennials have divorced or separated parents, according to Pew Research, the study noted even young people from broken homes want their parents’ advice.

“There’s this idea that somehow you develop a relationship naturally,” one 27-year-old respondent said. “But it doesn’t happen naturally. It’s incredibly hard.” —K.C.

PBS hosts ‘trans dating’ website

The federally funded Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is diving into the world of transgender dating. A new PBS documentary set to air June 19 will include an on-screen advertisement about a new Q&A blog hosted on the PBS website about “trans dating.” The documentary, Real Boy, follows a transgender teenager transitioning from female to male. The film was produced by the Independent Television Service, a congressionally mandated filmmaker that received almost $90 million in federal funding in the last five years, according to CNS News. —K.C.