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Effect of Father Engagement on Child Behaviors
Abstract
Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey (FFS), we examine the engagement patterns of fathers and mothers in married and cohabiting households to determine whether father engagement is associated with childhood behaviors independent of the mother’s characteristics and her level of engagement. Engagement activities were measured when the child was 5 years old with a behavioral outcome when the child was 9 years old. We found significant and negative associations between father engagement and children’s behavioral problems, independent of maternal engagement.
... Guided by such theoretical frameworks, most parenting studies have focused almost exclusively on mother-child dyads [50]. However, over the years, and considerably among emergent research, studies have begun to examine and unpack the influence of the father-child relationship and father involvement on child outcomes [17,[51][52][53]. Father involvement and the quality of the father-child relationship, such as frequent and highquality interactions with the child, convey parental responsiveness to the child's needs, further fostering a protective bond as children tend to feel a greater sense of safety. ...
With much research into physical, cyber, and verbal bullying victimization, social bullying victimization is a type of victimization that can be hidden. Studies about Black father involvement have found involvement to be a buffer to adverse and risky behaviors of children, including different forms of victimization experienced by their daughters. This study examined one gap in the literature: the direct and potentially indirect associations between father involvement and father–child relationship quality on child reports of social bullying victimization among girls. The cross-sectional sample of 368 Black fathers and their daughters was sourced from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. Data from wave 5 were selected for the child (age 9) and father because social bullying victimization was first measured at this time point. Logistic regression analysis findings showed father involvement was associated with lower social bullying victimization. In addition, talking and sharing ideas quite well rather than extremely well with their fathers was associated with higher odds of social bullying victimization. Father–daughter relationship quality did not mediate the father involvement and social bullying victimization relationship. Findings provide additional support to include fathers, particularly Black fathers, in intervention/prevention efforts and the importance of increasing awareness and benefits of father involvement in subtle forms of victimization such as social bullying victimization among Black families.
... The family benefits of father involvement include enhanced social and academic development in children and improvements in mothers' receipt of prenatal care (Bronte-Tinkew et al. 2008;National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse 2007;Alio et al. 2011;Martin et al. 2007;Howard et al. 2006). However, challenges related to poverty, relationships, and criminal justice involvement make it difficult for lowincome fathers to be as engaged as they may want to be in the lives of their children (Bryan 2013;Edin and Nelson 2013;Mincy et al. 2016;Carlson et al. 2017). ...
IntroductionSince 2010, the Office of Population Affairs (formerly the Office of Adolescent Health) has offered funding to support expectant and parenting youth through the Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF). PAF grantees typically focus on serving young mothers, so programs serving young fathers are more limited.Methods
Based on a purposive sample of nine past and current PAF grantees that serve young fathers, this study describes the overall program designs, provides a detailed view of the challenges to serving young fathers, and identifies key strategies for successful father engagement.ResultsAcross grantees, program components were largely the same for both young fathers and mothers. Recruitment and engagement were the most commonly cited challenges to young fathers’ participation in the PAF-funded programs.DiscussionSuccessful strategies for serving young fathers included recruiting from places that fathers naturally frequent, creating program space welcoming to fathers, and hiring staff who understand the experiences of young fathers.
... We found that father engagement during infancy was negatively associated with mothers' parenting stress, which, in turn, was associated with lower levels of child aggression in late childhood. This finding is consistent with other evidence supporting the positive effects of father involvement on attenuating child behavior problems [49,50], while also expands the literature by suggesting that the benefits of father engagement on child development can start as early as the period of infancy through reducing mothers' parenting stress. By specifically revealing the critical indirect effects of fathers' child caring activities during infancy, this study contributes to literature of fathers' influences on child development in the family systems. ...
Child aggression and its dire consequences cause social problems. Informed by family systems theory and parenting stress theory, this study specifically examined the mediating pathways from father engagement to child aggression through maternal parenting stress, child resistant attachment, and maternal physical abuse. We conducted a secondary data analysis on 2016 mother–child dyads from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study by building structural equation models. We found indirect effects of father engagement on child aggression through influencing mothers’ parenting stress. Children’s attachment and mothers’ physical abuse mediated the effects of mothers’ stress on child behavior-based aggression and verbal- and mood-based aggression. Interventions should target fostering fathers’ engagement, alleviating mothers’ parenting stress and changing mothers’ abusive parenting, and improving mother–child attachment.
Based on social demands for involvement and adaptability that are required to be a good father in contemporary United States culture, this study explored young adults’ perceptions of paternal support and how it changed after they transitioned to college. Thirty-seven college students were interviewed. Taxonomic analysis led to seven types of paternal support and three themes regarding changes in support. Using the generative fathering framework (Hawkins & Dollahite, 1997), the findings are discussed based on how these students’ perceptions of paternal support fit within cultural ideals of fathering and gendered notions of support.
Prior research has informed policymakers and practitioners of racial biases and consequences of structural conditions that disproportionately affect African American males relative to white males, but there is now a need to move beyond simple race dichotomies and place greater emphasis on within-group diversity and positive life outcomes. We highlight three areas in previous research that have potential for advancing understanding of well-being among black men and boys. These include (1) a shift from deficit-focused approaches toward an emphasis on resilience, (2) greater focus on the characteristics and influences of family and other social networks, and (3) a socio-cultural perspective on community violence and trauma. We briefly review research in these areas and discuss the role that adaptive racial socialization plays in each. Based on these findings we provide suggestions for future research.
amilies have long been recognized as a major socialization agent for the development of children’s social behavior. However, the definition of family has changed to view the family as a social system in which fathers, siblings, and the marital relationship all affect social development. It has also become increasingly important to examine the effects of contextual processes on child social development. These include extended family, adult mentors, and children’s peers. The aim of this chapter is to examine the links between fathers and children’s social development, especially their relationships with peers. We define social development as the description and explanation of changes in children’s social behavior, perceptions, and attitudes across age (Parke & Clarke-Stewart, 2010). Our chapter also focuses primarily on father’s contributions to children’s social development in middle childhood because, in part, children’s opportunities for social interaction with peers and non-family adults intensify during this period as children attend school on a regular basis.
We expand our 2007 heuristic model of father involvement using recent research on the dynamic and reciprocal processes by which fathers influence children's development over time. Based on new evidence, our expanded model incorporates more dynamic reciprocity, temporal factors, and nuanced considerations of context in which fathers parent. We identify aspects of context as well as fathers' personality and behavior that are central to the next generation of studies on fathers. We highlight studies related to fathering versus mothering, discuss ecological theory and how it has been used to understand fathering, and present an expanded version of our model.
In this article, we use data on biological fathers (n = 597) and mothers (N = 1,550) from 12 sites of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHS study) to examine the type and frequency of father involvement. We use a three-part model of father involvement to examine whether fathers participating in the EHS study are accessible to, engaged with, and show responsibility for their two-year-old children. We also examine patterns of reported father involvement by relationship status and residency. We find that more than 80% of all two-year-old children in the EHS study have accessible biological fathers, with the majority of nonresident boyfriends and nonresident friends and more than a third of fathers in no relationship with the mother seeing their children at least once in three months. These accessible fathers are engaged in a range of activities and show responsibility for their children, although patterns vary by the father-mother relationship status and father residency. More specifically, fathers who had at least a romantic relationship with the mother were more involved with their children across types of involvement than those in no relationship. Associations between relationship status and father engagement and responsibility remained after controlling for demographic variation among fathers in different relationship groups. A significant proportion of fathers who had no relationship with the mother of their child had some contact with the child, suggesting that the relationship between mother and father is not the only factor helping fathers stay involved in their children’s lives. Finally, fathers report doing a lot more caregiving than has been suggested by other studies.
C ommon sense suggests, and research confirms, that one of the critical elements of children's healthy development is the participation of parents in important activities in their children's lives. Mothers and fathers who are consistently and positively involved in their children's lives help them to grow up with a strong sense of self, a feeling of security, and a host of other positive characteristics. In most U.S. families, mothers generally are the parents who are most engaged in activities with the children. But in this month that is set aside for celebrating fathers, it seems especially appropriate to recognize that many fathers are very much engaged as well. Fathers may be involved in their children's lives in somewhat different ways than mothers, but many fathers are carrying a significant part of the parenting load. At the same time, we must acknowledge that there are some fathers who have infrequent or no contact with their children. This Research Brief brings together data from multiple sources to report on the involvement of fathers in their children's lives in four key areas: general activities, school activities, limit-setting, and religious activities. The data sources are the 1997 Panel Study of Income Dynam-ics (PSID), the 1999 National Household Education Survey (NHES), and the 1996 National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). 1 A more extensive statistical profile of fathers will be available from Child Trends in late 2001.
This study assessed three dimensions of parent style, autonomy support, involvement, and provision of structure in 64 mothers and 50 fathers of elementary-school children in Grades 3–6, using a structured interview. Construct validity data for the interview ratings suggested that the three parent dimensions were reliable, relatively independent, and correlated with other parent measures in hypothesized ways. Aspects of children's self-regulation and competence were measured through children's reports, teacher ratings, and objective indices. Parental autonomy support was positively related to children's self-reports of autonomous self-regulation, teacher-rated competence and adjustment, and school grades and achievement. Maternal involvement was related to achievement, teacher-rated competence, and some aspects of behavioral adjustment, but no significant relations were obtained for father involvement. The structure dimension was primarily related to children's control understanding. Results are discussed in terms of the motivational impact of the parent on school competence and adjustment and in terms of transactional models of influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Fathers and mothers (
n = 120) of preschool-aged children completed 2 measures assessing fathers' behavioral involvement in child care (i.e., the amount of time that the father was the child's primary caregiver and the number of child-care tasks performed). The results reaffirm the findings from previous studies that father's long work hours can be a barrier to greater participation in child care but that mothers' extended work hours serve to increase father participation in child care. Women's perception of their husbands' competence as parents and marital satisfaction also explain fathers' involvement. Fathers' gender role ideology and attitudes about the fathers' role appear important for fathers' involvement in child care, and findings indicate that men's involvement may be more self-determined than previously believed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Although hundreds of studies have documented the association between family poverty and children's health, achievement, and behavior, few measure the effects of the timing, depth, and duration of poverty on children, and many fail to adjust for other family characteristics (for example, female headship, mother's age, and schooling) that may account for much of the observed correlation between poverty and child outcomes. This article focuses on a recent set of studies that explore the relationship between poverty and child outcomes in depth. By and large, this research supports the conclusion that family income has selective but, in some instances, quite substantial effects on child and adolescent well-being. Family income appears to be more strongly related to children's ability and achievement than to their emotional outcomes. Children who live in extreme poverty or who live below the poverty line for multiple years appear, all other things being equal, to suffer the worst outcomes. The timing of poverty also seems to be important for certain child outcomes. Children who experience poverty during their preschool and early school years have lower rates of school completion than children and adolescents who experience poverty only in later years. Although more research is needed on the significance of the timing of poverty on child outcomes, findings to date suggest that interventions during early childhood may be most important in reducing poverty's impact on children.
Using 6 longitudinal data sets, the authors estimate links between three key elements of school readiness--school-entry academic, attention, and socioemotional skills--and later school reading and math achievement. In an effort to isolate the effects of these school-entry skills, the authors ensured that most of their regression models control for cognitive, attention, and socioemotional skills measured prior to school entry, as well as a host of family background measures. Across all 6 studies, the strongest predictors of later achievement are school-entry math, reading, and attention skills. A meta-analysis of the results shows that early math skills have the greatest predictive power, followed by reading and then attention skills. By contrast, measures of socioemotional behaviors, including internalizing and externalizing problems and social skills, were generally insignificant predictors of later academic performance, even among children with relatively high levels of problem behavior. Patterns of association were similar for boys and girls and for children from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.
This paper examines interrelations between biological and social influences on the development of self-regulation in young children and considers implications of these interrelations for the promotion of self-regulation and positive adaptation to school. Emotional development and processes of emotion regulation are seen as influencing and being influenced by the development of executive cognitive functions, including working memory, inhibitory control, and mental flexibility important for the effortful regulation of attention and behavior. Developing self-regulation is further understood to reflect an emerging balance between processes of emotional arousal and cognitive regulation. Early childhood educational programs that effectively link emotional and motivational arousal with activities designed to exercise and promote executive functions can be effective in enhancing self-regulation, school readiness, and school success.
An economy that operates 24/7 – as the United States does – imposes special burdens on workers. Two-fifths of all employed Americans work mostly during evenings, nights, weekends, or on rotating shifts outside the traditional daytime hours. Employment at such times has significant implications for the health and well-being of workers and their families. This presentation highlights findings from my book (same title). I focus on the effects of nonstandard work schedules on family functioning and show how these schedules disrupt marriages, alter parent-child interaction, and generate complex child-care arrangements. The data come from two large-scale U.S. surveys. I argue that the growth in women's employment, technological change, and other demographic changes gave rise to the growing demand for late-shift and weekend employment. The data indicate that most Americans who work these hours do so primarily because it is a job requirement, rather than a choice based on personal considerations. The consequences of working nonstandard schedules often differ for men and women. Moreover, these schedules disproportionately affect the working poor. But the prevalence of nonstandard work schedules is pervasive throughout the population, and such schedules have created a new rhythm of daily life within many American families, including those with two earners and those with absent fathers. This demands more public attention and expanded research.
After a long period of scholarly neglect, social scientists are finally beginning to pay attention to the influence of fathers on children. This new tide of interest in the role of fathers has been so strong that the standard cliche that fathers have been slighted in studies of family behavior hardly applies any longer. Recent research on teenage parenthood represents a particularly good example of the growing interest in the extent and consequences of male involvement. Years ago Clark Vincent (1961), in a classic study of unmarried mothers, took note of the social invisibility of unmarried fathers. Vincent traced the inattention to the fathers to a number of dIfferent sources. The principal one, he claimed, could be traced to the patriarchal assumption in American culture that females must be held primarily accountable for sexual transgressions: The lack of research on unmarried fathers may be very inconsistent with the fact that they represent one-half the illicit-conception equation, but is quite consistent with, and can be understood within the context of, other social practices and attitudes (p. 5). For nearly a quarter of a century Vincent's observation was occasionally registered, but left unchallenged. Not until the late 1970s did researchers begin to take full cognizance of the missing male partner of teenage parents. In the past five years a veritable outpouring of studies has appeared on teenage fatherhood and the male partners of teenage mothers. Several recent books on this topic have culled the diverse and scattered literature on this subject (see Elster and Lamb 1986; Robinson 1988). And an excellent review by Parke and Neville (1987), commissioned by the Panel on Adolescent Pregnancy and Childbearing, has organized and synthesized the burgeoning research on teenage fatherhood. Not surprisingly, large gaps remain in our understanding of how males contribute to the process of early family fonnation and of the consequences of young fathers' involvement for the economic and psychological well-being of their offspring. As Parke and Neville note, almost all research on these critical issues is confined to the transition to parenthood and the period immediately following childbirth. Next to nothing is known about patterns of support and participation by fathers beyond infancy into later childhood and adolescence. This void in our information about the continuing role of fathers means that we are largely ignorant of the long-term consequences of paternal involvement for the development of children and young adults. There are, however, studies on the effect of fathers' participation after marital disruption has occurred. Many researchers have assumed that greater support from nonresidential fathers would reduce the ill effects of divorce (Chase-Lansdale and Hetherington 1989; Emery 1988; Weiss 1975). A few small-scale studies have produced findings that are consistent with that assumption (Hetherington, Cox, and Cox 1978; Hess and Camara 1979; Wallerstein and Kelly 1980). However, results obtained from a nationally representative sample of children in maritally disrupted families found that nonresidential fathers' involvement was unrelated to a variety of child outcomes (Furstenberg, Morgan, and Allison 1987). Children who had more frequent contact with their fathers and had closer relations were not performing better socially or emotionally in mid-adolescence. What might explain the perplexing finding that fathers' involvement does not matter more to the well-being of children? First, the level of paternal involvement by fathers living outside the home could be too low to have much impact on the child. Even children with relatively regular relations might experience relative deprivation and be sensitive to what is lacking in their relationship with their fathers. Second, the effects of participation might vary widely, depending on the way that the fathers' attention was received by the residential parents. If mothers were unwelcoming or hostile to high levels of involvement, any positive impact might be negated. More involved fathers could pose a threat to the authority of residential parent surrogates (i.e., stepparents, boyfriends, uncles, and the like), precipitating conflict and competition. Finally, it is conceivable that fathers generally matter less than we might imagine. If relations with mothers (or mother surrogates) are positive, the added benefit of a good relationship with a father may not be very significant. It is 4ifficult to ascertain whether these possibilities apply more broadly to the situation of adolescent parents and their partners. We set them forth only as a reminder that the seemingly obvious benefits for children of paternal participation in disrupted (or even intact) families cannot be assumed without stronger evidence than has been produced to date. This chapter examines the consequences of paternal involvement for children's well-being in families formed by adolescent blacks in an effort to advance our knowledge about the impact of fathers' involvement on children's well-being in a population at great risk of long-term disadvantage. This research is one of the few to consider the effects of paternal involvement on children in later adolescence and early adulthood. l'hrough the use of a unique longitudinal data set, we were able to examine the extent and quality of male involvement in the lives of children of teenage mothers for 20 years and to analyze the effect of that involvement on children's development and well-being as they became young adults. C~an we demonstrate that participation by nonresidential fathers (both in and outside the home) affects the well-being of children in later life?.
American fathers are a highly diverse group, but the breadwinning, live-in, biological dad prevails as the fatherhood ideal. Consequently, policymakers continue to emphasize marriage and residency over initiatives that might help foster healthy father-child relationships and creative co-parenting regardless of marital or residential status. In Nurturing Dads, William Marsiglio and Kevin Roy explore the ways new initiatives can address the social, cultural, and economic challenges men face in contemporary families and foster more meaningful engagement between many different kinds of fathers and their children. What makes a good father? The firsthand accounts in Nurturing Dads show that the answer to this question varies widely and in ways that counter the mainstream "provide and reside" model of fatherhood. Marsiglio and Roy document the personal experiences of more than 300 men from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds and diverse settings, including fathers-to-be, young adult fathers, middleclass dads, stepfathers, men with multiple children in separate families, and fathers in correctional facilities. They find that most dads express the desire to have strong, close relationships with their children and to develop the nurturing skills to maintain these bonds. But they also find that disadvantaged fathers, including young dads and those in constrained financial and personal circumstances, confront myriad structural obstacles, such as poverty, inadequate education, and poor job opportunities. Nurturing Dads asserts that society should help fathers become more committed and attentive caregivers and that federal and state agencies, work sites, grassroots advocacy groups, and the media all have roles to play. Recent efforts to introduce state-initiated paternity leave should be coupled with social programs that encourage fathers to develop unconditional commitments to children, to co-parent with mothers, to establish partnerships with their children's other caregivers, and to develop parenting skills and resources before becoming fathers via activities like volunteering and mentoring kids. Ultimately, Marsiglio and Roy argue, such combined strategies would not only change the policy landscape to promote engaged fathering but also change the cultural landscape to view nurturance as a fundamental aspect of good fathering. Care is a human experience-not just a woman's responsibility-and this core idea behind Nurturing Dads holds important implications for how society supports its families and defines manhood. The book promotes the progressive notion that fathers should provide more than financial support and, in the process, bring about a better start in life for their children. Copyright © 2012 by the American Sociological Association. All rights reserved.
Is active fathering by nonresident fathers a cause or a consequence of adolescent wellbeing? Past studies of nonresident father involvement assume a father effects model in which active parenting by fathers improves adolescent adjustment. A child effects model, in which fathers respond to levels of well-being among their adolescent offspring by becoming more or less involved parents, could also account for the positive association between active fathering and adolescent adjustment. We use nationally representative data from the 1995 and 1996 waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to estimate the cross-lagged associations between nonresident father involvement and the externalizing problems, internalizing problems, and academic achievement of 3,394 adolescents. Contrary to assumptions from a socialization perspective and findings from past research on nonresident fathers, our results do not support a father effects model. Our data are more consistent with a child effects model in which levels of adolescent well-being cause, rather than result from, levels of nonresident father involvement.
Predictors of father involvement were explored among 98 dual-earner, working- class couples experiencing the transition to parenthood. A model combining different theoretical approaches to predict levels and rates of change in father involvement during the first year of parenthood was tested using hierarchical linear modeling. Results indicated that father involvement at oneyear postpartum was most equitable when parents worked opposite shifts, mothers were employed full-time, and mothers were lower on gatekeeping. Mothers’ full-time work, economic contributions of father, gender ideology, paternal skill and baby soothability predicted changes in father involvement over time. In addition, full-time work and shift work moderated the relationship between other predictors and father involvement.
A meta-analysis of 172 studies attempted to resolve the conflict between previous narrative reviews on whether parents make systematic differences in their rearing of boys and girls. Most effect sizes were found to be nonsignificant and small. In North American studies, the only socialization area of 19 to display a significant effect for both parents is encouragement of sex-typed activities. In other Western countries, physical punishment is applied significantly more to boys. Fathers tend to differentiate more than mothers between boys and girls. Over all socialization areas, effect size is not related to sample size or year of publication. Effect size decreases with child's age and increases with higher quality. No grouping by any of these variables changes a nonsignificant effect to a significant effect. Because little differential socialization for social behavior or abilities can be found, other factors that may explain the genesis of documented sex differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The emerging ability to comply with caregivers' dictates and to monitor one's own behavior accordingly signifies a major growth of early childhood. However, scant attention has been paid to the developmental course of self-initiated regulation of behavior. The literature devoted to early forms of control is summarized, highlighting the different philosophical orientations. Focusing on the period from early infancy to the beginning of the preschool years, an ontogenetic perspective is proposed that traces the kinds of modulation or control of which the child is capable. The developmental sequence of monitoring behaviors that is proposed calls attention to contributions made by the growth of cognitive skills. The role of mediators (e.g., caregivers) is also discussed. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Cet article de Jean Piaget decrit sa conception du developpement de l'enfant et de la psychologie de l'apprentissage dans le cadre de l'enseignement des sciences. Theoricien reconnu, son travail n'a cesse d'influencer ses contemporains et continue de presenter une source d'informations importante.
This paper provides important background information on the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, and is the first and only paper to provide detailed information on the research methodology and sampling strategies employed. The bulk of the paper is devoted to a detailed description of the three-stage sampling process that was used to obtain a nationally representative sample of non-marital births in large US cities. First, it was necessary to sample cities that, collectively, were nationally representative and had maximum variation in policy regimes. Next, it was necessary to sample hospitals so as to be representative of non-marital births in each city. Finally, we sampled births in order to be representative of those at each hospital. The paper concludes with some general information about the study and a simple description of the baseline non-marital sample from the first seven cities.
We addressed three questions concerning the behavioral and academic status of low and very low birth weight infants through a secondary analysis of the 1981 National Health Interview Survey--Child Health Supplement: (1) in children born with very low birth weight, what is the risk of behavior problems and school difficulty compared with that in heavier low birth weight and normal birth weight children? (2) What are the correlates of school difficulty? (3) Are behavior problems associated with school difficulty when variables are controlled for these correlates? The analysis revealed that 34% of very low birth weight children could be characterized as having school difficulty, compared with 20% and 14% of the other groups, respectively, and that they were more likely to have higher scores on the hyperactive subscale of the Behavior Problems Index. Although a broad array of sociodemographic factors correlated with school difficulty, very low birth weight and hyperactivity scores contributed independently to the risk of academic problems. We conclude that very low birth weight infants are at risk of having school problems that are in part associated with hyperactive behavior.
Employment of married mothers with preschool children rose dramatically between 1971 and 1990. Using CPS data, we find that about one-fifth of the increase in labor supply can be attributed to changes in mothers' demographic characteristics (age, education, and number of children). Changes in the earnings opportunities of new mothers and their husbands explain another one-fifth of the growth in employment. Over the two decades, infants up to three months old became less of a barrier to employment, while women's labor supply became more sensitive to their own earnings opportunities and less sensitive to those of their husbands.
This study sought to understand the tasks and activities involved in the caring and nurturing work of mothering, a common and important occupation for many women.
In-depth, semistructured individual interviews were conducted with 40 mothers: 20 mothers of preschool-age children and 20 mothers of young adults. In addition, participants completed a questionnaire describing the tasks and activities that they currently engage in when caring for their children.
The activities involved in mothering are different for the mothers at the two stages of mothering examined. The mothers of preschool-age children are very involved in caretaking tasks and meeting the basic needs of the child, whereas the mothers of young adults are involved in emotional and supportive type activities. Mothers at both stages are involved in caring and nurturing work but this work evolves and changes as children mature.
These findings extend our awareness of mothering and the tasks and activities involved in the occupation of mothering at both the preschool stage and young-adult stage.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of different types of negative emotion and regulation and control to 55- to 97-month-olds' internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Parents and teachers provided information on children's (N = 214) adjustment, dispositional regulation and control, and emotion, and children's regulation was observed during several behavioral tasks. Internalizing was defined in two ways: as social withdrawal (to avoid overlap of items with measures of emotionality) or, more broadly, as anxiety, depression, and psychosomatic complaints. In general, children with externalizing problems, compared with children with internalizing problems and nondisordered children, were more prone to anger, impulsivity, and low regulation. Children with internalizing symptoms were prone to sadness, low attentional regulation, and low impulsivity. Relations between internalizing problems and emotionality were more frequent when the entire internalizing scale was used. Findings suggest that emotion and regulation are associated with adjustment in systematic ways and that there is an important difference between effortful control and less voluntary modes of control.
Extensive research has identified risk factors for problem behaviour in childhood. However, most of this research has focused on isolated variables, ignoring possible additive influences. The purpose of this study was to examine whether risk factors for problem behaviour act in a cumulative manner, and to investigate whether cumulative risk stemming from distinct ecological levels (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) differentially influences the manifestation of problem behaviours in middle childhood. In addition, ethnic differences between minority (i.e., Indian) and majority (i.e., English) families were examined.
The sample consisted of 125 children (59 English and 66 of Indian origin) between the ages of 7 and 9.6 (M = 8.51, SD = 0.62) and their parents. Both mothers and fathers completed questionnaires regarding the children's problem behaviour and provided reports of the children's characteristics and environment. Children were also assessed and provided reports about themselves and their relationships. Finally, parent-child mutuality and parenting behaviour were coded from a videotaped parent-child interaction task.
Risk factors acted in a cumulative manner - the more risk children experienced, the more problem behaviour they exhibited. Total problem behaviour was predicted by all three levels: individual, microsystem and exosystem. However, externalising problems were mainly predicted by microsystem-level cumulative risk, whereas internalising problems were predicted by both individual-level cumulative risk and exosystem-level cumulative risk. These results were similar for both ethnic groups.
The support for the cumulative hypothesis highlights the importance of having a broad picture of children's characteristics and environmental components when analysing children's adjustment. The distinct influence of risk stemming from the different ecological levels suggests that the trajectories of internalising, externalising and total problem behaviour may be different.
The authors describe various parenting behaviors, such as nurturance, discipline, teaching, and language use, and explain how researchers measure them. They note racial and ethnic variations in several behaviors. Most striking are differences in language use. Black and Hispanic mothers talk less with their young children than do white mothers and are less likely to read to them daily. They also note some differences in harshness.
When researchers measuring school readiness gaps control for parenting differences, the racial and ethnic gaps narrow by 25-50 percent. And it is possible to alter parenting behavior to improve readiness. The authors examine programs that serve poor families—and thus disproportionately serve minority families—and find that home- and center-based programs with a parenting component improve parental nurturance and discipline. Programs that target families with children with behavior problems improve parents' skills in dealing with such children. And certain family literacy programs improve parents' skills in talking with their children. Several interventions have significantly reduced gaps in the parenting behavior of black and white mothers.
Not all improvements in parenting translate to improved school readiness. Home-based programs affect the mother but do not appear to affect the child, at least in the short term. But center-based programs with a parenting component enhance both parenting and school readiness. And some family literacy programs also improve readiness.
Because these successful interventions serve a greater share of minority than nonminority families and have more positive effects for blacks than for whites, they offer promise for closing the ethnic and racial gaps in school readiness.
This study investigated the combination of mothers' and fathers' parenting styles (affection, behavioral control, and psychological control) that would be most influential in predicting their children's internal and external problem behaviors. A total of 196 children (aged 5-6 years) were followed up six times from kindergarten to the second grade to measure their problem behaviors. Mothers and fathers filled in a questionnaire measuring their parenting styles once every year. The results showed that a high level of psychological control exercised by mothers combined with high affection predicted increases in the levels of both internal and external problem behaviors among children. Behavioral control exercised by mothers decreased children's external problem behavior but only when combined with a low level of psychological control.
The modern economic role of women emerged in four phases. The first three were evolutionary; the last was revolutionary. Phase I occurred from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s; Phase II was from 1930 to 1950; Phase III extended from 1950 to the late 1970s; and Phase IV, the "quiet revolution," began in the late 1970s and is still ongoing. Three aspects of women's choices distinguish the evolutionary from the revolutionary phases: horizon, identity, and decision-making. The evolutionary phases are apparent in time-series data on labor force participation. The revolutionary phase is discernible using time-series evidence on women's more predictable attachment to the workplace, greater identity with career, and better ability to make joint decisions with their spouses. Each of these series has a sharp break or inflection point signifying social and economic change. These changes, moreover, coincide by birth cohort or period. The relationship between the development of modern labor economics and the reality of women's changing economic role is explored. The paper concludes by assessing whether the revolution has stalled or is being reversed. Women who graduated college in the early 1980s did not "opt-out,"but recent cohorts are too young to evaluate.
More than money? Men’s contributions to their children’s lives Men in families: When do they get involved? What difference does it make?
- P R Amato
Introduction to the fragile families public-use data: Baseline, one-year, three-year, and five-year telephone data
- Bendheim-Thoman
- Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Well-being
The role of World War II in the rise of women’s employment. The American Economic Review
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Mothering Handbook of parenting: Volume 3. Being and becoming a parent
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From patriarchy to androgyny and other myths: Placing men’s family roles in historical perspective
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Fathers in family contexts. Handbook of father involvement: Multidisciplinary perspectives
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- R H Bradley
- H H Raikes
- L. A. Roggman
The goals and structure of face-to-face interaction between infants and fathers. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the society of research in child development
- M W Yogman
- S Dixon
- E Tronick
- H Als
- L Adamson
- T B Brazelton
Fathers’ role in children’s language development
- C S Tamis-Lemonda
- L Baumwell
- N J Cabrera
Data user’s guide for the nine-year follow-up wave of the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study
- Bendheim-Thoman
- Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing
Changes in wives employment when husbands stopped working: A recession-prosperity comparison
- M J Mattingly
- K E Smith
- M. J. Mattingly
Past, present and personal: The family and the life course in American history
- J Demos
- J. Demos