Temporal rhythms in family life: Seasonal variation in the relation between parental work and family processes.

Families with school-age children were interviewed 3 times, at 6-mo intervals (winter-summer-winter), to test whether summer brings discontinuity in family processes. Longitudinal patterns of parent–child involvement, parental monitoring, and children's involvement in activities were examined for 125 families in 3 groups: DDD (consistently dual-earner), SSS (consistently single-earner), and DSD (dual-earner at Times 1 and 3, single-earner over the summer). In SSS and DSD families, mothers became more involved with their children over the summer, and the division of parenting became more traditional (with mothers more involved than fathers), whereas DDD families maintained a more egalitarian division of parenting. DSD fathers monitored their children less over the summer, whereas DDD fathers became more knowledgeable about their children's activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mother– and father–infant attachment: Families in context.

This study examined associations among family type (single-earner vs. dual-earner families of sons and daughters), parent sensitivity, marital adjustment, infant emotionality, infant–mother attachment, and infant–father attachment. Participants included 77 families who were observed in the laboratory at 4, 12, and 13 months. Similar to several previous studies, results indicated that boys from dual-earner families were more likely to have insecure attachments with their fathers but not with their mothers. In addition, fathers of sons in dual-earner households were less sensitive at 4 months and reported less affection in their marriages than did fathers in several other groups; sons were more negatively emotional toward mothers whereas infants in dual-earner families were more negatively emotional toward fathers during still-face at 4 months. Finally, family type moderated the effect that maternal sensitivity had on infant–mother attachment and the effect that infant negative emotionality had on infant–father attachment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental monitoring and perceptions of children's school performance and conduct in dual- and single-earner families.

Relationships between parental monitoring and children's school performance and conduct were examined in 77 dual- and 75 single-earner families in which the eldest child was between 9 and 12 years old. During home interviews, mothers, fathers, and children reported on children's school grades, perceived academic competence, and perceived conduct. Parental monitoring (i.e., parents' knowledge about children's daily experiences) was assessed in 7 evening telephone interviews. Results indicated that less well-monitored boys received lower grades than did other children. Less well-monitored boys in dual-earner families perceived their conduct more negatively than did other children, a pattern corroborated by parents' reports. The findings are discussed with regard to the importance of examining family processes in contrasting family ecologies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations between coparenting and father involvement in families with preschool-age children.

A sample (N = 112) composed primarily of European American and middle-class two-parent families with a resident father and a 4-year-old child (48% girls) participated in a longitudinal study of associations between coparenting and father involvement. At the initial assessment and 1 year later, fathers reported on their involvement in play and caregiving activities with the focal child, and coparenting behavior was observed during triadic family interactions. Structural equation modeling was used to test cross-lagged associations between coparenting behavior and father involvement. Overall, paths from father involvement to coparenting behavior were significant, but paths from coparenting behavior to father involvement were not. Specifically, greater father involvement in play was associated with an increase in supportive and a decrease in undermining coparenting behavior over time. In contrast, greater father involvement in caregiving was associated with a decrease in supportive and an increase in undermining coparenting behavior. Multigroup analysis further showed that these cross-lagged relations did not differ for dual-earner families and single-earner (father) families, but these relations appeared to differ for families with focal daughters and families with focal sons. These findings highlight the potential for fathering to affect coparenting and the importance of the role of contextual factors in coparenting-fathering relations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting during the second year: effects of children's age, sex, and attachment classification

70 2-parent families with 12-month-old infants and 67 2-parent families with 18-month-old toddlers participated in the study. Mothers and fathers participated in separate interviews and filled out questionnaires on family and child behaviors. Mothers and their children participated in the Ainsworth Strange Situation, and the families were observed for a total of 4 hours in their homes. Families were compared on composite measures of family environment variables, parents' perception of their children, and on process variables from home observations. Family differences in environmental stress and marital adjustment showed no effects for attachment classifications, although parents of 12-month-olds reported greater marital adjustment and more pleasure in parenting than parents of 18-months-olds. Both mothers and fathers reported that children classified as resistant were more difficult on several temperament measures. During home observations, 12-month-old children received more positive responses from mothers, and 18-month-old children received more instructions and directions from both parents. Insecure boys (both avoidant and resistant) received the least instructions and directions from both parents, but insecure-avoidant girls received the most instruction from fathers.     

Role of marital quality in toddler development.

Examined associations among contemporaneous measures of marital quality, parenting attitudes and behavior, and toddler development in 75 2-parent families with a 20-mo-old child. Child–mother and child–father attachment was assessed in the Strange Situation procedure, and child task behavior was rated during a problem-solving task. Parents completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and questionnaires concerning parenting attitudes and perceptions. Independent observations were conducted for parental behavioral sensitivity and couple marital harmony. Findings support the hypothesis that good marital quality would be associated with optimal toddler functioning and sensitive parenting. The magnitude of effect was greater for marriage–parenting associations than for marriage–child associations. Differences in patterns of intercorrelation for mothers and fathers were found and direct and indirect associations between marital quality, parenting, and child development are discussed. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers and fathers of young developmentally disabled and nondisabled boys: Adaptation and spousal support.

Assessed the extent to which the presence of a young developmentally disabled or nondisabled male child affected adaptation and family roles for both parents. Developmental child assessments, in-home ratings of parenting, and maternal and paternal self-assessments and interviews were included. Marital adjustment, disruptions in family life, and observed parenting of the child (but not depression) varied with disability status of child. Mothers in both groups reported more depressive symptoms and family disruptions than fathers. Fathers of disabled children assumed less responsibility than comparison fathers for child care, even in mother-employed families. Decreased father involvement in child care was specific to the disabled child, not to siblings, and was related to severity of the child's atypical behaviors. Expressive support from one's spouse was the best predictor of quality of parenting for both mothers and fathers of disabled and nondisabled sons. Disharmony between current and "appropriate" spousal support was a significant negative predictor of perceived and observed parental adaptation. The concept of harmonic responsiveness was proposed to explain how proffered support must be tuned to the perceived needs and expectations of one's spouse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of work and family involvement among single- and dual-earner couples.

Proposes a general typology of dual- and single-earner couples based on each spouse's involvement in work and family roles. The present study investigated the prevalence of the various theoretical patterns and types in a sample of 136 dual-earner and 103 single-earner couples and the relationships between 4 patterns of couples (symmetric all roles, asymmetric all roles, symmetric family-asymmetric work, and symmetric work-family) and attitudes toward and behavior in work and family roles. Ss completed measures of work involvement, family involvement, role behavior, and role attitude. Canonical analyses showed 6 significant dimensions (2 behavioral and 4 attitudinal) among dual-earner couples and 3 significant attitudinal dimensions among single-earner couples. The dual-earner couples' dimensions corresponded to patterns in the typology; the single-earner couples' dimensions did not. Role-symmetric couples were more prevalent among both dual- and single-earner couples than were role-asymmetric couples. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fathering in family context and child adjustment: A longitudinal analysis.

This study focuses on relations between fathers’ behavior in family context and children’s adjustment, including the roles of paternal depressive symptoms, paternal marital conflict behaviors, paternal parenting, and children’s emotional security. Participants included 235 families with a six-year-old child, with families followed longitudinally each year for three years. In terms of fathers’ adjustment, paternal problem drinking was related to paternal negative marital conflict behaviors and decreased positive parenting, which was associated with children’s externalizing and internalizing problems. Fathers’ depressive symptoms were directly related with children’s internalizing problems. Children’s emotional security was an intervening variable in relations between father’s behavior in family context and children’s development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does child care involvement increase or decrease distress among dual-earner couples?

This study addressed how parents' relative involvement in child care is related to marital-role quality and psychological distress. These relationships were examined in a random sample of 133 mothers and fathers in dual-earner couples. Regression analyses employing hierarchical linear modeling techniques indicated that the more fathers participated in child care relative to their wives, the lower the father's distress. For mothers, the effect of child care involvement was complex: Although there were psychological benefits to spending proportionally more time involved in child care (lowered distress), these benefits were offset by a decrease in marital-role quality, which in turn increased distress. These findings indicate that the relation between child care involvement and the psychological health of both women and men in dual-earner couples is intertwined and complex.     

Triangles in the family circle: Effects of family structure on marriage, parenting, and child adjustment.

Mothers, fathers, and 6- to 10-year-old children used the Family Cohesion Index to type their family system as cohesive (all close), separate (all distant), triangulated (cross-generational coalitions), or detouring (child excluded from the parental sub-system). Family members agreed modestly with one another. Multivariate analyses of variance showed that parents in triangulated families were higher in marital conflict and dissatisfaction than were cohesive and detouring parents. Children in triangulated families reported more interparental conflict and more negative affect in the family. Children in detouring families rated themselves higher in self-blame for their parents' conflicts, and their parents rated them highest in internalizing problems. Parents in separate families rated their children highest in externalizing problems. Implications for the integration of family systems perspectives with research on marriage and parenting are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal employment and development of the father–infant relationship in the first year.

This study investigated links between maternal employment and fathers' parenting quality when their infants were 4 and 12 months old. Sixty-three fathers were videotaped interacting with their infants and completed questionnaires regarding their involvement in caregiving, parenting stress, and marital quality, and mothers reported on children's temperament. Fathers whose wives either did not work outside the home or worked part time were more sensitive and responsive to their children when they were more involved in caregiving; men whose wives worked full time exhibited more negative affect and behavior when they participated more in child care. Men whose wives were not employed also were more positive in their interactions when they were happier with their marriage, whereas men whose wives worked either part time or full time exhibited a negative relation between parenting behavior and marital quality. Maternal work circumstances were not related to fathers' parenting stress; rather, marital quality and child temperament predicted parenting stress at 4 and 12 months for all fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital quality and mother–child and father–child interactions with school-aged children.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 22(5) of Developmental Psychology (see record 2008-10956-001). In the article, the second author's name was misspelled in the issue's table of contents, title of the article, and page headings of the article. The entries have been corrected and are included in the erratum.] Mother–child and father–child teaching interactions of 60 families (parents aged 31–37 yrs, children aged 5.5–7.5 yrs) were videotaped, from which frequency counts of efficacious teaching behaviors were obtained for each parent–child teaching interaction. Parents completed the Scale of Marriage Problems. A dyad score of marital problems was formed by adding the husbands' and wives' scores, and a 2-level variable of marital problems was then derived by performing a median split on the marital problem dyad scores. Normative comparisons suggested that the couples whose scores fell below the median were characterized as nondistressed and the couples whose scores fell above the median were characterized as slightly discontented with their marital relationship. Few differences in teaching styles were found between mothers and fathers in the nondistressed group. Mothers in the slightly discontented group used more questions, positive feedback, informational feedback, and verbal task management and intruded less often into their children's learning effort than did the fathers in this group. Fathers with increased reports of marital problems used less positive feedback and were more intrusive; mothers in this group appeared to compensate for a less-than-satisfactory marriage by being more involved in teaching their children. In turn, children of slightly discontented mothers were more actively responsive to their teaching behaviors than were children of nondistressed mothers. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conflict resolution in the parent–child, marital, and peer contexts and children’s aggression in the peer group: A process-oriented cultural perspective.

Theories of socialization propose that children’s ability to handle conflicts is learned at home through mechanisms of participation and observation—participating in parent–child conflict and observing the conflicts between parents. We assessed modes of conflict resolution in the parent–child, marriage, and peer-group contexts among 141 Israeli and Palestinian families and their 1st-born toddler. We observed the ecology of parent–child conflict during home visits, the couple’s discussion of marital conflicts, and children’s conflicts with peers as well as aggressive behavior at child care. Israeli families used more open-ended tactics, including negotiation and disregard, and conflict was often resolved by compromise, whereas Palestinian families tended to consent or object. During marital discussions, Israeli couples showed more emotional empathy, whereas Palestinians displayed more instrumental solutions. Modes of conflict resolution across contexts were interrelated in culture-specific ways. Child aggression was predicted by higher marital hostility, more coparental undermining behavior, and ineffective discipline in both cultures. Greater family compromise and marital empathy predicted lower aggression among Israeli toddlers, whereas more resolution by consent predicted lower aggression among Palestinians. Considering the cultural basis of conflict resolution within close relationships may expand understanding on the roots of aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and change in paternal involvement among urban African American fathers.

Urban African American fathers' involvement with their children born outside of marriage is assessed through maternal reports. Multivariable composites of paternal involvement indicate that about half of unmarried fathers are highly involved at the time of birth and when children are preschool age, and half are uninvolved. However, nearly 40% of fathers move into or out of active parenting during this time. Multinomial logit analyses indicate that paternal education and employment increase the likelihood that fathers will be highly involved as children age and decrease the odds of a loss of paternal involvement. Strong or harmonious mother–father relations (romantic or not) increase the odds of fathers' being highly involved and mediate the impact of fathers' residential and marital status. Finally, neither new maternal partners nor highly involved grandmothers deter paternal involvement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mothers' and Fathers' Knowledge of Adolescents' Daily Activities: Its Sources and Its Links With Adolescent Adjustment.

To elucidate the benefits ascribed to parental monitoring, the authors examined links between parental knowledge and methods of obtaining knowledge about adolescents' activities, and links between these constructs and adolescent adjustment. The roles of parent gender, adolescent gender, and family earner status in these associations were also studied. Participants were 95 adolescents (ages 10 to 17 years, 60% male and 40% female) and their parents. Mothers knew more about adolescents' activities than did fathers and were more likely than fathers to gain information by active supervision or voluntary disclosure from the adolescent. Fathers, more than mothers, received information via spouses. Active methods of supervision predicted more knowledge among fathers and mothers from dual-earner families but not among mothers from single-earner families. More maternal knowledge predicted lower adolescent deviance. No method of gaining knowledge predicted adjustment directly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond fathering behaviors: Types of dads.

Sixty-nine maritally intact, middle-class Caucasian families rearing their 15-month-old firstborn male child participated in a study of fathering. Two 1-hr naturalistic home observations per family were conducted near dinnertime to record father-child interactions, which were then used to rate father involvement. Cluster analysis of fathering ratings revealed 4 groups of dads: caretakers, playmates-teachers, disciplinarians, and disengaged fathers. Information on demographics, personality, marital quality, relatedness, moods and hassles, and infant emotionality was gathered via parental reports. Analysis of antecedent variables indicated that the caretaker and playmate-teacher fathers were more educated, had more prestigious occupations, were less neurotic, had more confidence in the dependability of others, and experienced fewer daily hassles than the disciplinarian and disengaged fathers. Discriminant analysis demonstrated the collective ability of the antecedent variables to distinguish the 4 groups of fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What Gets Dad Involved? A Longitudinal Study of Change in Parental Child Caregiving Involvement.

Predictors of change in fathers' and mothers' perceptions of child caregiving involvement were examined. Middle-class 2-parent families (131 mothers and 98 fathers) with a target school-age child participated. Fathers and mothers completed annual questionnaires for 3 consecutive years. Latent growth curve modeling suggested that fathers were likely to increase their relative contribution to child caregiving over the course of 3 years when they had a greater proportion of male children in the family and when life events-particularly changes in employment and financial status-were experienced by the family. Although mothers were responsible for more of the caregiving, their relative level of involvement tended to decrease when there were no young children in the family. Two-parent families may adapt to varying family contexts and life circumstances by shifting caregiving roles and responsibilities over the course of years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paternal influences and the father's role: A personal perspective.

Briefly reviews research and theory concerning the role of the father in child development and presents a personal perspective that sees some long-established attitudes toward child care changing. Traditionally, major responsibility for childrearing has been assumed by women. Studies show, however, that most infants become attached to both their parents, although most turn to their mothers when distressed. With older children, fathers appear to have their greatest influence on sex role development. The type and extent of their impact varies depending on the quality of the father–child relationships. Recent trends indicate an increasing involvement of fathers in child care. These trends will increase paternal contributions to the socialization process. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural influences on positive father involvement in two-parent Mexican-origin families.

A growing body of research documents the importance of positive father involvement in children's development. However, research on fathers in Latino families is sparse, and research contextualizing the father–child relationship within a cultural framework is needed. The present study examined how fathers' cultural practices and values predicted their fifth-grade children's report of positive father involvement in a sample of 450 two-parent Mexican-origin families. Predictors included Spanish- and English-language use, Mexican and American cultural values, and positive machismo (i.e., culturally related attitudes about the father's role within the family). Positive father involvement was measured by the child's report of his or her father's monitoring, educational involvement, and warmth. Latent variable regression analyses showed that fathers' machismo attitudes were positively related to children's report of positive father involvement and that this association was similar across boys and girls. The results of this study suggest an important association between fathers' cultural values about men's roles and responsibilities within a family and their children's perception of positive fathering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)