The effects of father-absence on Norwegian boys and girls.

The effects of father-absence on boys and girls was investigated in Norwegian (sailor) families where the father was absent for 1 or 2 years and "compared with otherwise similar (Norwegian) families (of the same area) in which the father was present. The following hypotheses were made and generally supported by the findings:… father-absent boys… would show immaturity… . Being insecure in their identification with the father, father-absent boys would show stronger strivings toward father-identification… [and] compensatory masculinity… would demonstrate poorer peer/adjustment… [and] father-absent girls… would become more dependent on the mother than would father-present girls." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Father absence: Effects of stepfathers upon psychosocial development in males.

Administered the Ego Identity Scale to 39 male university students with stepfathers; 47 with no stepfather, who had remained fatherless from the time of father absence to the time of the study; and 39 with fathers, who had never experienced father absence. It was hypothesized that males with stepfathers would attain levels of psychosocial functioning equivalent to that of father-present males and that the functioning of Ss without stepfathers would be at levels significantly below that evidenced by Ss in the other 2 groups. Both hypotheses were partially supported, and results indicate that stepfathering is an important factor in mitigating the typically deleterious effects of father absence. Results also show that the effects of early father absence persisted into late adolescence. Three factors which may account for the positive effects of gaining a stepfather for the male child are postulated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment style as a predictor of adult romantic relationships.

Questionnaire measures of attachment style, attachment history, beliefs about relationships, self-esteem, limerence, loving, love addiction, and love styles were administered to 374 undergraduates. Attachment style was related in theoretically expected ways to attachment history and to beliefs about relationships. Securely attached Ss reported relatively positive perceptions of their early family relationships. Avoidant Ss were most likely to report childhood separation from their mother and to express mistrust of others. Anxious-ambivalent subjects were less likely than avoidant Ss to see their father as supportive, and they reported a lack of independence and a desire for deep commitment in relationships. The self-esteem measure and each of the scales measuring forms of love were factor analyzed separately. Analyses based on scale scores derived from the resulting factors indicated that attachment style was also strongly related to self-esteem and to the various forms of love discussed in other theoretical frameworks. The results suggest that attachment theory offers a useful perspective on adult love relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Father absence in low-income Mexican-American families: Children's social adjustment and conceptual differentiation of sex role attributes.

Investigated the effects of paternal deprivation on 248 4th-grade Mexican-American students. Drawings of the human figure--1 male and 1 female--were obtained from each S, following the procedures of the Goodenough-Harris Drawing Test. Ss were also administered Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices and the Bender Gestalt Test. Each S was rated on degree of personal adjustment by his/her classroom teacher on a 4-point scale, ranging from well adjusted, no problems in relating to others, to serious maladjustment. Results show that father-present Ss obtained significantly higher Goodenough-Harris scores than father-absent Ss on both the male and the female figures drawn. The female figures drawn by the father-absent Ss had significantly fewer feminine attributes than those drawn by father-present Ss. Whereas teachers found father-present males and females and father-absent females fairly well adjusted, father-absent males were found to show significantly more signs of social and emotional maladjustment than all the other 3 groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Father absence, educational preparedness, and academic achievement: A test of the confluence model.

Investigated predictions of academic deficits due to early and continuing parental absence, as derived from R. Zajonc and G. Markus's (see record 1975-09290-001) and Zajonc's (see record 1976-20589-001) confluence model. To test these predictions, equal numbers of father-present and father-absent lower-class Black kindergartners (60 of each sex) were assessed on 12 educational preparedness measures. Two years later, they were tested for reading, mathematics, and language arts achievement. A Father Absence?×?Sex analysis of covariance (with social class controlled) of preparedness factor scores revealed no significant effects. Similar multivariate analysis of the achievement criteria revealed main (favoring father-present Ss) and interaction effects on the mathematics test. Pair-wise comparisons suggested that father presence facilitated the mathematics performance of girls more than boys. Results only partially support the confluence model predictions. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological distance in the family as schematized by families of normal, disturbed, and learning-problem children.

Used a family doll placement technique to study psychological distance within 30 families with a disturbed and a nondisturbed boy. The father, mother, and 2 children each did the task individually, and then as a family group. Families were divided into 3 groups of 10 in which the S was (a) normal, (b) emotionally disturbed, or (c) had serious learning problems. Psychological distance was measured by the actual distance placed between doll dyads. As hypothesized, both groups of disturbed Ss placed greater distance between the mother doll and the doll representing himself than normal Ss in negative story themes. Unexpectedly, female siblings of disturbed Ss placed greater distance between the father doll and the doll representing herself than female siblings of normal Ss in negative story themes. These differences also appeared when the family group did the task. Teacher ratings showed the disturbed Ss to be more interpersonally distant and dependent than the normal Ss. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

College norms for the Leary Interpersonal Checklist.

Contributes to the normative data pool for the checklist by presenting scores for 246 female and 228 male college students. Data include standard scores for DOM and LOV (dominance and love, loosely) as Ss rated self, mother, father, and ideal. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family structure and depression in female college students: Effects of parental conflict, decision-making power, and inconsistency of love.

Based on earlier findings that maladjusted Ss come from families with high interparental conflict and dominance by the parent opposite in sex to the S's, a model was developed that predicted depression in female college students. Depression was predicted to depend on parental conflict, inconsistent love from the father, and the Conflict?×?Dominance?×?Father's Inconsistency interaction. Questionnaire measures of father's and mother's inconsistency, parental conflict, and relative decision-making power (dominance) were completed by 98 college women. Averages of scores on the Beck Depression Inventory and a reworded form measuring worst past depression were entered into a hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Significant relations were found between average depression and (a) parental conflict, (b) father's inconsistency, and (c) mother's inconsistency. Father's inconsistency accounted for twice as much independent variance as mother's inconsistency. The predicted triple interaction approached significance (p?=?0.06), with inconsistent love from the father in high-conflict, paternally dominated families associated with the greatest vulnerability to depression. Consistent paternal love, low conflict, and paternal dominance were associated with the least vulnerability to depression. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The importance of father love: History and contemporary evidence.

This article explores the cultural construction of fatherhood in America, as well as the consequences of this construction as a motivator for understudying fathers—especially father love—for nearly a century in developmental and family research. It then reviews evidence from 6 categories of empirical studies showing the powerful influence of fathers' love on children's and young adults' social, emotional, and cognitive development and functioning. Much of this evidence suggests that the influence of father love on offspring's development is as great as and occasionally greater than the influence of mother love. Some studies conclude that father love is the sole significant predictor of specific outcomes after controlling for the influence of mother love. Overall, father love appears to be as heavily implicated as mother love in offsprings' psychological well-being and health, as well as in an array of psychological and behavioral problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of mother and older sibling on the problem-solving behavior of the younger child.

Determined the effects of aid from mother or older sibling on the child's problem-solving behavior in relation to the sex of the 2 siblings and family size. Ss were 120 1st-grade children with a 3rd- or 4th-grade sibling, half from 2-child families and half from larger families; the 4 possible sex combinations were equally represented. Ss worked on practice problems alone or were aided by sibling or mother prior to testing. Ss with older brothers performed as well alone as after aid by sibling or mother, whereas Ss with older sisters showed more advanced problem solving after aid by sibling or mother. Ss with same-sex siblings solved the problems more rapidly; family size had no effect. Results are interpreted in terms of family interaction patterns. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationships between overt and fantasy aggression.

The interrelationships among aggressive needs, anticipation of punishment, and overt aggressive behavior in 29 lower-class boys were investigated in this study. Three hypotheses were tested: 1) among lower class boys, those having a relatively great amount of fantasy aggressive needs indulge in more overt aggressive behavior than those who have relatively few aggressive fantasy needs; 2) Ss whose TAT stories included a great deal of punishment press relative to the number of their aggressive needs demonstrate less overt aggression than Ss whose ratios of punishment press to aggressive needs are low; and 3) Those with low punishment press/aggressive fantasy ratio show more aggression in their behavior than those with high P/A ratio. All three hypotheses were supported by the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empathy and the development of guilt in children.

Semiprojective stories describing explicit wrongful acts were shown to 72 1st-, 3rd-, and 5th-grade boys and girls. Ss then were asked how they would feel if they were the wrongdoer, why, and then to complete the story. Coded interview responses indicated that Ss who had received prior encouragement to empathize with the victim exhibited more intense guilt than those who had not. Developmental changes in Ss' reasons for guilt paralleled those of moral judgment studies; older Ss exhibited victim-oriented concern and relied on internal justice principles; younger Ss feared detection and punishment. Boys also reported more intense guilt feelings than did girls. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age 6: Predictable from infant attachment classifications and stable over a 1-month period.

Describes the development of a system for classifying attachment organization at age 6 on the basis of study of children's responses to unstructured reunions with parents. In a study of 33 families, 6th-year attachment classifications to mother were highly predictable from infancy attachment classifications to mother (84%), with Ss secure in infancy identified as secure on reunion at age 6 (Group B); and Ss insecure-avoidant in infancy identified as insecure-avoidant (Group A); Ss who were insecure-disorganized/disoriented identified as controlling of the parent (Group D). Lower predictability (61%) was found for attachment to father. An insecure-ambivalent (Group C) 6th-year classification was developed following the Berkeley study. In a 2nd study of child–mother dyads, (N?=?50), 62% of Ss were stable in (A, B, C, and D) classification across a 1-mo interval. When D children were reassigned to their best-fitting alternative A, B, or C categories, stability was high both for major classifications (A + B + C?=?86%) and for 7 subclassifications (A1, A2, B1/B2, B3, B4, C1, C2?=?76%). Avoidance of mother was stable across the 5-yr and the 1-mo periods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term effects of divorce on parent–child relationships.

100 introductory psychology students from families that had experienced divorce 7 or more years previously and 141 introductory psychology students from continuously intact families completed a series of self-report questionnaires assessing their perceptions of their relationship with their parents. Findings indicate that although there was considerable variation from person to person, Ss from divorced families perceived their relationships with their parents, and particularly their fathers, less positively than those from intact families. It was also found that these potentially negative consequences of divorce were attenuated by Ss' recall of a healthy predivorce family life, by a more successful adjustment on the part of the child before the divorce, and by a higher quality relationship between the ex-spouses after the divorce. Results support the notion that active involvement on the part of the father and added stresses placed on the mother after the divorce are the critical determinants of the perceived quality of the current parent–child relationships. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex role stereotypes and attitudes toward parental blame for the psychological problems of children.

Randomly assigned 100 male and 70 female college students to groups that read 15 case histories of boys, girls, or children of unspecified sex who had specific disorders. Ss were asked to assume that 100% of the blame for the disorders was caused by the child's parents, and to divide up this total blame between the mother and father. Results reveal that the 5 disorders defined as stereotypically "masculine" (e.g., aggression) were all blamed more on the father than the mother, whereas the mother was blamed more for the 5 disorders conceptualized as "feminine" (e.g., emotionality). The 5 disorders conceptualized as not relating to sex-role stereotypes in an obvious way (e.g., mental retardation) were also blamed more on the mother. Results support the notion of a relationship between sex-role stereotypes and parental-blame attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infant social perception: Responses to pictures of parents and strangers.

Presented pictures of parents and strangers to 70 9–24 mo old infants. Results indicate that (a) Ss smiled more often and looked longer at pictures of parents than at those of strangers; (b) the smiling effect was related to age, with older Ss being more likely to smile at familiar than at unfamiliar faces; (c) younger Ss were more likely to smile at the strange woman than at the strange man; and (d) Ss did not differentially respond to pictures of their mother and father. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social adjustment and familial schema.

2 groups of 50 male undergraduates each with good and poor social adjustment as determined by a questionnaire freely placed figures of a father, a mother, a son, and a daughter on a field. As predicted, Ss with poor social adjustment placed the son closer to the father, while Ss with good social adjustment placed the son closer to the mother (p     

Love and sex role stereotypes: Do macho men and feminine women make better lovers?

Examined the relation of sex and sex-role orientation to self-reported feelings and behaviors of love. It was hypothesized that (a) sex role would have a greater effect on love feelings and behaviors than sex, and (b) androgynous individuals would experience love differently than sex-typed individuals. Data were gathered from 100 male and 136 female college students who identified themselves as being in a love relationship. Ss completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. Both hypotheses were supported. There were no sex differences in self-reported love. Androgynous Ss differed from masculine Ss on awareness of love feelings, expression of love, nonmaterial evidence of love, toleration of the loved one's faults, and the total expression of love in their relationship. The androgynous Ss differed from feminine Ss on awareness, willingness to express feelings, and toleration of faults. In all comparisons, androgynous Ss were more loving than sex-typed and undifferentiated Ss. (45 ref) (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 death and depression.

Examined the association between depression and parental loss by death by administering the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale to 1,250 patients in general practitioners' offices. Ss were asked to indicate whether they had lost a mother or father by death and their age when this loss occurred. One-way ANOVA produced a significant father-loss effect on depression, with Ss reporting a father loss in the 0–6 yr and 10–25 yr age ranges having the highest depression scores. No significant effect for mother loss occurred. The father-loss effect remained the same when other demographic factors including city of testing, sex, marital status, occupational status, age, and education were controlled. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)