Father/child relationship: Background factors in the father

Abstract

This investigation studied by direct interviews in a randomly selected sample of 58 Swedish unbroken families, factors of importance for the father's experience of his preschool child. The father's experience of his child was shown to correlate with the child's experience of him. Fathers experiencing their child in a positive way had been more active in the care of the child, less "authoritarian" and more physically intimate. They described good marital relations. Fathers with a low income or unsatisfied with their job were more negative towards their child than others. There was no association between the father's mental health and his experience of his child. Fathers reporting poor early parental contact were less positive towards their child than others. The man's relation to his own father was more connected with his experience of his child than his relation to his own mother, especially when the child was a boy.