Father involvement and children’s psychological adjustment: maternal and paternal acceptance as mediators

Abstract

ABSTRACTResearch has shown that father involvement and children’s perceived parental warmth contribute significantly to children’s psychological adjustment. This study examines the mediating role of parental acceptance (i.e. that of mothers and fathers) between the father’s involvement and the child’s psychological adjustment in terms of personality dispositions and behavioral problems (internalizing and externalizing). The sample was composed of 1036 non-clinical children from 9 to 19 years old (45.1% males) who completed the Parental Acceptance‒Rejection Questionnaire, the Personality Assessment Questionnaire, the Youth Self-Report, and the Father Involvement Scale. The use of a structural equation model revealed that both father involvement and parental acceptance made significant and independent contributions to children’s outcomes. However, relationships between father involvement and children’s outcomes were mediated by both paternal acceptance and paternal acceptance via maternal acceptance. Father’s residential status, and children’s sex and age were considered as moderators. The father involvement in resident fathers had a stronger impact on perceived paternal acceptance, and father involvement on children’s psychological adjustment was no longer significant for boys (not girls) when parental acceptance is considered as mediator. No age differences were found in the tested model. In conclusion, the findings show that the father’s involvement creates an interpersonal context of love and warmth by which both the father and the mother increase the child’s psychological adjustment.