Fathers’ Coping Strategies and Children’s Temperament as Predictors of Parental Attitudes among Polish Fathers

Abstract

Over the last few decades, perceptions of fatherhood have changed significantly and expectations regarding fathers’ involvement in childcare have risen. Parenting is undoubtedly the source of many positive experiences, however, it can also be a stressful challenge. Thus, the way in which fathers deal with everyday life stress can significantly affect their parental attitudes. There is significant evidence that a child’s predisposition can modify parental attitudes and therefore relate to stress coping strategies. In the current study we tested a model of the reciprocal relationships between a father’s coping strategies, his parental attitudes, and his child’s individual traits (temperament and gender). The first model assumes that the father’s stress coping strategies and the child’s individual traits determine parental attitudes independently; the second model, assumes that parental attitudes will be influenced by coping strategies and that individual traits of the child will modify this relationship. A total of 176 Polish fathers ( Mfather’s age = 35.07, SD = 5.71) of only children of preschool age ( Mchildren’s age = 5.6, SD = .21; 88 girls, 88 boys) participated in the study. The following research tools were used: the Parental Attitudes Scale, to measure fathers’ attitudes towards their children; the Brief COPE, to evaluate fathers’ coping strategies; the EAS Temperament Questionnaire – Parental Ratings, to assess children’s temperaments. The results indicate that fathers had the highest scores for Inconsequent and Demanding parental attitudes and the lowest for Overprotective and Autonomy attitudes. Moreover, their attitudes towards daughters and sons were consistent, except for Autonomy. Furthermore, mediation analyses show that the child’s temperamental traits do not significantly modify the relation between a father’s coping strategies and parental attitudes. However, the results indicate that a father’s coping strategies and his child’s temperament affect the father’s parental attitudes independently. Differences depending on the child’s gender were also found.