Men's Knowledge of Anticipatory Guidance Topics: Results From a Nationally Representative Survey

Abstract

1) To describe young men's knowledge of infant routines, discipline, development, safety, sleep, and nutrition, using items assessing the American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents. 2) To report differences in knowledge between fathers and non-fathers. 3) To examine factors associated with men's greater knowledge. Participants were men (N=1303) aged 18 to 35 years responding to a cross-sectional survey that was administered to a national panel established through probability sampling of the civilian, non-institutionalized US population. Survey weights allow reporting of nationally representative analyses. Participants (mean age=27; 58% white, 36% fathers) correctly answered 52% of the infant knowledge questions. Fathers and non-fathers answered 64% and 46% of the items correctly, respectively. The difference in knowledge between fathers and non-fathers was statistically significant (B=0.16, P< .001). The subscale with the highest number of correct responses was routines (80% accuracy), followed by discipline (59% accuracy), safety (52% accuracy), sleep (51% accuracy), development (50% accuracy), and nutrition (40% accuracy). Multivariate analyses showed that depressive symptoms (B=-0.07, P < .05) were associated with lower infant knowledge, while higher education (B=0.06, P < .05) and current employment (B=0.06, P < .01) were associated with higher infant knowledge. Significant gaps exist in men's knowledge of infant development. Pediatric health care providers can address gaps in parenting knowledge by providing anticipatory guidance to fathers.