Father-child Relationship Research Articles

The long-term improvement in father–child relationships after divorce: Descriptive findings from the Netherlands

Little is known about how the negative effect of parental divorce on father–child relations has changed over time. Existing cohort studies do not contain questions on father–child relationships after divorce and the investigated time period is often short.

The executive functioning of Burundian refugee youth: Associations with individual, family and community factors

Executive functioning (EF) may be important for refugee youth's long-term adjustment. The current study examined associations between factors on different ecological levels (individual, family, community) and inhibitory control (IC), working memory (WM), cognitive flexibility (CF), and selective attention (SA) among 226 Burundian youth aged between 7 and 15 in three refugee camps. Multiple regression models revealed positive associations between trauma exposure and CF and between posttraumatic stress symptoms and SA and WM. Having more siblings, fathers' socioeconomic status and a better father-child relationship were related to better EF including higher SA and WM. Higher levels of maltreatment by mothers were related to lower IC. Higher peer support was related to higher WM. Being orphaned, children's emotional and behavioral problems, mothers' education, community violence and the type of camp (established vs. new) were not significantly related to children's EF. The findings underscore the importance of proximal social factors for children's EF.

Unlock the father–child relationship during lockdown: an investigation of socioemotional experiences of Wuhan preschool children and parents under COVID-19

ABSTRACT This study explored the socioemotional experiences of Wuhan preschool children and their parents, focusing on father–child relationships during lockdown. Mixed methods were employed with semi-structured interviews with 12 families and an online questionnaire involving 748 parents. The results show that the parents were generally positive about the emotional experiences associated with caring for their young children all-day-long, although some parents expressed concerns about their children’s educational issues. About 62.9% of fathers and 44.7% of mothers reported an improvement in father–child relationships. Children’s gender affected the fathers’ views. The rate of positive changes in father–son relationships is significantly higher than in father–daughter relationships. The parents’ attitudes influenced children who demonstrated compliant behaviours for meeting the lockdown requirements, yet the children’s emotions presented a mixture of positive and negative components. These findings reveal the complexity of family life, which has implications for imposing lockdown policies when addressing future emergencies.

Papà, mi leggi?

As elsewhere, in Italy girls read more than boys, and mothers read more to their children than fathers, despite growing evidence on the impact of fathers’ reading on children’s linguistic, cognitive and relational skills, as well as on fathers themselves for parent-child bonding, and to enhance fathers’ empathy and emotional self-awareness. There is also evidence that both fathers and mothers may spend more time reading to girls than to boys who can be more restive physically and less attentive. Reading tends to be viewed as a feminine domain. The authors recommend promoting reading by fathers, as well as mothers, for the father-child relationship, increasing fathers’ self confidence in their parenting skills, and for the child’s cognitive and psycho-social development. Overcoming the stereotype that reading is mainly a female activity and promoting caring masculinities that help to prevent domestic violence are also important.

Resident and Non-resident Father Involvement, Coparenting, and the Development of Children's Self-Regulation Among Families Facing Economic Hardship.

Self-regulation, or the ability to effectively manage emotions and behavior, is a critical skill to develop in early childhood. Children living in a context of economic hardship are at an increased risk for developing self-regulation difficulties. However, few studies have comprehensively examined how multiple aspects of the caregiving environment, including fathers’ parenting and coparenting quality, may contribute to child self-regulation. Thus, this study applied a family systems perspective to examine whether coparenting and resident and non-resident fathers’ reports of parenting quantity and quality were associated with observations of children’s self-regulation. Participants were drawn from the Embedded Developmental Study (n = 257) of the Three-City Study, a longitudinal study of children and families facing economic hardship. At Wave 1, when children were 2–4 years old, reports of parenting (i.e., quantity and quality) and coparenting (i.e., support) were obtained. At Wave 2, when children were 3–6 years old, children participated in a snack delay and gift wrap task, which assessed their self-regulation. Multi-group path analyses indicated that resident fathers’ harsh parenting at Wave 1 predicted decreased levels of self-regulation at Wave 2. Non-resident fathers’ reported hours of involvement at Wave 1 predicted greater levels of self-regulation at Wave 2. Additionally, supportive coparenting among families with a non-resident father predicted greater self-regulation. Supportive coparenting was not associated with child self-regulation in families with a resident father. The implications for research focused on facilitating positive father–child relationships in diverse family contexts are discussed.

Examining the Father-Child Relationship: A Theoretical Framework for Creating a Methodology

AbstractIn Slovakia and the Czech Republic, little attention is paid to the father-child relationship. The aim of this theoretical study is to introduce methods for assessing the father-child relationship in early childhood. There are two methodologies for assessing sensitive and challenging play by fathers – the Sensitive and Challenging Interaction Play Scale – SCIP (Grossmann et al., 2002) and the quality of the father-child activation relationship – Risky Situation – RS (Paquette & Bigras, 2010). The study describes the SCIP and offers a theoretical definition of the basic constructs tackled in the SCIP methodology. The paper then describes the new RS procedure. Special attention is paid to activation theory, which forms the basis of the RS procedure. Finally, the paper contains suggestions for future in-depth investigations of the father’s role using adequate tools that take into consideration the uniqueness of the father-child relationship. The need to validate existing methods – also within Slovak culture – is emphasized.

Providing a Model for Predicting Online Game Addiction based on HEXACO Personality Traits and the Parent-Child Relationship Mediated by Impulsiveness

Aim: The present study aimed to examine the model of predicting online game addiction based on HEXACO personality traits, and the parent-child relationship mediated by impulsiveness. Methods: The present research was descriptive and correlational and its statistical population consisted of 125110 female students in the second grade of high school in Tehran in the academic year of 2020-2021. The sample size of 400 was selected based on Klein's view (2016) using the non-random convenience sampling method (online method). The samples responded to the online game addiction inventory by Wong and Chang (2002), the HEXACO personality trait inventory by De Vries (2013), the Parent-Child Relationship Quality Inventory by Fine et al. (1983), and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS) by Patton et al. (1995). The proposed model was analyzed by structural equation modeling using SPSS and AMOS24. Results: The coefficients of direct paths of honesty-humility (β=-0.560, P=0.001), excitability (β=0.205, P=0.001), extraversion (β=-0.550, P=0.001), agreeableness (β=-6.26, P=0.001), and openness to experience (β=-0.717, P=0.001) on addiction to online games were not significant. The effect of conscientiousness (β=-0.155, P=0.490) was not significant on online game addiction. The coefficient of direct paths of mother-child relationship (β=-0.318, P=0.001) was significant on online game addiction. The effect of the father-child relationship (β=0.256, P=0.291) was not significant on online game addiction. The coefficient of direct impulsiveness path (β=0.571, P=0.028) was significant on online game addiction. The indirect effects of HEXACO personality traits and parent-child relationship mediated by impulsiveness were significant on online game addiction (P=0.05). Conclusion: The modified structural model of the research had a good fit with the research data and it was an important step in identifying determinants of online game addiction in students.

Paternal Mental Health and Parenting in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected the family economy by threatening job security, which has been acting as a source of stress for fathers. Social distancing has increased father-child interaction time and the burden of parenting. The parenting stress levels of fathers increased, and mental health problems such as depression and anxiety were induced. This was reported to be more serious in vulnerable groups, according to the race or socioeconomic status of the fathers. Fathers’ mental health problems in the context of COVID-19 affect father-child relationships and children’s adjustment in the long term. Healthcare professionals must develop community-based intervention programs to screen fathers’ risk factors and educate them on mental health issues, while considering the changing roles and mental health of fathers during the pandemic. Before another epidemic breaks out.

Examination of Mother Characteristics Affecting The Maternal Gatekeeping

There are many factors that effect maternal gatekeeping, which is defined as the behaviors of mothers that encourage, control or discourage the father-child relationship. In this study, it is aimed to examine the mother characteristics that affect the gatekeeping behaviors of mothers who have children in early childhood. The sample of the study consists of 385 mothers with a mean age of 32.71 (S = 7.61). Participants completed the Maternal Gatekeeping Scale, Parental Self-Efficacy Scale, Gender Roles Attitude Scale, Semantic Differentation Scale-Myself as Mother, Perception Measurement for Father’s Role, Parenting Daily Hassles Scale and demographic information form. According to the results of the hierarchical regression analysis conducted separately for each gatekeeping behavior; mother's perception of paternal role, perception of father's competence and motherhood self-assessment predicted the encouragement dimension positively and discouragement dimension negatively. In addition, it was found that the traditional gender roles of the mother negatively predicted the encouragement, but positively predicted the control. Finally, it was found that daily difficulties experienced by the mother in raising a child positively predicted discouragement and control. It is thought that the results obtained from the study are important in terms of understanding the mother characteristics underlying maternal gatekeeping behaviors and being a guide for intervention programs. Keywords: Maternal gatekeeping, maternal self-assessment, traditional gender roles, paternity role perception, paternal competence

Parent-child relationship quality and child psychological adjustment in families created using egg donation: children's perspectives at age 5 years.

STUDY QUESTIONWhat are children’s perspectives of the quality of their relationships with their parents and their own psychological well-being in families created using egg donation?SUMMARY ANSWERChildren’s scores indicated good parent–child relationship quality and high levels of psychological well-being, with children in families created using egg donation rating their relationships with their mothers as higher in warmth/enjoyment than children in a comparison group of families created using IVF.WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADYLittle is known about how children in families created through egg donation view their family relationships and their own psychological well-being. Research with 7-and-10-year-olds in anonymous egg donation families has indicated good parent–child relationship quality from children’s perspectives, but studies have not involved younger children or those conceived following identity-release egg donation.STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATIONThis study included 50 children who had been born through egg donation and a comparison group of 43 children conceived through IVF with the parents’ own gametes. Data were collected between April 2018 and December 2019. The sample forms part of a larger longitudinal study examining family functioning in families created through fertility treatment.PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODSChildren were aged 5 years old and had been born into families with different-sex couple parents. All families were visited at home. Children were administered the Berkeley Puppet Interview, a standardized assessment of parent–child relationship quality and psychological well-being.MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCEChildren in egg donation families rated their relationships with their mothers as higher in warmth and enjoyment than did children in IVF families. No differences were found between the two family types in children’s ratings of the father–child relationship, or in children’s ratings of their own psychological well-being.LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTIONIt is possible that children who did not consent to take part in the research had less positive perceptions of their family and themselves than children who participated.WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGSThe findings are relevant to UK clinics offering identity-release egg donation, to parents who have used egg donation to create their family and to individuals and couples considering their fertility treatment options. That children in egg donation families were more similar than different to children in IVF families in their self-concept and perception of their family relationships should prove reassuring.STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)This research was supported by a Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award [208013/Z/17]. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERN/A.

Early Intergenerational Relationships and Later Support Provided to Older Parents: Time-to-Death as a Contingency

This paper focuses on whether stronger relationships with parents early in the family lifecycle results in adult children providing more support to them 45 years later, and whether this association is contingent on parents’ remaining years of life. We test time-to-death of parents as an indicator of vulnerability, an easy to ascertain and potentially powerful predictor of support. Data derived from the Longitudinal Study of Generations, a panel of three-generation families, originally fielded in 1971 and continuing to 2016. Focusing on the youngest generation (mean age = 19 in 1971), the analytic sample consists of 356 child-father relationships 473 child-mother relationships. We examined trajectories of instrumental support provided to parents over four waves between 1997 and 2016 as a function of each parent’s remaining years of life (mortality data from the National Death Index). We also examined variation in those trajectories based on frequency of shared activities and intensity of emotional closeness in 1971. Ordinal multi-level growth curve analysis revealed that proximity to death was a significant predictor of instrumental support provided over time. Only in child-father relationships did greater emotional closeness, as expressed in 1971, produce stronger associations between remaining years of life and provision of instrumental support. Findings are discussed in terms of understanding intergenerational dynamics that unfold over many decades and the utility of time-to-death as an alternative metric for assessing vulnerability. This research is timely in light of growing uncertainty about the family as a reliable source of care in later life, particularly for older men.

A Study on the Impact of Parent-child Relationship and Socioeconomic Status on Problem Behaviour among Children

Aim: The aim of study was to examine whether there exists significant difference in problem behavior among children with the variation in socioeconomic status in the family and parent child relationship (mother-child and father-child relationship).
 Study Design: A cross-sectional analytical study.
 Place and Duration of Study: Data collected in group (maximum with 20 participants by maintaining necessary Covid protocols) at schools in Kolkata with special appointment and after taking consent from the school authority and the participants in November, 2021.
 Methodology: 100 Bengali parents as participants from Kolkata with 30 to 45 years of age and having children within 10 years of age were included following necessary inclusion criteria. The tools used for the study were an information schedule, modified Kuppuswamy SES scale, the Child Behaviour Checklist and parent child relationship scale.
 Results: Results revealed that the problem behavior in children differed significantly due to the variation in socioeconomic status of the family and parent child relationship (in terms of mother child and father child relationship). Thus, the impact of socioeconomic status and parent child relationship on problem behavior among children is significant (P< .001).
 Conclusion: The present study concludes that there are significant impact of socioeconomic status and parent child relationship on problem behavior of the children. The present study has implications in emphasizing that socioeconomic status of the family and nature of parent child relationship play a pivotal role in generating internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors sometimes separately and sometimes together which gradually may turn into developing chronic psychological disturbances. Therefore, immediate measures should be taken to develop concern and to implement psychological intervention.

Aile İçi Rollerde Babalığın Önemi

The way to be a good parent is through love, patience, knowledge and effort. There is no definition of the ideal parent. In every family the child is different. Therefore, there are also differences in the definition of what is necessary and good. According to the structure and cultural codes of societies; One can also see that there are differences about the role of mother and father in the family. This diversity is also reflected in the attitude of the parents in raising the child. In general, in all societies, fathers are forgotten for a very long time in the upbringing of the child. Therefore, while there are studies on the mother in theories of child rearing, studies on the fathers are quite limited. Even though there are studies on fatherhood in family roles and roles in the public sphere, with the experience of social change more studies are needed. It is argued that in different societies, especially in Turkey, family dissolution mostly occurs as a result of mothers’ participation in working life and their presence in the public sphere. In family role sharing, it is seen that the mother is largely responsible for the education of the child, as well as for the physical care of the child. In our study, the importance of the role of fatherhood in the sharing of roles and responsibilities regarding the child has been tried to be revealed. In this study, the role of fatherhood in the family was questioned by literature review, sociological analysis of the role of fatherhood at the level of father-child relationship was made by explaining in the context of gender. Thus, it is aimed to evaluate the shaping of the fatherhood role in the historical process, its determination by gender and the effect of this role on the development of the child.

Inner child of the past: long-term protective role of childhood relationships with mothers and fathers and maternal support for mental health in middle and late adulthood.

National longitudinal studies that investigate the long-term association between early family life and mental health in middle and older adulthood are limited. This study aims to fill the gap by examining the protective effect of positive childhood relationships with mothers and fathers and parental support against depression among women and men in middle and late adulthood. The sample of 12,606 adults (7319 females; 5287 males) from the US Health and Retirement Study was nationally representative with the inclusion of 7 depression measures from 2008 to 2018. Two depression measures, CESD-8 scale and binary indicators of severe depressive symptoms, were used. Generalized estimation equations (GEE)-negative binomial models were estimated for CESD-8 and GEE-logit models were estimated for the binary indicator of severe depression. This study aimed to assess how positive parent-child relationships and maternal support protect the mental health of women and men in adulthood. Other risk and psychosocial factors, such as childhood depression, traumatic life events, stressful life events, marital status, and social support in adulthood were adjusted for. Positive childhood relationships with mothers, fathers, or both parents and increased maternal support were associated with a lower risk of depression among both females and males from middle to old age, even if they experienced trauma, stressful life events, divorce, singlehood, widowhood, or little social support. Females benefited more psychologically than males from positive mother-daughter relationships and high-quality relationships with both parents. However, compared to mother-child relationships, positive father-child relationships protected men better psychosocially than females. Findings underscore the importance of fathers' roles in promoting their children's, especially sons', emotional well-being. Interventions in early mother-child and father-child relationships and parental support are crucial for healthy aging in mental development.

FATHER BONDING AND BULLYING IN CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES / VÄTERLICHE BINDUNG UND BULLING IN KINDERN MIT BEHINDERUNGEN

<p>In recent years, school bullying has been on the rise, but it is not a new phenomenon. While bullying at school is not a recent phenomenon, it has received a great deal of scientific attention over the last three decades. School bullying is now a prevalent phenomenon around the world and transcends socio-economic, racial and cultural boundaries. At the same time, the father-child relationship is very important, because it contributes to the formation of the child's personality. The main purpose of this research is to investigate whether father attachment makes people with disabilities, such as blindness, deafness and motor disability, but also without disabilities, perpetrators or victims of school bullying and the effect of demographic characteristics on the sample. The sample consists of 170 people aged 10-21 years who live in Greece. The study involved 36 people with blindness, 38 people with deafness, 50 people with motor disabilities and 50 people without disabilities. The results highlighted the pretty important relationship between paternal attachment and school bullying in the various groups of the sample and also showed that father care and father protection are predicting factors of their behaviors. The present research effort complements the research of Charmpatsis et al. (2021) on maternal attachment and bullying and focuses mainly on paternal attachment and bullying.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0914/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

The Relationship between Parent-Child Relationship and Perceived Stress among Adolescents in Kerala

The 21st century has been plagued with the advent of technological advances that has significantly diminished the value of parent-child relationships among adolescents. The present quantitative study examines how parent child relationship affects stress levels among adolescents and was conducted among a young adolescents group with a sample size of 60 individuals. The tools used for conducting the study was Perceived Stress scale, Parent-Child relationship scale and the socio-demographic sheet. A correlational analysis was conducted to analyze the relationship between stress and parent-child relationship along with simple linear regression to explain the relationship. The results indicate that there is a significant relationship between stress and parent-child relationship with respect to both, mother and father-child relationships. By establishing parental warmth, care, and affection it is possible to regulate any distress resulting in lower stress for adolescents. The effects of a positive-parent child relationship can also be extended to helping manage academic stress by providing parental support and alleviating concerns of loneliness in managing crisis. Other noteworthy benefits of a positive parent-child relationship are in helping children to build confidence among themselves thereby enabling them to handle potentially demanding future events as well. In light of these findings, it may be argued that the effects of parent-child relationship, explored in the present study have long-term implications for children in general.

“I thought, Oh shit, because I was 19.” Discourses and practices on young fatherhood in Denmark

This article presents the voices of 30 young fathers from the first interview-based study in Denmark on young fatherhood. The findings show that men face significant challenges when they become fathers at a young age and that they often feel stigmatised by society. Young fatherhood, however, can also promote social integration and produce forms of empowerment. Unlike most international research on young fatherhood, this study shows that economic circumstances do not play a crucial role in the ability of fathers to gain access to their children. This may be due to support aimed at socially disadvantaged families provided by the state. The results further indicate that early fatherhood should be seen as a transitional process, rather than as an event, with the young father gradually abandoning teenage life and where a delay in the development of the father-child relationship does not necessarily rule out the later emergence of a stable father-child relationship.

Paternal Feelings and Child's Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Father-Child Insecure Attachment and Child's Emotional Regulation.

The study introduces a path model that links between paternal feelings and child’s anxiety symptoms, aiming to test the mediational role of father–child insecure attachment and the child’s difficulties in emotional regulation in the occurrence of anxiety disorders among a sample of 148 fathers and their children (65 boys and 83 girls aged 8–18) attending the child psychiatric center of a public hospital. Participants completed a battery of diagnostical and research questionnaires, including the Parental Feelings Inventory (PFI), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Screen for Child Anxiety–Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), and the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale–Revised Child version (ECR-RC). Using structural equation modeling, we found father’s anger to be associated with father–child anxiety attachment, while the latter simultaneously mediated the link to the child’s anxiety both directly and indirectly (through emotion regulation [ER]). Consistent with previous evidence, we found insecure attachment and emotional regulation to be uniquely associated with the child’s anxiety. The current findings are among the first to demonstrate the interrelations between these variables in the context of father–child relations, suggesting that the child’s exposure to paternal anger might contribute to developing difficulties in ER and elevated anxiety due to a father–child insecure-anxious attachment relationship. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed in light of parental gender.

Adolescents in Divorced Families: The Interplay of Attachment Patterns, Family Environment, and Personal Characteristics

ABSTRACT The study examined adolescents (N = 230) in divorced families in relation to the adolescent’s attachment pattern, family environment, and personal characteristics. The findings revealed significant direct links of attachment patterns. Avoidant and anxious attachment patterns were found to influence adolescent loneliness, neuroticism, and well-being. Family environment factors of family cohesion, family flexibility, inter-parental conflict, and parent-child relationships significantly impacted adolescents’ social and emotional adjustment. Personal characteristics (child’s age at the time of divorce, length of time since divorce, and mother’s socioeconomic status) had significant effects on adolescents’ adjustment. Mother-child/ father-child relationships also had mediation effects on adolescents’ adjustment.

Mother-Child and Father-Child Relationships in Emerging Adults from Divorced and Non-Divorced Families

The main aim of this study was to analyze the associations between parental divorce and interparental conflict with the quality of parent-child relationships. Specifically, we analyzed trust, communication and alienation in both father-child and mother-child relationships in a sample of 1078 Spanish emerging adults from divorced and non-divorced families. The interaction between parental divorce and conflict was also analyzed. In support of our expectations, parental divorce was associated with lower trust and communication, along with higher alienation in father-child and mother-child relationships. When interparental conflict was included, parental conflict was more strongly associated with lower trust and communication in mother-child relationships, and higher alienation in both mother-child and father-child relationships. However, parental divorce was still associated with low trust and communication with fathers, when interparental conflict and the interaction between parental divorce and conflict were added. In summation, our results suggest that both parental divorce and conflict should be taken into account in the study of the consequences of family-related stress variables on adult children’s wellbeing. These findings add to the current literature and contribute to better comprehend the effects of parental divorce and conflict on both mother-child and father-child affective relationships in an understudied cultural context. The implications, limitations and future research recommendations are discussed.