Mother-father Relationship Research Articles

Promoting father involvement in early home visiting services for vulnerable families: Findings from a pilot study of “Dads matter”

Despite mounting evidence on the importance of fathers in children’s development, evidence-based perinatal home visitation programs have largely overlooked fathers in the design and delivery of services. This paper describes the design, development, and pilot testing of the “Dads Matter” enhancement to standard home visiting services. Dads Matter is a manualized intervention package designed to fully incorporate fathers into perinatal home visiting services. Twenty-four families were enrolled in a pilot study to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary outcomes of the intervention. Using a quasi-experimental time-lagged design, 12 families received standard home visiting services and completed baseline and four-month post-tests. Home visitor staff were then trained and supervised to implement the Dads Matter enhancement in addition to standard services. Twelve additional families were then enrolled and completed baseline and four-month post-tests. Implementation data indicated that Dads Matter was implemented as planned. Cohen’s d scores on outcome measures indicate positive trends associated with Dads Matter in the quality of the mother-father relationship, perceived stress reported by both parents, fathers’ involvement with the child, maltreatment indicators, and fathers’ verbalizations toward the infant. Effect sizes generally ranged from moderate to large in magnitude and were larger than overall effect sizes of home visitation services alone reported in prior meta-analyses. Dads Matter appears to be a feasible, acceptable, and promising approach to improving fathers’ engagement in home visiting services and promoting family and child well-being.

Socio-educational development of pre-school children in Eastern Cape: Factors militating against fathers’ readiness to participate

Past studies on South African fathers’ less or non-involvement in their children’s development have either approached it qualitatively, with rural dwellers that are less educated than participants, or those that were quantitatively limited in terms of their focus and methodology. There is, therefore, a dearth of quantitative data on factors affecting South African fathers’ readiness to participate in their children’s development. It is precisely this realisation that has prompted this research paper. For this study, a descriptive survey research design with a sample of 300 university students was adopted. A questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.78 was used to collect data, and both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in the analysis at 0.05 level of significance. Absence of father at home (weighted average = 3.72), relationship with the mother of the child (weighted average = 3.63), and financial factors (weighted average = 3.46) are identified as those factors conspiring against South African fathers’ readiness, while fathering skills (weighted average = 3.41) are not one of these factors. The conclusion drawn, based on the findings of this research, is that counselling service units ought to be established in all communities in South Africa to work with families so as to help facilitate and maintain positive and cordial relationship amongst them. Keywords: childhood education; father-mother relationship; fathering skills; fathers’ participation; financial factor; gender; pre-school children; race; socio-education development

Clarifying the Association Between Mother-Father Relationship Aggression and Parenting.

Although much research examines the association between fathers' relationship aggression and mothers' parenting, little attention is given to mothers' aggression, mutual aggression, or fathers' parenting. Using a sample of coresiding couples from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 973), the authors examine the association between mothers' and fathers' relationship aggression, measured as frequency and perpetration-victimization types (mutual, mother-only, father-only), and mothers' and fathers' parenting. Fixed effects regression models show that fathers' aggression-father-only or mutual-is positively related to mothers' parenting stress, whereas father-only or mother-only aggression is related to fathers' stress. For both parents, aggression perpetration is negatively related to their own engagement with children. Mother-only aggression is negatively related to mothers' spanking and positively related to fathers' spanking. These findings suggest the importance of examining both parents' aggression and perpetrators' as well as victims' parenting to better understand the link between relationship aggression and parenting.

Low-income, nonresident fathers' coparenting with multiple mothers and relatives: Effects on fathering.

Low-income, nonresident fathers are often involved in complex coparenting networks that may involve multiple mothers, relatives, and other adults. However, the coparenting literature has often obscured this complexity through limiting attention to father-mother relationships. The current study used family systems theory to examine the effects of fathers' coparenting with mothers and relatives on fathers' parenting self-efficacy, father-child closeness, and father-child conflict. Predictors included the number of fathers' coparenting mothers and relatives, the quality of those coparenting relationships, and coparenting alliances specifically between fathers and the biological mother of a target child. Approximately 19% of a community sample of fathers (N = 401) reported more than 1 mother in their coparenting network, and 63% reported at least 1 relative. Overall, fathers who reported having more-cooperative coparenting relatives in their networks reported higher parenting self-efficacy and father-child closeness. We further noted a race or ethnicity interaction effect for closeness and conflict, such that having more-cooperative coparenting relatives was associated with increased closeness for non-Hispanic Black fathers but not for non-Hispanic White fathers. Amount of cooperation with coparenting relatives was associated with increased conflict for non-Hispanic Black fathers but not for Hispanic fathers. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Study protocol for a randomized clinical trial of a fatherhood intervention for African American non-resident fathers: Can we improve father and child outcomes?

PurposeAfrican American (AA) fathers who live apart from their children face multiple obstacles to consistent and positive involvement with their children. Consequently, significant numbers of children are bereft of their father's positive involvement. Intervention research that is explicitly focused on promoting the positive involvement of non-resident AA fathers with their young children is limited. The purpose of this article is to describe the study protocol of a randomized trial (RCT) designed to test the Building Bridges to Fatherhood program against a financial literacy comparison condition; and discuss early implementation challenges. MethodsFathers (n=180) are recruited to attend 10 group meetings, reimbursed for transportation, given dinner and activity vouchers for spending time with their child, and incentivized with a $40 gift card at each data collection time point. Mothers are incentivized ($40 gift card) at data collection and must be amenable to father child interaction. Intervention targets include father psychological well-being, parenting competence, communication, problem-solving ability; father-mother relationship quality; and child behavioral and emotional/social development. ResultsTo date, 57 fathers have been randomized to study condition. Recruitment has been influenced by father and mother hesitancy and the logistics of reaching and maintaining contact with participants. Strategies to surmount challenges to father and mother recruitment and engagement have been developed. ConclusionsThe prospective benefits of positive father involvement to children, fathers and families outweigh the challenges associated with community-based intervention research. The findings from this RCT can inform the body of knowledge on engaging AA non-resident fathers in culturally relevant fatherhood programming.

Relationship types among adolescent parents participating in a home-visiting program: A latent-transition analysis.

Young parents (less than 25 years of age) have been shown to have especially low rates of father involvement and union stability. However, research has also shown that parenting experiences of young fathers may not be uniform. There is a need for more research that assesses both the multidimensionality of relationship typologies and their temporality. Using a large longitudinal sample of low-income, young mothers enrolled in a randomized control study of a home-visitation program (n = 704; 61% program, 39% control), we evaluated how mother-father relationship dynamics changed over time. Ten mother-reported indicators of relationships (e.g., coresidence, marital status, types of father support) were used to conduct a latent-class analysis of relationship types. A 4-class solution was identified at each time point: Single Parent, Supportive Nonresident Partner, Supportive Resident Partner, and Questioning/Ambivalent Coupling. Latent-transition analyses were used to evaluate stability of relationships across 2 years. At each transition, a large proportion of women moved from one relationship class to another, indicating heterogeneity in relationship dynamics of adolescent parents. Results revealed the potential of a home-visiting program targeted at young parents to favorably promote more stable and supportive mother-father relationships and coparenting arrangements.

Fathers' Participation in Parenting and Maternal Parenting Stress: Variation by Relationship Status.

The growing diversity in mother-father relationship status has led to a debate over the role of fathers in parenting. Little is known, however, about how fathers' participation in parenting is linked to maternal well-being across different mother-father relationship statuses. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,062), fixed-effects as well as random-effects regression models show that overall fathers' engagement with children and sharing in child-related chores are negatively related to maternal parenting stress. Fathers' cooperative coparenting is negatively related to maternal parenting stress only in the random-effects model, suggesting that the association is driven by selection factors. There is little variation in these associations by mother-father relationship status, once selection factors are controlled for. These findings extend support for the current cultural emphasis on benefits of fathers' active participation in parenting for mothers and children even after the mother-father relationship dissolved.

Parents' Relationship Quality and Children's Behavior in Stable Married and Cohabiting Families.

Although an extensive literature has shown that family structure is linked with child well-being, less well understood is how the dynamics within families affect children, in particular the extent to which positive mother-father relationship quality is linked with children's outcomes. In this study the authors used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 773) to examine how couple supportiveness in stable coresident families is related to children's externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems over ages 3 through 9. Using latent growth curve and fixed effects models, they found that parents' greater supportiveness has a slight association with lower levels of children's behavioral problems. Using cross-lagged structural equation models to examine the direction of the association, they also found some evidence that parents' relationship quality and children's behavioral problems are reciprocally related. Overall, this study suggests that more positive couple interactions are beneficial for children residing with both of their biological parents.

Father Involvement and Toddlers' Behavior Regulation: Evidence from a High Social Risk Sample

Using a sample of 401 adolescent mothers (16-20 years of age at childbirth) and their firstborn toddlers, we examined relations between father involvement, mother-father relationships, and toddlers’ socioemotional functioning. Mothers reported on father involvement and father-mother relationship quality (support, conflict, intimate partner violence). Children’s behavior problems and social competence were assessed using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA). The expected positive influence of high father involvement on toddlers was absent when parents were in conflict, or had high intimate partner violence (IPV). Results are discussed in light of the current emphasis on policies and programs to support father involvement and suggest that enhancing the quality of father-mother relationships may facilitate the potential positive effects of father involvement on children’s functioning.

Erratum to: Beyond Marital Status: The Quality of the Mother–Father Relationship and Its Influence on Reproductive Health Behaviors and Outcomes Among Unmarried Low Income Pregnant Women

Erratum to: Beyond Marital Status: The Quality of the Mother–Father Relationship and Its Influence on Reproductive Health Behaviors and Outcomes Among Unmarried Low Income Pregnant Women

"The Good and the Bad?" Childhood Experiences With Fathers and Their Influence on Women's Expectations and Men's Experiences of Fathering in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Using qualitative data from Project SIZE—a study that explores child and family well-being in the context of HIV/AIDS and poverty, we interviewed the female caregivers of 20 9- to 10-year-old children and 16 of the father-figures nominated by children. We consider how childhood experiences with fathers are associated with women’s expectations and men’s experiences of fathering. Data were analysed thematically in pairs of the focal child’s caregiver and father-figure. Data from four women who were not paired were analysed individually. Results generally support both the modelling and the compensatory hypotheses to explain intergenerational influences on men’s fathering attitudes and behaviour. Our results go a step further to acknowledge that fatherhood is dynamic and, in rural KwaZulu-Natal, it is influenced also by socio-cultural and economic factors, societal expectations, fathermother relationship and individual characteristics of men.

Paternal family relationships, child risk, and child outcomes

Contemporary focus on fathers and their influence on child development reflects a broader shift in developmental research toward efforts to understand dynamic processes that account for the multi-dimensionality of child development. The family system is a set of relationships that rarely have been studied from a full system perspective. Historically, fathers were excluded from the analysis of factors influencing child development, as were father–mother relationships. In the former case, the assumption that fathers did not matter was at the least a covert aspect of all major theories of child development, which were anchored in mother–child relationship dynamics. In the latter case, the focus was primarily on the quality of the marital relationship, with little attention to how parental relationship quality affected their children. Today, researchers are actively in pursuit of the relationship networks that impact child development and fathers are no longer an invisible component of the child's relationshi...

Patterns and Predictors of Involvement Among Fathers of Children Born to Adolescent Mothers

Father involvement may be an important support for children born to adolescent mothers. This study examines patterns and predictors of father involvement, as reported by adolescent mothers, from their child's infancy through toddlerhood. Data were collected from urban, primarily African American, adolescent mothers (N = 138) in four interviews, over a 24-month period. The percentage of fathers categorized as “highly involved” decreased significantly from baseline to 12-month follow-up and was stable through 24 months. The romantic status of the mother–father relationship was the strongest predictor of whether father involvement was consistently high, consistently low, or decreased over time.

Fathers' involvement and child behavior problems in poor African American single-mother families

The present study examined the effects of nonresident fathers' involvement–measured by the frequency of fathers' contact with their children and the quality of fathers' parenting–on their children's behavior problems. Using data from a subsample of African American single and non-cohabiting mothers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, results indicate that more frequent contact between fathers and their child and fathers' more adequate parenting were associated indirectly with fewer child behavior problems transmitted through more adequate parenting by mothers. The quality of mothers' parenting was associated positively with the quality of the mother–father relationship and with both the quality and the frequency of the fathers' contacts with their child. Policy and practice implications are discussed.

How Teenage Fathers Matter for Children: Evidence From the ECLS-B.

Much is known about how having a teenage mother influences children's outcomes, but the relationship between teenage fatherhood and children's health and development is less well documented. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, the authors investigated how teenage fathers matter for children. They expected teenage fathers' influence on children to differ from adult fathers' in three domains: the household context, the father-mother relationship, and the father-child relationship. Teenage fathers were less often married and more often cohabiting or nonresident, and their children experienced a variety of social disadvantages in their household contexts. The quality of the father-child relationship did not often differ between adolescent and adult fathers. Fathers' marital status and children's household contexts each fully explained the negative relationship between having a teen father and children's cognitive and behavior scores at age 2. These findings suggest that policy interventions could possibly reduce these children's developmental gaps in the critical preschool years.

Beyond Marital Status: The Quality of the Mother–Father Relationship and Its Influence on Reproductive Health Behaviors and Outcomes Among Unmarried Low Income Pregnant Women

In populations where the majority of pregnancies occur to unmarried women, exploring the quality of partner relationships and reproductive health is warranted. This study assesses differences in psychosocial characteristics, health behaviors, and birth outcomes between unmarried pregnant women who reported having a 'good' relationship with their baby's father, compared to those who reported having a 'fair' or 'poor' relationship with their baby's father. This research was part of a prospective study of low-income urban women. All unmarried women (n = 3,633) enrolled during their first prenatal visit were asked questions designed to differentiate between being in a good, fair or poor relationship with the baby's father. The worse the quality of the relationship, the worse the outcome, with dose-response associations between the quality of the relationship, emotional health, health behaviors, and birthweight. Compared to women in good relationships, those in poor relationships were more likely to have depressive symptoms (aPR 1.93; 95% CI: 1.65, 2.25), stress (aPR 1.24; 95% CI: 1.14, 1.35), use drugs (aPR 1.34; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.61) and smoke (aPR 1.28; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.49). Although infants born to mothers in poor relationships had the highest rate of low birth weight, the differences were not significant. Delving beyond marital status to assess the quality of partner relationships among unmarried mothers is important. Further research is needed to understand the complex interplay of individual, social and environmental factors promoting or hindering stable and supportive partner relationships among socially disadvantaged populations of pregnant women.

Fathers and maternal risk for physical child abuse.

This study set out to examine father-related factors predicting maternal physical child abuse risk in a national birth cohort of 1,480 families. In-home and phone interviews were conducted with mothers when index children were 3 years old. Predictor variables included the mother-father relationship status; father demographic, economic, and psychosocial variables; and key background factors. Outcome variables included both observed and self-reported proxies of maternal physical child abuse risk. At the bivariate level, mothers married to fathers were at lower risk for most indicators of maternal physical child abuse. However, after accounting for specific fathering factors and controlling for background variables, multivariate analyses indicated that marriage washed out as a protective factor, and on two of three indicators was linked with greater maternal physical abuse risk. Regarding fathering factors linked with risk, fathers' higher educational attainment and their positive involvement with their children most discernibly predicted lower maternal physical child abuse risk. Fathers' economic factors played no observable role in mothers' risk for physical child maltreatment. Such multivariate findings suggest that marriage per se does not appear to be a protective factor for maternal physical child abuse and rather it may serve as a proxy for other father-related protective factors.

Poor Single Mothers with Young Children: Mastery, Relations with Nonresident Fathers, and Child Outcomes

Using data from two waves of a short-term longitudinal study, the authors examined the impact of maternal socioeconomic conditions (education, employment, and income) and family processes (quality of mother-father relations, frequency of nonresident fathers' contacts with their children, and mothers' parenting stress) at time (T) 1 on maternal parenting adequacy and children's behavior problems and adaptive language skills, 1 1/2 to two years later, at T2. The sample consisted of 86 single mothers--each with a preschool child (ages 3 and 5, respectively, at T1 and T2)--who were employed and unemployed current and former welfare recipients. As predicted, the influences of mothers' socioeconomic conditions and family processes were largely indirect and mediated by mothers' perceived self-efficacy (mastery).The quality of the mother-father relationship was related positively to the frequency of nonresident fathers' contacts with their children. More nonresident father involvement and less maternal parenting stress at T1 were associated with better child outcomes in kindergarten--that is, fewer behavior problems and better adaptive language skills. These findings suggest that there might be enduring effects on poor children's adjustment in early school of mothers' efficacy beliefs and nonresident fathers' involvement. Implications for social welfare policies and practice are discussed. KEY WORDS: mastery beliefs; mother-father relations; parenting; preschool children's development; single mothers ********** For some poor children, the transition to school is imperiled. A large body of research has documented associations among economic disadvantage, unstable and conflicted family relations, deprived cognitive environments at home, and behavior problems and reduced verbal ability early in school (Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 1994; Duncan & Brooks-Gunn, 1997; McLoyd, 1998). Behavior and learning problems early in school tend to persist for children from economically disadvantaged families (Ackerman, Brown, & Izard, 2003). Researchers also have observed that children develop more optimally when there is both a primary caregiver who is committed to the well-being of the child (typically the mother) and another adult (frequently the father) who gives support to the primary caregiver (see, for example, Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Jackson & Scheines, 2005). Jackson and Scheines (2005) pointed out that little is known about how single black mothers and nonresident black fathers coparent in poor and near-poor black families. In a sample of current and former single-mother welfare recipients in New York City, they investigated the determinative impact on preschool black children's subsequent behavioral and cognitive development of mothers' perceived self-efficacy (mastery), parenting practices involving the relationship between the mothers and the nonresident fathers, and the level of contact between those fathers and their children. They found that more contact between nonresident fathers and their children predicted more adequate maternal parenting, which in turn was associated directly with the children's subsequent behavioral and cognitive functioning in early elementary school. In this longitudinal study, we adopted ecological and social cognitive theoretical perspectives in examining predictors of child behavior problems and language skills in kindergarten in a sample of single black mothers with a three- or four-year-old child who were employed and unemployed current and former welfare recipients in Pittsburgh in 2004 at time (T) 1. We focused on factors that distinguish children with lower levels of behavior problems and better language skills 1 1/2 to two years later at T2. Because of the paucity of research on within-group differences among poor and near-poor single black mothers and their young children, little is known about individual differences in this population. The current study aimed to reduce this deficit in the empirical literature on parenting and child outcomes. …

Parent relationship quality and infant–mother attachment

This project examined interrelations between father–mother conflict, father support of mother, maternal behavior, and infant–mother attachment within a sample of 79 African American families living in a highly stressed urban community. Father support of mother was not related to maternal parenting behavior or infant attachment. Conflicted mother–father relationships were associated with problematic maternal behavior, low maternal sensitivity, infant attachment insecurity, and infant attachment disorganization. The associations between parental conflict and both infant attachment disorganization and insecurity were buffered in families in which fathers co-resided with the mother. Consistent with theory and prior research, links were also observed between maternal sensitive-responsiveness and infant attachment security and between problematic maternal parenting and infant attachment disorganization. However, maternal parenting behavior did not mediate the relation between parental conflict and infant attachment. Results are discussed with respect to whether and under what circumstances child exposure to parent conflict can have a direct effect on infant–mother attachment that is not mediated through dyadic infant–mother interaction.

Father Involvement in Immigrant and Ethnically Diverse Families from the Prenatal Period to the Second Year: Prediction and Mediating Mechanisms

This longitudinal study focused on fathers’ involvement from the prenatal period through infants’ first year in Dominican immigrants (n = 73), Mexican immigrants (n = 65) and African Americans (n = 66) residing in New York City. Fathers’ prenatal involvement, the quality of the mother–father relationship, fathers’ postnatal involvement with their 1- and 6 month olds and fathers’ involvement with their 14 month-olds (i.e., time spent with infant; eating meals with infant; activities with infant) were examined. Father involvement was uniformly high and stable. Fathers’ prenatal involvement predicted involvement at 14 months, and the quality of the mother–father relationship mediated these associations. Father ethnicity and residency moderated associations between the father–mother relationship, father postnatal involvement and father involvement with 14 month olds.