Mother-father Relationship Research Articles

Pregnancy Intentions During the Transition to Parenthood and Links to Coparenting for First-Time Fathers of Infants

SYNOPSIS Objective . The objectives of this study were to identify associations and pathways through which first-time resident fathers' pregnancy intentions (reported retrospectively) influence their later coparenting and to examine whether these associations varied based on the child's gender. Design. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) 9- and 24-month surveys, we examined a sample of first-time resident biological fathers (N = 1,278). Results. Having a mistimed or unwanted pregnancy is associated with higher levels of paternal depression and with lower mother–father relationship happiness, which in turn are associated with lower coparental supportiveness and higher coparental conflict. There was also a negative association between father's depression and mother–father relationship happiness. No significant differences in associations by gender of child were found. Conclusions. Pregnancy intentions are associated with later coparenting behavior for first-time fathers of infants. Paternal depression and the mother–father relationship are important factors for understanding fathers' later coparenting.

Pathways to paternal engagement: Longitudinal effects of risk and resilience on nonresident fathers.

This article assesses the longitudinal effects of risk and resilience on unmarried nonresident fathers' engagement with children across the first 3 years of their lives. The authors used a subsample of 549 men from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study who were unmarried and noncohabiting at the time of the child's birth. They found not only that risk and resilience factors had a direct effect on paternal engagement but also that their association with engagement was mediated by fathers' continued nonresidence and mother-father relationship quality. Men who leave trajectories of high risk behind during the transition to fatherhood and who have a trajectory characterized by resilience factors are more likely to experience better relationships with the mother of their children, more likely to establish subsequent coresidence with their children, and more likely to remain involved in their children's lives on a daily basis. Implications for policy and programs serving fathers and families are discussed.

Public Policy and Couple Relationships: A Commentary on Cabrera et al. (2008)

The Fragile Families Study is changing the way we think about fathers and mothers in lowincome communities. Other national family data sets have only relatively small numbers of lowincome, unmarried couples, and mostly they have produced a picture of absent fathers and single mothers. The Fragile Families Study has given us a nationally representative sample of urban couples recruited at the birth of the child and followed for 4 years. In their excellent article, Cabrera, Fagan, and Farrie (2008) use the Fragile Families Study to look at the missing side of fathering and couple relationships in urban communities: the active of many fathers and the endurance of many couple relationships. Although there are inseminate and leave fathers out there, they are not the majority, even in the most stressed communities (Carlson, McLanahan, & Englund, 2004). From both research and public policy perspectives, attention must be paid to fathers and couple relationships in fragile families. If the first generation of Fragile Families investigations established a baseline of father and couple relationships, the second generation of studies has used longitudinal designs to take a more complex, theory-based examination of predictors of enduring father involvement. In this case, Cabrera et al. ask a standard question in the fathering field-about the relationship between and subsequent with the child-and they go further to ask a new question, namely, what explains the association between pre- and post-natal involvement. They wisely focus on the couple relationship because we know that fathering is especially sensitive to the quality and endurance of the father-mother relationship (Doherty, Erickson, & Kouneski, 1998). But prior cross-sectional research has not been able to tease out the causal aspects of the relationship between father and the couple relationship. This study's most important contribution, then, is its demonstration of how the couple relationship impacts the father-child relationship over time, specifically, that the residential status of the father and mother is an important influence on the relationship between and postnatal father involvement. The authors conclude that a man who is prenatally involved appears to put himself on a positive trajectory with the mother and with his child. Specifically, if he continues to live with the mother or transitions into cohabitation or marriage, he is likely to be an active, involved father to his young child. I will make one scientific comment on the article and then focus on policy implications. Father has meant many things to many people in the fatherhood research arena (Hawkins & Palkovitz, 1999). In this case, the variable that the authors label prenatal involvement is assessed by summing three items: Were you present at birth? During me baby's mother's pregnancy, did you give her money or buy things for the baby? and Did you help in other ways, like providing transportation/doing chores? These items appear to tap the father's reliability and helpfulness: Was he around and did he help the mother in concrete ways? Similarly, the dependent variable, paternal engagement, taps a specific dimension of engagement: face-to-face interaction in activities such as play, reading stories, and physical affection. Other major dimensions of father were not assessed, for example, the father's accessibility to the child even when not interacting with the child and the father's responsibility for decisionmaking related to child rearing (Lamb, Pleck, Charnov, & Levine, 1985) or financial responsibility for the child. Thus, a grounded way to describe the study's first major finding would be as follows: Fathers' greater reliability and helpfulness during the pregnancy is associated with more positive face-to-face interaction with the child 1 and 3 years later. The second finding is that fathers who are more reliably helpful during pregnancy are more apt to be positively involved with their child if the father and mother continue living together or begin living together. …

Low-income, nonresident father involvement with their toddlers: variation by fathers' race and ethnicity.

Using data from a racially and ethnically diverse sample of low-income mothers of 2-year-old children participating in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (N = 883), the authors examined fathers' education and employment, mother-father relationship, and mothers' relationships with kin in the household to explain variation in nonresident father involvement across racial and ethnic groups. Nonresident White fathers were less involved with their children than were African American and Latino fathers. This difference was explained by the status of mother-father relationships. White nonresident fathers were less likely than minority nonresident fathers to maintain romantic relationships with their child's mother. Mothers in the White father group were also more likely to re-partner, which negatively related to biological fathers' involvement. These findings suggest that approaches to strengthen nonresident father involvement in children's lives need to consider how father ethnicity and mother-father relations are associated with differential patterns of father involvement.

Complexities in Research on Fathering: Illustrations from the Tufts Study of Young Fathers

Theory and research suggest that the transition to parenthood is a major life transition, and that adaptation to the parenting role is influenced by a complex set of factors, including the relationship with the child's mother, family of origin, and how the father is situated within sociocultural contexts. The father–]mother relationship is particularly important for men making the transition to fatherhood. This study examined patterns of fathering among young fathers (15–24 years) and investigated how fathers' relationships with the mothers of their young children (infants and toddlers) were related to fathering. In general, higher quality father–mother relationships were related to greater father involvement with children; when mothers were perceived as barriers to involved fathering fathers also had less accurate and adaptive parenting knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Person-centered analyses revealed quite complex relations between father–mother relationships and father–child interaction. One pattern showed strong positive father–mother relationships associated with a disengaged pattern of father–child interaction, while another pattern showed sensitive and positive father–child engagement in the context of negative or distant father–mother relationships. Four patterns of association between fathering and mother–father relationships were demonstrated. Results highlight the complexity of understanding fathering and family relationships among young fathers.

Symptoms of Major Depression in a Sample of Fathers of Infants

Depression has been extensively studied for mothers but not for fathers. This study examines the sociodemographic correlates of symptoms of depression and how depression is associated with father involvement using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview–Short Form (CIDI-SF) for major depression. The study uses a sample of 2,139 resident fathers in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing 12-Month Father Survey. Results indicate that symptoms of major depression differ by race, marital status, and employment status but not by age and educational status. Major depression also differs significantly based on drug and alcohol use and criminal justice experience. Results of ordinary least squares regression models indicate that major depression is negatively associated with father–child activities (engagement), positively associated with paternal aggravation/stress in parenting, and negatively associated with both the quality of the mother-father relationship and coparental relationship supportiveness. Findings are important for identifying fathers for whom interventions would be valuable.

Low-Income Fathers' Involvement in Their Toddlers' Lives: Biological Fathers From the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Study

In this article, we use data on biological fathers (n = 597) and mothers (N = 1,550) from 12 sites of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHS study) to examine the type and frequency of father involvement. We use a three-part model of father involvement to examine whether fathers participating in the EHS study are accessible to, engaged with, and show responsibility for their two-year-old children. We also examine patterns of reported father involvement by relationship status and residency. We find that more than 80% of all two-year-old children in the EHS study have accessible biological fathers, with the majority of nonresident boyfriends and nonresident friends and more than a third of fathers in no relationship with the mother seeing their children at least once in three months. These accessible fathers are engaged in a range of activities and show responsibility for their children, although patterns vary by the father-mother relationship status and father residency. More specifically, fathers who had at least a romantic relationship with the mother were more involved with their children across types of involvement than those in no relationship. Associations between relationship status and father engagement and responsibility remained after controlling for demographic variation among fathers in different relationship groups. A significant proportion of fathers who had no relationship with the mother of their child had some contact with the child, suggesting that the relationship between mother and father is not the only factor helping fathers stay involved in their children’s lives. Finally, fathers report doing a lot more caregiving than has been suggested by other studies.

Shedding further light on the effects of various types and quality of early child care on infant-mother attachment relationship: the Haifa Study of Early Child Care.

The Haifa Study of Early Child Care recruited a large-scale sample (N = 758) that represented the full SES spectrum in Israel, to examine the unique contribution of various child-care-related correlates to infant attachment. After controlling for other potential contributing variables--including mother characteristics, mother-child interaction, mother-father relationship, infant characteristics and development, and the environment--this study found that center-care, in and of itself, adversely increased the likelihood of infants developing insecure attachment to their mothers as compared with infants who were either in maternal care, individual nonparental care with a relative, individual nonparental care with a paid caregiver, or family day-care. The results suggest that it is the poor quality of center-care and the high infant-caregiver ratio that accounted for this increased level of attachment insecurity among center-care infants.

Low birthweight: Do unwed fathers help?

Previous studies have revealed that marital status is an important predictor of birth outcomes, with unmarried mothers having a higher probability than married mothers of delivering low birthweight babies. However, research on the impact of different mother-father relationships among unwed parents is virtually non-existent and little is known about whether and how father involvement affects birth outcomes. In this study, we use the sample of unwed parents in the 7-cities baseline Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing data to examine the effects of parents' relationship status and support provided by the baby's father during pregnancy on the likelihood of delivering a low birthweight baby, and to examine whether father involvement explains racial and ethnic disparities in low birthweight. We include several variables that past studies have suggested may be important in explaining birth outcomes but generally have not been able to include, such as mother's social support, her attitudes and values, and her religiosity. We find that having received monetary support from the baby's father has a negative effect on the likelihood of low birthweight and that mothers who are in a non-cohabiting romantic relationship with the father have significantly higher odds of low birthweight compared to mothers who cohabit with the father of their baby. Finally, racial ethnic differences in birth outcomes within this population appear to be invariant to the level of father involvement. A major contribution of the study is that it uses rich new data to examine birth outcomes in a population at high risk—unmarried mothers—and incorporates measures such as parents' relationship status and father's financial support, along with an extensive set of demographic, social, and behavioral risk factors.

Preschoolers' characterizations of multiple family relationships during family doll play

Investigated 4-year-old' depictions of family relationships during a semistructured doll play task. Examined developmental and family correlates of these depictions, and their relative stability over a 1-month period. Forty-nine children related stories about happy, sad, mad, and worried families using dolls reflecting their own family configuration. For each story, coders recorded (a) proportion of total story time devoted to each family dyad and (b) number of conflictive, aggressive, and affectionate acts per dyad. Children divided their focus during stories evenly between father-child, mother-child, and father-mother relationships with child-sibling interactions occurring regularly among participants with siblings. Depictions of affection and aggression among family figures were relatively commonplace, related to mothers' reports of family climate, and stable across a 1-month period. Results substantiated preschoolers' awareness and discrimination of intrafamily relationship dynamics and provided some guidelines and cautions to practitioners who employ doll family assessments in their clinical work.

The Relationship between Mutual Family Relations and Child Psychopathology

The associations of the mutual mother-child, father-child, and mother-father relationship and various patterns of family relations with child psychopathology were investigated in a sample of 137 families referred to outpatient mental health services. Assessment of the relative association of the different family dyads showed that both the mother-child and the mother-father relationship were related to child problem behaviour. However, whereas the mother-child relationship was consistently more related to externalising behaviour, the mother-father relationship was particularly related to internalising behaviour. Our findings gave clear support for the cumulative risk model: having more negatively qualified relationships was associated with more problem behaviour. Furthermore, our results suggested a protective influence of the parent-child relationship: having one or two positive parent-child relationships was associated with less problem behaviour. No support was found for the cross-generational coalition hypothesis. Implications for future research are discussed.

The Relationship between Mutual Family Relations and Child Psychopathology

The associations of the mutual mother-child, father-child, and mother-father relationship and various patterns of family relations with child psychopathology were investigated in a sample of 137 families referred to outpatient mental health services. Assessment of the relative association of the different family dyads showed that both the mother-child and the mother-father relationship were related to child problem behaviour. However, whereas the mother-child relationship was consistently more related to externalising behaviour, the mother-father relationship was particularly related to internalising behaviour. Our findings gave clear support for the cumulative risk model: having more negatively qualified relationships was associated with more problem behaviour. Furthermore, our results suggested a protective influence of the parent-child relationship: having one or two positive parent-child relationships was associated with less problem behaviour. No support was found for the cross-generational coalition hypothesis. Implications for future research are discussed.

Nonmarital Co-parenting: Knowledge Building for Practice

The number of children born in the U.S. to nonmarried parents is increasing, and these children are at risk of deleterious outcomes. However, little is known about relationships between unmarried fathers and mothers. Based on a review of extant empirical research and on a multilevel social systems theoretical framework, a practice model is proposed that identifies 12 key factors for further knowledge-development: child well-being, mother's well-being, father's well-being, mother–child relationship, father–child relationship, mother–father relationship, maternal extended family relationships, paternal extended family relationships, neighborhood characteristics, mother's family background, father's family background, and public services and institutional structures. Implications for multilevel approaches to social work practice include needed interventions at both macro and micro levels that address poverty, housing and neighborhood stabilization, employment, child care, human capital development, health and mental health services, family and individual counseling, and parenting skills. Further research must focus on this specific population of “fragile families,” including development and evaluation of effective policies, programs, and services.

Father Presence and Family Formation

During the past several decades, studies on the transition to parenthood and the parent-infant relationship have investigated the role of the father in family formation. The addition of the family systems perspective focused on triadic and family-of-origin effects in early parenthood. The present reformulation introduces object relations theory and self psychology, which permit the development of the concept, the Psychic parental coalition. This concept resides at the heart of a multidimensional definition of father presence beginning at the origins of the offspring's life. It is postulated that father presence cannot be understood apart from the context of the father-mother relationship, beginning at conception. Methods for the study of father presence in family formation are discussed.

Adolescent fathers: A group potentially at risk for parenting failure

Recent attention has focused on the role of father-child interaction and relationships in child development. Usually neglected in such discussions, however, is the special group of fathers who are adolescent. For various reasons, children of adolescent fathers may receive less adequate parenting than children of adult fathers. Men who begin parenthood during adolescence frequently obtain less formal education, achieve less vocational success, and have higher divorce rates than peers who delay parenthood. Because of situational factors and, possibly, developmental factors, many young fathers may be faced with excessive amounts of stress with which they may have difficulty coping. These factors serve to interfere not only with father-chiid interaction, but also with mother-father relationships. Both relationships have an important influence on child development. Within the last decade, researchers have paid increasing attention to the influences that fathers have on their children's development. As a result, there has emerged an appreciation that children develop in the context of a family system in which each parent affects the child's development directly as well as via hisher influence on the other parent's relationship with the child.'-3 In a recent contribution to this journal, Lamb reviewed the available evidence concerning the ways in which fathers affect the socioemotional and cognitive development of their infant^.^ Several conclusions emerged from this literature review. First, as in the case of mothers, the security of the father- infant relationship appears to depend on the degree to which the adult is sensitively responsive to the infant's signals and needs .* Secure attachment relationships have positive long-term consequences, whereas insecurely- attached infants are later less persistent in task situations, less sociable with adults, and less socially competent with peer^.^-'^ The security of both infant- mother and infant-father attachments have independent influence on the

The Director’s Role at Canada’s Stratford

ghosts: what they are, where they come from and why. There is the theme of the family with its tangled web of mother-son, father-son, father-mother relationships, a theme as old as drama itself. And there is the theme of lust (both blood-lust and sex-lust) pitted against love, a theme re-echoed on a less physical level in the clash between dark daemonism and rational action. All these are themes. After them come the questions: questions of the interpretation of complex characters, of the battered text, and of the unwieldy length of the play. Unless a director ponders the themes, he will be unable to arrive at any coherent view which alone can solve the questions satisfactorily for his actors and therefore for his audience. At Stratford, Ontario, this season, John Hirsch avoided such unifying thought. In the programme, where one has come to expect a Director's Note which gives some indication of the director's purpose, he avoided any commitment, just quoting Harry Levin's The Question of Hamlet, where the topicality of the play is asserted in these terms: