Fathers Of Toddlers Research Articles

Family dynamics. An exploration of parental sensitivity and depressive symptoms among mothers and fathers of toddlers.

In studies of maternal sensitivity, the influence of mothers’ depressive symptomatology has been consistently highlighted. Additionally, the relevance of both maternal and paternal sensitive responses to children’s development has been recognized. However, literature regarding the dynamics of the mother-father-toddler triad is scarce. This is particularly true when understanding how parental sensitivity may be bidirectionally shaped by both parents’ (i.e., mothers’ and fathers’ depressive symptomatology) and children’s characteristics (i.e., age). Hence, the present study aims to describe and analyse the associations between parental depression, paternal sensitivity and children’s socioemotional difficulties and age with mothers’ sensitive responses to highlight the appropriateness of considering fathers’ depressive symptoms and sensitivity to better understand the impact of maternal depressive symptomatology on mothers’ sensitivity. The participants included 80 Chilean mother-father-child triads in which all children were between 1 and 3 years of age and presented some degree of socioemotional difficulty. The results reveal no differences in maternal and paternal sensitivity or higher depressive symptomatology in mothers than in fathers. Additionally, while mothers’ depression was significantly associated with their sensitivity, this was not the case for fathers. Paternal depressive symptomatology was associated with the mother’s depression. Finally, paternal sensitivity emerged as a mediator between maternal depressive symptoms and sensitivity. This result calls attention to the use of paternal variables to understand how maternal depression impacts mothers’ sensitivity and to thus develop appropriate interventions that expand the scope of such impacts from the dyad to the triad.

Fathers’ emotional experiences while parenting toddlers: a qualitative exploration

ABSTRACT Though fatherhood research has recently burgeoned, extant literature primarily focuses on father characteristics and father–child interactions. A critical gap remains in understanding fathers’ emotional experiences. Using the Parent Development Interview-Revised, 74 interviews with fathers of toddlers were coded using questions about six positive and negative emotions: joy, pain/difficulty, happiness, pride, annoyance/anger, and guilt. Themes reflected 4 overarching concepts: father–child relationship, child-focused experiences, father-focused experiences, and the fatherhood role or identity. Frequent themes included: watching their children grow, sharing affection and love, children’s behavior, and spending time away. Some codes appeared especially salient for some fathers, such as growth in their co-parenting relationship and comparison to their family of origin. This study describes men who are deeply invested in fatherhood, highlighting the importance of research that goes beyond documenting fathers’ influence on their children, and instead emphasizes the inherent value of fathers and in understanding fathers’ experiences.

Assessing the Toxic Levels in Parenting Behavior and Coping Strategies Implemented During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Assessing the Toxic Levels in Parenting Behavior and Coping Strategies Implemented During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Chinese mothers’ and fathers’ involvement in toddler play activity: type variations and gender differences

ABSTRACTThe present study explores the constructs of Chinese mothers’ and fathers’ engagement in toddlers’ play in the daily context. A sample of 238 parents of toddlers (M = 30.43 months, SD = 3.45) completed a newly-developed instrument, the Chinese Parental Involvement in Toddler Play Activity Questionnaire (CPITPAQ), to report their play engagement. First, factor analyses yielded four constructs: physical play, social games and routines, educational play, and object exploration. Second, a set of ANOVAs indicated that: (1) the mothers engaged in toddlers’ play more than the fathers; (2) both mother and father involved themselves more in toddler’s educational play than in other types of play; and (3) fathers and mothers demonstrated different patterns of play engagement with their daughters and sons – specifically, fathers engaged sons more in physical play and object exploration, while mothers engaged daughters more in social games and routines. The finding of differentiated play practices of Chinese mothers and fathers of toddlers will inform the theoretical development of parental education and related programmes.

Paternal representations and contemporary parenthood themes through a clay figure-sculpting task among fathers of toddlers

The present study explored paternal representations as they arose in fathers through a task of sculpting father and child figures in clay. Eleven first-time Israeli fathers of normally developing children aged two to three years old were asked to sculpt in clay a representation of themselves with their child, and were then interviewed about their experience and their clay sculpture. Based on qualitative analysis of process and products of the clay task and verbal interviews, the following themes were crystallized: fathers’ encouraging independence versus protecting, movement and playfulness in the father’s experience, using abstraction and metaphor to represent the father-child relationship, and “Leave well enough alone”: being satisfied with imperfections in fatherhood experiences. These paternal representations and themes are discussed through the lens of attachment and psychoanalytic theories. Therapeutic implications are also discussed.

Mothers' and fathers' parenting challenges, strategies, and resources in toddlerhood

This study examined mothers’ and fathers’ parenting challenges and strategies/resources used when parenting toddlers. Through a qualitative interview protocol, implemented with mothers and fathers separately at a university laboratory, this study found that both fathers and mothers appeared to be transitioning from traditional gender roles towards co-parenting practices. Thirty-eight, mostly Caucasian and middle-class, mothers and fathers of toddlers reported many similarities in parenting challenges, coping strategies, and resource use. Common sources of parenting stress for both mothers and fathers were developmental and behavioural concerns about their toddler and time management concerns in balancing between various responsibilities. Some fathers reported difficulty and less perceived competence in taking care of children during daily routines than did mothers. Mothers used a greater variety of emotion regulation strategies than fathers did. These strategies, which included support-seeking from more diverse sources (e.g. families, friends, books), were used to reduce their stress. Implications for the content and delivery methods of co-parenting and parenting education programmes are discussed.

Predictors of parenting self‐efficacy in mothers and fathers of toddlers

Researchers interested in child developmental outcomes have highlighted the role that parenting self-efficacy (PSE) plays in psychosocial child adjustment. PSE is a cognitive construct that can be broadly defined as an individual's appraisal of his or her competence in the parental role. PSE has emerged in the literature as an important variable when exploring variance in parenting skills. Despite this, much remains to be learned about PSE. Little is known about the predictors of PSE, with much of the existing research conducted in a piecemeal fashion that lacks a solid theoretical framework. In addition, PSE in fathers has been understudied and relatively little is known about PSE in families with toddler age children. Informed by Belsky's process model of parenting, this study explored similarities and differences in PSE and the predictors of PSE for mothers and fathers of toddlers. A total of 62 cohabiting couples whose first-born child was 18-36 months old completed self-report measures of PSE, general self-efficacy, depression, marital satisfaction, parenting stress, child difficultness and family functioning. For fathers, parenting stress and their relational functioning (i.e. marital satisfaction and family functioning) with their spouse predicted PSE scores. For mothers, general self-efficacy and relational functioning were predictive of PSE. The results of this study support the use of Belsky's process model of parenting to study the predictors of PSE. Important differences were found in the prediction models for mothers and fathers. Future studies need to clarify the nature of parental self-efficacy beliefs in fathers and continue to use comprehensive theoretical models to identify potentially relevant covariates of PSE. Limitations of the current investigation include reliance on self-report measures and the homogeneity of the sample.

Transformations in Treatment: Sublimatory Implications of an Interdisciplinary Hypothesis on the Metaphoric Processing of Emotional Experience

Transformations in Treatment: Sublimatory Implications of an Interdisciplinary Hypothesis on the Metaphoric Processing of Emotional ExperienceAlan J. BarnettAlan J. Barnett120 East 81 Street, 1C, New York, NY 10028. E-mail: [email protected].Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:March 2008https://doi.org/10.1521/prev.2008.95.1.79PDFPDF PLUS ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations About Previous article Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Cited byCited by1. Exploring Paternal Mentalization Among Fathers of Toddlers Through a Clay-Sculpting TaskOnline publication date: 2 March 2021. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar2. Prologue: Sex, Gender, and IdentityOnline publication date: 19 January 2018. Go to citation Crossref Google ScholarS. Montana Katz3. A Holistic Framework for PsychoanalysisOnline publication date: 19 February 2010. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar4. EPILOGUEOnline publication date: 25 June 2009. Go to citation Crossref Google ScholarAlan J. Barnett5. Discussion: What is the Theoretical Yield in Studying the Psychoanalyst's Intentions?Online publication date: 10 November 2008. Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar Volume 95Issue 1Feb 2008 Information© N.P.A.P.PDF download

Parenting Stress in Mothers and Fathers of Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Associations with Child Characteristics

Elevated parenting stress is observed among mothers of older children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but little is known about parents of young newly-diagnosed children. Associations between child behavior and parenting stress were examined in mothers and fathers of 54 toddlers with ASD (mean age = 26.9 months). Parents reported elevated parenting stress. Deficits/delays in children's social relatedness were associated with overall parenting stress, parent-child relationship problems, and distress for mothers and fathers. Regulatory problems were associated with maternal stress, whereas externalizing behaviors were associated with paternal stress. Cognitive functioning, communication deficits, and atypical behaviors were not uniquely associated with parenting stress. Clinical assessment of parental stress, acknowledging differences in parenting experiences for mothers and fathers of young children with ASD, is needed.

Longitudinal study on the predictors of parental stress in mothers and fathers of toddlers

Aim. Longitudinal study on the predictors of parental stress in mothers and fathers of toddlers.Background. To study whether anxiety, depression, or marital problems increase the parenting stress in parents of toddlers.Methods. At early pregnancy, 2 – 3 months, and 2 – 3 years after delivery, 214 low-risk couples filled in questionnaires on their marital relationship, social support, child's temperament, and self-evaluated competence in routine care-taking. In hierarchical regression analyses, they were used as predictors of parental stress.Results. Those mothers who in early pregnancy had adequate social support, adaptive social strategies, and high self-esteem, and who had given birth vaginally, enjoyed breastfeeding, and whose spouse supported breastfeeding reported less stress 2 – 3 years later. Pregnancy-related anxiety, depression, general anxiety, neuroticism, and vulnerability in early pregnancy, as well as child's temperament and low self-estimated competence in routine care-taking measured at both 2 – 3 months and 2 – 3 years after childbirth predicted parental stress. Depression and living alone in early pregnancy, and the child-related variables (temperament and care-taking, measured both at 2 – 3 months and 2 – 3 years after childbirth) predicted high parenting stress in fathers of toddlers.Conclusions. Parental stress in toddlers' parents was predicted both by the temperament of the child, and by the parents' depression, self-esteem, and anxiety, as well as by lack of support and low self-evaluated competence in routine care-taking.

Parenting Confidence During Toddlerhood

Previous research has shown the Toddler Care Questionnaire (TCQ) to be a valid measure of parenting confidence among mothers of toddlers. However, there is no evidence demonstrating the validity of the TCQ among fathers of toddlers. The purposes of this study were to 1) examine the reliability and validity of the TCQ among fathers of 12- to 36-month old children and 2) compare the childrearing topics mothers and fathers identify as those for which they would like information. Forty-six married mothers and fathers (n = 92) completed the TCQ, three measures of child behavior, and a measure of parental depression. Maternal confidence was related to depression and all measures of child behavior. Paternal confidence was related only to the intensity of the child's behavior. Mothers requested more than twice the amount of childrearing information than did fathers although there were similarities in the types of information requested. The data support the validity of the TCQ and its clinical utility among fathers of toddlers although different factors appear to affect parenting confidence among mothers and fathers.