Quality Of Father-child Interactions Research Articles

Paternal distress and child behavior problems in low-SES families: Quality of father–child interactions as mediators.

This study examines, in low-income families, whether fathers' distress is associated with behavioral problems in preschool children and if the quality of father-child interactions mediates this association. Participants were 81 children between the ages of 3 and 5 years and their parents who were receiving social welfare. Quality of father-child interactions was assessed during a free-play situation and a toy cleanup task, fathers' parenting stress and psychological distress were self-reported, and children's behavior problems were assessed by both parents. Results showed that the quality of father-child interactions during free play, but not during cleanup, partially mediated the link between father distress and child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. Our findings point to the role of the father-child relationship in the intergenerational transmission of risk in the preschool period. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Quality of father-child relationships as a predictor of sleep developments during preschool years.

Substantial developmental changes in sleep occur during the preschool period, but few studies have investigated the factors that forecast these developments. The aim of this study was to examine whether three aspects of father-child relationships in toddlerhood predicted individual differences in developmental patterns of change in five actigraphy-derived sleep variables during the preschool period (N=67; sleep assessed yearly between 2 and 4 years). In a predominantly White and middle-to-higher income sample, paternal mind-mindedness and quality of father-child interactions were assessed during father-child free play at 18 months and fathers self-reported on their involvement in childrearing at age 2. Multilevel growth modeling revealed that children whose father made more mind-related comments during father-child interactions had a higher proportion of sleep taking place during nighttime as well as shorter daytime and total sleep duration at 2 years. This was, however, followed by a relative leveling off (i.e., less rapid change) of these sleep features between 2 and 4 years. Given previous studies documenting that nighttime sleep proportion increases while daytime and total sleep duration decrease during preschool years, the findings suggest that children who are exposed to more paternal mind-mindedness may reach more mature sleep patterns earlier in development.

Testosterone and Fathers\u2019 Parenting Unraveled: Links with the Quantity and Quality of Father-Child Interactions

ObjectiveIndividual differences in quality of father involvement in caregiving might in part be explained by fathers’ testosterone (T) levels. We examined the links between fathers’ (n = 32) salivary T levels, amount of time spent with their child (12–30 months of age), type of father-child interaction, and fathers’ sensitivity.MethodsDuring two home visits, video observations of father-child interactions were conducted to measure fathers’ sensitivity during a challenging and harmonious interaction. Fathers’ saliva was collected several times throughout the day on a working day and on the home visit days, including right before and after each father-child interaction.ResultsFathers’ T secretion throughout the day was lower on home visit days (i.e., days with a higher amount of time spent with their child) than on a working day. For both challenging and harmonious father-child interactions, mean T levels did not differ before and after father-child interactions. However, individual changes in fathers’ T levels during the father-child interactions did predict fathers’ sensitivity. Specifically, the more T increased during the challenging interaction, or decreased during the harmonious interaction, the more sensitive the father was during that interaction as well as during a subsequent interaction.ConclusionsParenting quality is most optimal when fathers’ T system reacts in the expected direction given the context of the father-child interaction, i.e., a T decrease during a harmonious interaction and a T increase during a challenging interaction. Our study underscores the importance of examining the interplay between biology, behavior, and caregiving context in fathers’ parenting.

Turkish Fathers’ Utterance Complexity during the Interaction of Toy Play with Their Preschoolers

There has been little research on the contributions of paternal language to their young children. Particularly father education may influence the quantity and the quality of father-child interactions (Pancsofar & Vernon-Feagans, 2010). Focusing on the link between fathers’ socioeconomic status (SES) and their language input, this research aims to investigate how fathers’ SES influences their utterance complexity in the toy play context with their young children. Ten fathers differing in SES and their preschoolers were taped in their homes for about 15 minutes and fathers were asked to help their child during the toy play sessions. Research on fathers, though limited (Cabrera et al., 2007) has shown that father education is positively associated with children’s language development. Since very few studies have considered the possible contributions of paternal language to children’s early language development, this study examines the father-child dialogues and focuses on both fathers’ and their children’s language use. In this respect, this cross-sectional study tries to explore the father-child interactional patterns in terms of both fathers’ and their children’s utterance complexity, and reveal to what extent the linguistic contributions of fathers differentiate depending on their SES. The results indicate that SES has an important role in language use; that is, the utterances of high SES fathers and children are more complex and longer than their low SES counterparts.

Mother-child and father-child interaction with their 24-month-old children during feeding, considering paternal involvement and the child's temperament in a community sample.

The article aims to study mother-child and father-child interactions with 24-month-old children during feeding, considering the possible influence of time spent by the parent with the child, the infantile temperament, and the parental psychological profile. The families were recruited from 12 preschools in Italy (N = 77 families). Through an observation of the feeding [Scala di Valutazione dell'Interazione Alimentare (SVIA - Feeding Scale; I. Chatoor et al., ; L. Lucarelli et al., )], self-reporting [Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R; L.R. Derogatis, ), and report-form questionnaires [Italian Questionnaires on Temperament (QUIT; G. Axia, )], and information provided by the parents about the amount of time spent with their children, results showed that the overall quality of father-child interactions during feeding is lower than that of mother-child interactions. Fathers showed higher psychological symptoms than did mothers. No associations were found between the fathers' psychopathological risk and the quality of interactions with their children during feeding. Mothers' psychopathological risks predicted less contingent exchanges interactions with their children during feeding. Children's temperaments significantly influence mother-child interactions, but no association exists between maternal involvement and the quality of interactions with their children. Paternal involvement predicts a better quality of father-infant interactions when associated with a child's higher scores on Social Orientation. The quality of parents' interactions with their children during feeding are impacted by different issues originating from the parent's psychological profile, the degree of involvement, and from the child's temperament.

Longitudinal associations between the quality of parent−child interactions and children's sleep at preschool age.

This study aimed to examine the prospective longitudinal links between the quality of mother-child and father-child interactions and preschoolers' sleep. Three dimensions of maternal interactive behavior were considered using 70 mother-child dyads, while the quality of father-child interactions was assessed using 41 of these families. Maternal mind-mindedness was assessed at 12 months during a mother-infant free-play sequence, maternal sensitivity was rated at 12 months based on observations performed throughout a home visit, maternal autonomy support was assessed at 15 months with a 10-min problem-solving situation, and the quality of father-child interactions was scored at 18 months, during father-child free play. Children's sleep was assessed at 3 and 4 years using a sleep diary completed by mothers during 3 consecutive days. Results indicated that, after controlling for family socioeconomic status and daycare attendance, the quality of both mother-infant and father-infant interactions was positively related to children's percentage of night-time sleep at preschool age. These findings add to previous literature in suggesting that early caregiving behavior by both mothers and fathers is related to subsequent child sleep.

Beyond Rough and Tumble: Low-Income Fathers' Interactions and Children's Cognitive Development at 24 Months

Objective. The purpose of this investigation was to explore associations between father-child interactions and children's cognitive status in an underrepresented group of low-income, ethnically diverse families. Design. Participants were 65 inner-city fathers and their 24-month-old children (34 boys, 31 girls). Father-child interactions were videotaped for 10 min at home during semistructured free play, and mental scale scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development were obtained on children. The quality of father-child interactions was assessed using 14 Likert ratings of fathers (e.g., responsiveness, language quality, and intrusiveness) and 12 of children (e.g., play, participation, emotional regulation, and communication). Results. Factor analyses revealed 2 patterns of engagement in fathers (Responsive-Didactic and Negative-Intrusive) and 3 in children (Playful-Communicative, Social, and Regulated). Thirty-six children scored within normal limits on the MDI and 29 scored in the delayed range. Together, fathers' and children's factor scores explained more than 25% of the variance in children's performance on the MDI. Logistic regressions indicated that fathers with high scores on the Responsive-Didactic factor were nearly 5 times more likely to have children within the normal range on the MDI than were low-scoring fathers. Conclusions. These findings point to the importance of considering fathers' role in early cognitive development, particularly in low-income families in which children begin to exhibit significant declines in their second and third years. Positive father-child interactions appear to obviate cognitive delay.

Contact Fathers’ Experience of Family Life1

Contact fathers’ experience of family life has lacked attention in the divorce literature although evidence suggests that contact fathers often suffer considerably, post-separation or divorce. This study explored contact fathers’ (N= 48) perspectives of family life. Using a multimethod approach incorporating quantitative and qualitative methodologies, father-child and parental interactions were investigated in relation to family functioning in the contact father-child family. Two key aspects of family functioning identified by the Circumplex Model for Marital and Family Systems (Olsen, 1989), cohesion and adaptability, were assessed in these contact father families. Results showed that the quality of father-child interactions did predict cohesion in the contact father-child family but not adaptability. Quality of parental interaction did not predict cohesion or adaptability. Qualitative data provided insights into the ways in which aspects of cohesion and adaptability influenced contact father-child family experiences. Findings highlighted the importance of identifying attitudes that prevent contact parents from fulfilling their parental roles and the importance of early intervention for working with disrupted families.

Cohesion and Adaptability in the Non-Custodial Father-Child Relationship

The purpose of Ulis study is to determine if the quality of parental interacuons and the quality of fatherchild interactions is related to adaptability and cohesion in the non-custodial father-child relationship. Data from self-report ratings of 50 non-custodial fathers were analyzed using multiple regression. Results indicate that families exhibit functional levels of cohesion when the child(ren)'s biological parents maintain quality interactions, as well as when the non-custo- dial father and his child(ren) maintain quality interactions. Adaptabil- ity in the non-custodial father-child relationship, however, was not significantly associated with either interaction quality.