Father Involvement and Children's Functioning at Age 6 Years: A Multisite Study

Research suggests that fathers' involvement in their children's lives is associated with enhanced child functioning. The current study examined (a) whether presence of a father was associated with better child functioning, (b) whether children's perceptions of fathers' support wa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child maltreatment 2001-11, Vol.6 (4), p.300-309
Main Authors: Dubowitz, Howard, Black, Maureen M., Cox, Christine E., Kerr, Mia A., Litrownik, Alan J., Radhakrishna, Aruna, English, Diana J., Schneider, Mary Wood, Runyan, Desmond K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Behavior Problems
Black White Differences
Child
Child Behavior Disorders - psychology
Child Development
Child psychology
Children
Children & youth
Cognition
Cognitive Development
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression - psychology
Enhancement
Family Characteristics
Father-Child interactions
Father-Child Relations
Fathers
Follow-Up Studies
Functioning
Gender aspects
Humans
Involvement
Male
Parent Child Relations
Personal relationships
Preschool Children
Racial aspects
Research Design
Self Concept
Sex Differences
Social Support
Surrogate Parents
United States - epidemiology
United States of America
USA
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Research suggests that fathers' involvement in their children's lives is associated with enhanced child functioning. The current study examined (a) whether presence of a father was associated with better child functioning, (b) whether children's perceptions of fathers' support was associated with better functioning, and (c) whether the above association was moderated by the father's relationship to the child, the child's race, and the child's gender. Participants included 855 six-year-old children and their caregivers. Father presence was associated with better cognitive development and greater perceived competence by the children. For children with a father figure, those who described greater father support had a stronger sense of social competence and fewer depressive symptoms. The associations did not differ by child's gender, race, or relationship to the father figure. These findings support the value of fathers' presence and support to their children's functioning. Priorities for future research include clarifying what motivates fathers to be positively involved in their children's lives and finding strategies to achieve this.
ISSN:1077-5595
1552-6119
DOI:10.1177/1077559501006004003