Examining the Relations of Infant Temperament and Couples' Marital Satisfaction to Mother and Father Involvement: A Longitudinal Study

The relations of infant temperament and parents' marital satisfaction to mother and father involvement in early (T1, approximately 7 months, n = 142) and later (T2, approximately 14 months, n = 95) infancy were examined. At each assessment point, mothers and fathers completed daily diaries toge...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Fathering (Harriman, Tenn.) Tenn.), 2009-01, Vol.7 (1), p.23-48
Main Authors: Mehall, Karissa Greving, Spinrad, Tracy L, Eisenberg, Nancy, Gaertner, Bridget M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child Health
Childhood temperament
Children & youth
Families & family life
Family Roles
Father Attitudes
Fathers
Husband and wife
Husband-wife relations
Infants
Longitudinal Studies
Marital Satisfaction
Mothers
Parent Participation
Parenting
Parents
Parents & parenting
Psychological aspects
Satisfaction
Satisfaction (Psychology)
Social aspects
Studies
Temperament in children
Young Children
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The relations of infant temperament and parents' marital satisfaction to mother and father involvement in early (T1, approximately 7 months, n = 142) and later (T2, approximately 14 months, n = 95) infancy were examined. At each assessment point, mothers and fathers completed daily diaries together to measure their involvement over four days (i.e., 2 weekdays and 2 weekend days), each partner reported on marital satisfaction, and mothers reported on infants' temperament. Structural equation models indicated that when infants were more temperamentally regulated, parents were more satisfied in their marital relationships. Parents' marital satisfaction mediated the association between more regulated infant temperament and greater mother involvement at T1 (but not at T2) and father involvement at T2 (but not at T1). The findings are discussed in terms of the implications of infant temperament and family relationships for parental involvement.
ISSN:1537-6680
1933-026X
DOI:10.3149/fth.0701.23