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Journal Article The authors compared the involvement in children's development and education of 38 fathers of preschoolers with hearing loss to the involvement of a matched group of 36 fathers of preschoolers with normal hearing, examining correlations between child, father, and family characteristics. Fathers completed self-reports regarding their parental involvement and parenting self-efficacy and reported on their family cohesion and adaptability. Mothers also reported on their husbands' involvement. Similarly high levels of involvement on the part of both groups of fathers were found. Involvement…
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Journal Article Although many fathers today spend more time with children than was the case in the past, physical care of young children remains primarily mothers' work. Yet some fathers claim that they do work traditionally seen as the "mother's job" every day. Using subsample data from the male respondent file of the National Survey of Family Growth 2002 (n = 613), this study examines factors associated with married or cohabiting fathers' daily involvement in physical care of children under age 5 years. Logistic regression results show that daily involvement is more likely if fathers were raised by their…
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Journal Article Although fathers are increasingly a focus of attention in research, there is a dearth of research on depressive symptoms among fathers, especially young fathers with toddlers. This study used longitudinal data to examine what risk factors, including the age status of fathers (e.g., late adolescence, emerging adulthood, and adulthood), may be associated with depressive symptoms of fathers when their children were 3 and 5 years of age. A subsample of families for which complete data were available on all variables was used in the analyses ( n = 1,403). About 46% of study sample was African…
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Journal Article We examined the activities that low-income, ethnically diverse fathers of sons versus daughters engage in with their children in the preschool years. African American, Latino, and White fathers ( N = 426) from research sites across the United States, were interviewed about their caregiving, play, literacy, and visiting activities when their children were 2 years, 3 years, and preschool age. Fathers of boys engaged more frequently in physical play than fathers of girls, whereas fathers of girls engaged more frequently in literacy activities. Moreover, gendered patterns of father engagement…
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Journal Article Purpose: The primary objective of this study was to report on the occurrence of mental health difficulties for a large national sample of Australian fathers of children aged 0-5 years ( n = 3,471). Secondary objectives were to compare fathers' mental health against normative data for the general male adult population, and to examine the course of mental health problems for fathers across the early childhood period. Methods: Secondary analysis of data from the infant cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children at three waves when children were 0-12 months, 2-3 and 4-5 years.…
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Journal Article Interpersonal relationships constitute the foundation on which human society is based. The infant?caregiver bond is the earliest and most influential of these relationships. Driven by evolutionary pressure for survival, parents feel compelled to provide care to their biological offspring. However, compassion for non-kin is also ubiquitous in human societies, motivating individuals to suppress their own self-interests to promote the well-being of non-kin members of the society. We argue that the process of early kinship-selective parental care provides the foundation for non-exclusive altruism…
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Journal Article This article develops an account of the emotional dimension of minimally decent parenting, with reference to the capability approach to thinking about need. It outlines social interests at stake in ensuring children's healthy emotional development, and evaluates public policy implications of its account of children's emotional needs. Proposals to license parents are rejected in favor of increased public education around the needs of children and the demands of parenting, increased public recognition of the need for social supports for parenting, and more diffused social responsibility for…
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Journal Article This article develops an account of the emotional dimension of minimally decent parenting, with reference to the capability approach to thinking about need. It outlines social interests at stake in ensuring children's healthy emotional development, and evaluates public policy implications of its account of children's emotional needs. Proposals to license parents are rejected in favor of increased public education around the needs of children and the demands of parenting, increased public recognition of the need for social supports for parenting, and more diffused social responsibility for…
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Journal Article Emotions are complex processes that are essential for survival and adaptation. Recent studies of children and animals are shedding light on how the developing brain learns to rapidly respond to signals in the environment, assess the emotional significance of this information, and in so doing adaptively regulate subsequent behavior. Here, I describe studies of children and nonhuman primates who are developing within emotionally aberrant environments. Examining these populations provides new insights on the ways in which the social or interpersonal contexts of parenting may influence…
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Journal Article Parenting is best understood from within a framework of person/context influence and interaction. Four themes from the articles are discussed. First, a multilevel perspective allows us to integrate across two nested structures: the biological and cognitive systems nested within individuals and the way in which individuals are nested within complex social environments. Second, the biological and cognitive pathways that underlie behavioral continuities across the life course are discussed. Third, intergenerational influences involve both mediating and moderating mechanisms. Fourth, one of the…
