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Journal Article Research on family structure has led some to claim that sex-based parenting differences exist. But if such differences exist in single-parent families, the absence of a second parent rather than specific sex-typed parenting might explain them. We examine differences in mothering and fathering behavior in single-parent households, where number of parents is held constant, and we describe individualist and structuralist perspectives for potential sex-based parenting behaviors. We compare 3,202 single mothers and 307 single fathers in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (Kindergarten Cohort…
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Journal Article The purpose of this study was to investigate if there is a relationship between the genders of teachers when it comes to fathers' involvement in their children's schooling in elementary classrooms. We attempted to answer the following questions: 1) Are the fathers less/more involved when the teacher is female? 2) Are the fathers less/more involved when the teacher is male? 3) Is there a correlation between the gender of the teacher and fathers' involvement? (Author abstract)
It's no surprise that most teens explore romantic relationships. Romance is the premise of many teen movies, and is apparent in their everyday life through tweeting, chat rooms, text messaging and school gossip. Relationships that occur during the teen years are an opportunity for young adults to experience romance, learn about themselves and establish expectations for future relationships. So, how can a program effectively turn a hot topic into a teachable moment? This Tip Sheet describes key characteristics of successful youth programs. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article Initial validation data are presented for the Risky Situation (RS), a 20-minute observational procedure designed to assess the father-child activation relationship with children aged 12-18 months. The coding grid, which is simple and easy to use, allows parent-child dyads to be classified into three categories and provides an activation score. By having the same parent-child dyads participate in the Strange Situation (SS) and in the RS, researchers were able to demonstrate that the RS appears to evoke specific relationship patterns. Moreover, parental stimulation of risk-taking, the central…
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Journal Article This study examined associations between supportive coparenting and infant-mother and infant-father attachment security. Observed and parent-reported coparenting, and observed maternal and paternal sensitivity were assessed in a sample of 68 families with 3.5-month-old infants. Infant-mother and infant-father attachment security were assessed in the Strange Situation Procedure at 12 and 13 months of age, respectively. Observed and reported supportive coparenting were associated with greater attachment security in the infant-father, but not the infant-mother, attachment relationship. The link…
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Journal Article The present research examined child gender, temperament, and the quality of parent-child interactions as predictors of narrative style and references to emotion during mother-child and father-child reminiscing. Although models predicting parents' narrative styles were non-significant, results revealed significant interactions between parental hostility/intrusiveness during an interaction task and difficult child temperament. For mothers, greater hostility/intrusiveness was associated with fewer emotional references, but only when perceived difficult temperament was high. For fathers, greater…
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Journal Article A mixed methods approach was used to examine how young adults (n = 1012) perceive fathers as targets for attachment support. Participants ranked the level of attachment support received and sought from fathers, mothers, best friends, and romantic partners, and provided relationship-specific information on additional indices of social support including commitment, intimacy, companionship, advice, and romantic relationship experiences. Findings indicated that approximately 10% of the young adults considered fathers a principal source of attachment support. Compared to the majority of young…
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Journal Article This study explored the relationship between the involvement of biological fathers and the sexual risk behaviors and dating violence/victimization and/or perpetration of adolescent girls. The data used in this cross-sectional analysis were drawn from the second wave of the public release of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Only adolescents who reported their biological sex as female, reported a history of being sexually active, and reported having a romantic partner in the previous 18 months were selected (N = 879). This study focused on overall positive sexual behaviors…
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Journal Article This study was designed to examine the associations of biological father and social father involvement during childhood with African American young men’s development and engagement in risk behaviors. With a sample of 505 young men living in the rural South of the United States, a dual mediation model was tested in which retrospective reports of involvement from biological fathers and social fathers were linked to young men’s substance misuse and multiple sexual partnerships through men’s relational schemas and future expectations. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that…
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Journal Article Although voluminous research has linked nonresident fatherhood to riskier sexual behavior in adolescence, including earlier sexual debut, neither the causality of that link nor the mechanism accounting for it has been well-established. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979—the Young Adult Survey (CNLSY-YA), the present study addresses both questions by comparing the sexual development of siblings discordant for age at father departure from the home and examining results across behavioral (age at first intercourse), biological (pubertal timing), and cognitive (…
