Fathers Role

Question 1

What is the role of fathers in childs development?

Answer 1

Multiple roles - breadwinners, care providers, companions, moral guides, teachers, spouses, protectors
Social script for fathers less clearly defined than for mothers
Roles for mothers and fathers co exist as ideals

Question 2

Are fathers needed for attachment?

Answer 2

Bowlby - yes they are, they provide for mother, denoting themselves, love and support to mother emotionally

Question 3

Lewis - paternal involvement in infant care

Answer 3

Interview study of 100 fathers, majority of ben attended the births of their children. But not much else has changed in the past 20 years - may be due to mothers keeping control
Increase of men getting up with the baby in the night and helping in the period after birth

Question 4

Cox et al - proximal determinants of father-child attachment security

Answer 4

38 couples, 1st born children. IV assessed at 3 months via interviews and parent-child observation. DV - attachment via SS assessed at 1 yr.
Results:
Positive interaction during observation was positively related to attachment, as was attitude towards the infant and the parental role. Attitude was not important for mums attachment - maybe as there is lots of roles for fathers in society compared to mothers. Attitude towards involvement crucial for fathers. Time with infant was related to infant-mother security, but not fathers. Fathers who spend more time with their infants is a risk factor for security. Time fathers spend with their infants is predicted by mothers working hours - not a choice, mother not there so have to step up

Question 5

Attachments in mothers vs fathers

Answer 5

The amount of attachments between child and mother / father are very similar. Mothers more secure than fathers and fathers more insecure, but only a small difference

Question 6

Have maternal working hours changed since 1997?

Answer 6

Increase in mothers working full time - still a minority

Question 7

Have paternal working hours changed since 1997?

Answer 7

There is an increase in fathers working part-time vs full time

Question 8

Are there demographic differences?

Answer 8

US - 2/3rd mothers woking, most is full time
UK - percentage of mothers working is the same as US, but more part time
Family and cultural norms that children grow up in is very different - e.g. in Denmark, most of mothers are in full time whereas in Netherlands, most are in part time

Question 9

Sisters and Brothers study - pike et al

Answer 9

173 two parent families, 2 children from each fam participated. Working/middle class. Families visited at home where parents and children were interviewed, parents completed questionnaires and parent-child interactions were videotaped (drawing task)
Children interact with puppet interview technique, in a way to yield data
Results:
The mothers and fathers were quite similar
Mothers more encouraging, using more praise, warmer and more affectionate, less critical
Fathers more dominant in the interaction, more task focussed and less warm
Child reports - said they were treated the same

Question 10

Statistics for parental involvement

Answer 10

Not as high as maternal involvement
Fathers engagement with their children is 43.5% and their accessibility is 65.6 compared to mothers - less engaged and around less
They do not hold primary responsibility for any child-care task
Paternal involvement has increased more slowly than the trend towards maternal employment

Question 11

Determining levels of paternal involvement - Grossman et al

Answer 11

Looked at dads quantity and quality of fathering from own characteristics and mothers characteristics
No relationship between quantity and quality of fathering
Results:
For quantity, wives scores more important than husbands own charcteistics - gatekeeping
(e.g. mother want to put baby to bed so father spends less time)
For quality, husbands scores most important - own characteristics predict the quality of relationship

Question 12

What is a traditional family?

Answer 12

When mothers don’t work full time and fathers do

Question 13

What is gatekeeping?

Answer 13

When the mother’s own characteristics predict the fathers quantity of parenting

Question 14

What determines fathers behaviour?

Answer 14

Maternal beliefs and attitudes - but not true in reverse, fathers don’t influence mothers involvement
Paternal self-efficacy and attitudes
Marital quality - high quality marriages are important for father-child, if in distress this is a risk father, but not the case for mothers
Maternal work hours, more than paternal work hours

Question 15

Is paternal involvement good?

Answer 15

Pre school children of highly involved Dads show more cognitive competence, more internal locus of control, more empathy, less gender role stereotyping
Primary School kids show self-esteem, self-control, life skills and social competency

Question 16

Does fatherhood matter for men?

Answer 16

Used interview and questionnaire data from national survey
Lots of different families included
Measured paternal involvement, mental and physical health and work behaviour
Results:
Men with non-resident children were more psychologically and physically unhealthy, but this was mainly due to marital status
Men with dependent children working longer hours than other men
For men with resident children, higher levels of involvement related to greater life satisfaction and less work hours

Question 17

What did Bzostek look at?

Answer 17

If involvement by resident social fathers is as beneficial for child well being as involvement by biological fathers AND if involvement of biological father alters relationship between resident social father and social outcomes

Father involvement measured by number of dates that they participate in activities

Question 18

What did Bzostek find?

Answer 18

Involvement by resident social fathers is just as beneficial for child well being

Frequent contact with biological father doesn’t diminish positive relationship between social father and child well being

The more engagement, the better

Question 19

What did Flouri and Buchanan look at?

Answer 19

Early fathers and mothers involvement and Childs later educational outcomes -

1. explore the role of early father involvement in children’s later educational attainment independently of the role of early mother involvement and other confounds
2. investigate whether gender and family structure moderate the relationship between father’s and mother’s involvement and child’s educational attainment
3. explore whether the impact of father’s involvement depends on the level of mother’s involvement

Longitudinal study - involvement at age 7 and then qualification at 20

Question 20

What did Flouri and Buchanan find?

Answer 20

Father and mother involvement at age 7 predicted education at 20
association was not stronger for sons than for daughters
Father involvement was not more important for educational attainment when mother involvement was low rather than high - impact of fathers involvement doesn’t depend on mothers, fathers involvement predicted educational attainment, even if mothers were already highly involved
Not growing up in a 2 parent family didn’t weaken association between father or mothers involvement and educational outcomes

Question 21

What are the strengths and weaknesses of flouri and Buchanan study?

Answer 21

Weaknesses -
Self report - overestimate amount of involvement
Attrition - biggest among disadvantaged children

Strengths -
Controlled for lots of variables
Big sample
Longitudinal

Question 22

How was father involvement measured in flouri study?

Answer 22

Specific questions about activities and whether fathers are doing it with their children - self report

Question 23

What are the strengths and weaknesses of bzostek study?

Answer 23

Practical applications
Causal relationship - could be child effects
Only looked at new borns - don’t see the long term effect
Large sample size
Measured resident and social father in different ways

Question 24

We’re the studies longitudinal?

Answer 24

Flouri - yes, longitudinal data, 6 follow ups

Bzostek - yes, parents interviewed when child was 1 and 3 years