Skip to main content

Effect of Father Engagement on Child Behaviors

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Gender and Couple Relationships

Part of the book series: National Symposium on Family Issues ((NSFI,volume 6))

Abstract

Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey (FFS), we examine the engagement patterns of fathers and mothers in married and cohabiting households to determine whether father engagement is associated with childhood behaviors independent of the mother’s characteristics and her level of engagement. Engagement activities were measured when the child was 5 years old with a behavioral outcome when the child was 9 years old. We found significant and negative associations between father engagement and children’s behavioral problems, independent of maternal engagement.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Achenbach, T. M., & Rescorla, L. A. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA school-age forms and profiles. Burlington: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, and Families.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amato, P. R. (1998). More than money? Men’s contributions to their children’s lives. In A. Booth & A. C. Crouter (Eds.), Men in families: When do they get involved? What difference does it make? (pp. 241–278). New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atzaba‐Poria, N., Pike, A., & Deater‐Deckard, K. (2004). Do risk factors for problem behaviour act in a cumulative manner? An examination of ethnic minority and majority children through an ecological perspective. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(4), 707–718.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aunola, K., & Nurmi, J.-E. (2005). The role of parenting styles in children’s problem behavior. Child development, 76(6), 1144–1159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldwin, W., & Cain, V. S. (1980). The children of teenage parents. Family Planning Perspectives, 12(1), 34–39, 42–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnard, K. E., & Solchany, J. E. (2002). Mothering. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Volume 3. Being and becoming a parent (pp. 3–25). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Well-being. (2008). Introduction to the fragile families public-use data: Baseline, one-year, three-year, and five-year telephone data. Princeton: Office of Population Research, Princeton University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing. (2010). Data user’s guide for the nine-year follow-up wave of the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study. Princeton: Office of Population Research, Princeton University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blair, C., & Diamond, A. (2008). Biological processes in prevention and intervention: The promotion of self-regulation as a means of preventing school failure. Development and Psychopathology, 20(3), 899–911.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonney, J. F., Kelley, M. L., & Levant, R. F. (1999). A model of father’s behavioral involvement in child care in dual-earner families. Journal of Family Psychology, 13(3), 401–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks-Gunn, J., & Duncan, G. J. (1997). The effects of poverty on child. The Future of Children, 7(2), 55–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks-Gunn, J., & Markman, L. B. (2005). The contribution of parenting to ethnic and racial gaps in school readiness. The Future of Children, 15, 139–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, B. V., Michelsen, E. A., & Halle, T. G., & Moore, K. (2001). Fathers’ activities with their kids. Washington: Child Trends.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cabrera, N. J., Ryan, R. M., Shannon, J. D., Brooks-Gunn, J., Vogel, C., Raikes, H., … Cohen, R. (2004). Low income biological fathers’ involvement in the toddler’s lives: The early head start national research and evaluation study. Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice about Men as Fathers, 2, 5–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabrera, N. J., Fitzgerald, H. E., Bradley, R. H., & Roggman, L. (2014). The ecology of father-child relationships: An expanded model. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 6(4), 336–354.

    Google Scholar 

  • Demos, J. (1986). Past, present and personal: The family and the life course in American history. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, G. J., Dowsett, C. J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A. C., Klebanov, P., & Japel, C. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1428–1446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Cumberland, A., Spinrad, T. L., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Reiser, M., … Guthrie, I. K. (2001). The relations of regulation and emotionality to children’s externalizing and internalizing problem behavior. Child Development, 74(4), 1112–1134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francis-Connolly, E. (2000). Towards an understanding of mothering: A comparison of two motherhood stages. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 54, 281–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furstenberg, F., & Harris, K. (1993). When and why fathers matter: Impacts of father involvement on the children of adolescent mothers. In R. Lerman & T. Ooms (Eds.), Young unwed fathers: Changing roles and emerging policies (pp. 117–138). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldin, C. (1991). The role of World War II in the rise of women’s employment. The American Economic Review, 81(4), 741–756.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldin, C. (2006). The quiet revolution that transformed women’s employment, education, and family. (No. 11953). Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Economic Research. http://www.nber.org/papers/w11953. Accessed 29 Nov 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grolnick, W. S., & Ryan, R. M. (1989). Parent styles associated with children’s self-regulation and competence in school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81(2), 143–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins, D. N., Amato, P. R., & King, V. (2007). Nonresident father-involvement and adolescent well-being: Father effects or child effects? American Sociological Review, 72(6), 990–1010.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kopp, C. B. (1982). Antecedents of self-regulation: A developmental perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18(2), 199–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, M. E. (2010). How do fathers influence children’s development? Let me count the ways. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (5th ed., pp. 1–26). Hoboken: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, M. E., & Lewis, C. (2010). The development and significance of father-child relationships in two-parent families. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (pp. 94–153). Hoboken: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, M. E., Pleck, J. H., Charnov, E. L., & Levine, J. A. (1987). A biosocial perspective on paternal behavior and involvement. In J. B. Lancaster, J. Altmann, A. S. Rossi, & L. R. Sherrod (Eds.), Parenting across the lifespan: Biosocial dimensions (pp. 111–142). New York: Aldine De Gruyeter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leibowitz, A., & Klerman, J. A. (1995). Explaining changes in married mothers’ employment over time. Demography, 32(3), 365–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leidy, M. S., Schofield, T. J., & Parke, R. D. (2013). Fathers contributions to children’s social development. In N. J. Cabrera & C. S. Tamis-LeMonda (Eds.), Handbook of father involvement: Multidisciplinary perspectives (2nd ed., pp. 151–167). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lytton, H., & Romney, D. M. (1991). Parents’ differential socialization of boys and girls: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 109(2), 267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsiglio, W., & Roy, K. (2012). Nurturing dads: Social initiatives for contemporary fatherhood. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattingly, M. J., & Smith, K. E. (2010). Changes in wives employment when husbands stopped working: A recession-prosperity comparison. Family Relations, 59(4), 343–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAdoo, H. P. (1978). Minority families. In J. H. Stevens Jr. & M. Mathews (Eds.), Mother/child, father/child relationships (pp. 177–195). Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCormick, M. C., Gortmaker, S. L., & Sobol, A. M. (1990). Very low birth weight children: Behavior problems and school difficulty in a national sample. The Journal of Pediatrics, 117(5), 687–693.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meteyer, K., & Perry-Jenkins, M. (2010). Father involvement among working-class, dual-earner couples. Fathering, 8(3), 379–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mincy, R. B., Jethwani, M., & Klempin, S. (2015). Failing our fathers: Confronting the crisis of economically vulnerable nonresident fathers. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintz, S. (1998). From patriarchy to androgyny and other myths: Placing men’s family roles in historical perspective. In A. Booth & A. C. Crouter (Eds.), Men in families: When do they get involved? What difference does it make? (pp. 3–27). New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parke, R. D. (2002). Fathers and families. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Volume 3. Being or becoming a parent (pp. 27–73). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piaget, J. (1964). Part I: Cognitive development in children: Piaget development and learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 2(3), 176–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Presser, H. (2003). Working in a 24/7 economy: Challenges for American families. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reichman, N. E., Teitler, O. J., Garfinkel, I., & McLanahan, S. S. (2001). Fragile families: Sample and design. Children and Youth Services Review, 23(4), 303–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roggman, L. A., Bradley, R. H., & Raikes, H. H. (2013). Fathers in family contexts. Handbook of father involvement: Multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 186–201). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stacey, J. (1997). In the name of the family: Rethinking family values in the postmodern age. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Baumwell, L., & Cabrera, N. J. (2013). Fathers’ role in children’s language development. In N. J. Cabrera & C. S. Tamis-LeMonda (Eds.), Handbook of father involvement: Multidisciplinary perspectives (pp. 135–150). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014). Women in the labor force: A databook. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor. http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/cps/womenlaborforce_2013.pdf. Accessed 29 Nov 2014.

  • U.S. Department of Labor. Women’s Bureau. http://www.dol.gov/wb/info_about_wb/about_wb.htm.

  • Waldfogel, J. (2006). What children need. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yogman, M. W., Dixon, S., Tronick, E., Als, H., Adamson, L., & Brazelton, T. B. (1977, March). The goals and structure of face-to-face interaction between infants and fathers. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the society of research in child development, New Orleans, LA.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ronald Mincy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mincy, R., Um, H., Turpin, J. (2016). Effect of Father Engagement on Child Behaviors. In: McHale, S., King, V., Van Hook, J., Booth, A. (eds) Gender and Couple Relationships. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21635-5_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics