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Journal Article The authors performed a cluster analysis on data from 270 divorced or separated parents to classify their perceived coparental relationship with their ex-spouse and test if parents' perceptions of their children's postdivorce adjustment differed based on their perceptions of their postdivorce coparental relationship. The cluster analysis resulted in three types of coparenting relationships: cooperative and involved, moderately engaged, and infrequent but conflictual. Despite the expectation that children fare better if their divorced parents' develop a cooperative coparenting relationship,…
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Journal Article This issue of The Future of Children assesses past and current two-generation programs. But it goes much further than that. The editors identified six widely acknowledged mechanisms or pathways through which parents, and the home environment they create, are thought to influence children’s development: stress, education, health, income, employment, and assets. Understanding how these mechanisms of development work—and when, where, and how they harm or help—should aid us in designing interventions that boost children’s intellectual and socioemotional development, strengthen families, and help…
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Journal Article This study examined the longitudinal and concurrent associations among fathers' perceptions of partner relationship quality (happiness, conflict), coparenting (shared decision making, conflict), and paternal stress. The sample consisted of 6,100 children who lived with both biological parents at 24 and 48 months in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort data set. The results showed that there are significant and concurrent associations between fathers' perceptions of the coparenting relationship and paternal stress, and between partner relationship quality and paternal stress.…
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Journal Article Objective: This study investigated children of alcoholics' (COAs) exposure to inter-parental conflict before and after their fathers received alcohol treatment and compared exposure levels to a community comparison sample. Method: This study included 67 couples with a treatment-seeking male alcoholic partner and children aged 4-16. The alcoholic fathers and their relationship partners provided data at baseline and at six and twelve month follow-ups. A community comparison sample of 78 couples with children in the target age range completed similar longitudinal assessments. It was hypothesized…
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Journal Article It has been widely recognised that fathers can play a key role in the development and well-being of young children. In many cases, however, fathers still have limited involvement in the early years education of their children and their voices are as yet unheard. This study examined the beliefs and practices of Jordanian fathers of kindergarten children regarding their involvement in kindergarten-based activities (KBA). The sample included 258 fathers who had children enrolled in kindergartens. Results indicated that fathers exhibited a moderate level of beliefs regarding the involvement in…
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Journal Article Studies investigating fathers' roles in child development have focused on a range of different aspects. However, few studies have focused on the early father-infant relationship, which already emerges before the child is born. The aim of this study is to examine the concordance of fathers' representations of their children during the transition to parenthood. The influences of demographic variables, psychological wellbeing, and personality on the stability of these representations are investigated. At 26 weeks gestational age and when infants were six months old, fathers (N = 243) completed…
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Journal Article In the context of the gender revolution, contemporary norms of fatherhood emphasize men's involvement with their children in addition to their traditional role as financial provider. Improved father involvement includes several key items for "new fathers." These include making efforts to be equal partners in parenting, nurturing children, and performing both interactive and physical caregiving. However, the roles of provider and involved father may conflict: Whereas the "new father" role requires spending time with children, the "provider" role requires commitment to spending time on the…
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Journal Article Following an earlier randomized clinical trial, now with broadened sample criteria, 236 low-income White, Mexican American, and African American couples participated in 16-week Supporting Father Involvement couples groups, with assessments at baseline, 2-, and 13-months postintervention. Because couples in the earlier control condition experienced no benefits and some declines in adaptation, a control condition was not offered. Data from the original couples groups (n = 96) and controls (n = 98) served as benchmarks for evaluating the current results. Of 11 measures in this study, 10 revealed…
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Journal Article This study examines the relationships among nonresident fathers' financial support, informal instrumental support, mothers' parenting and parenting stress, and their children's behavioral and cognitive development in single-mother families with low income. Informed by stress-coping and social support models, this study estimates the mediating effects of nonresident fathers' financial support on children's outcomes transmitted through mothers' parenting and parenting stress. The analyses use the longitudinal data from a subsample of 679 single mothers in the Fragile Families and Child…
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Journal Article Studies investigating fathers' roles in child development have focused on a range of different aspects. However, few studies have focused on the early father-infant relationship, which already emerges before the child is born. The aim of this study is to examine the concordance of fathers' representations of their children during the transition to parenthood. The influences of demographic variables, psychological wellbeing, and personality on the stability of these representations are investigated. At 26 weeks gestational age and when infants were six months old, fathers (N = 243) completed…
