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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 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 Objectives: Postnatal depression affects approximately 15% of women in Western countries. There are conflicting findings about the effects on fathers as well as the extent to which fathers buffer against the negative effects of depression on children. This study sought to understand the ways in which maternal postnatal depression affects men and their ways of fathering. Design: Narrative interviews were conducted with 14 British fathers (mean age = 33.9 years) whose (ex)partners had experienced at least one episode of postnatal depression. Interviews explored how their partner's depression…
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Journal Article Aims and Objectives: To identify and describe the process of fatherhood during the partner's pregnancy among expectant, first-time fathers. Background: Pregnancy seems to be a demanding period for expectant fathers, and this period is a part of their transition to fatherhood. Blogs can be seen as personal diaries and offer an alternative method of collecting data as they are an arena for sharing experiences and narratives. Design: An explorative qualitative design. Methods: Blogs from the Internet by eleven first-time fathers living in Sweden were included in the study. Qualitative content…
Other
Many children experience adversity in the form of poverty, abuse or neglect, homelessness, or other conditions that make them vulnerable to the damaging effects of chronic stress. New research reveals that chronic stress alters their rapidly developing biological systems in ways that undermine their ability to succeed in school and in life. The good news is that we have strong evidence for programs and approaches that policy makers could use to help these children overcome the effects of stress. Home visitation and early childhood health care can give parents much-needed support and…
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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 Background: Fathers have unique influences on children's development, and particularly in the development of social skills. Although father-child relationship influences on children's social competence have received increased attention in general, research on fathering in families of children with developmental delays (DD) is scant. This study examined the pathway of influence among paternal intrusive behaviour, child social skills and child self-regulatory ability, testing a model whereby child regulatory behaviour mediates relations between fathering and child social skills. Methods:…
Report, Other
This is the third annual review of child neglect in the United Kingdom undertaken by Action for Children and the University of Sterling. It emphasizes the views of children and parents about seeking and receiving support. For the review, key developments in policy and available relevant statistics from across the UK were collated. Forty children and youth and 38 parents with experience of receiving support took part in discussion groups or interviews in five areas of the UK about the nature of neglect and help-seeking. In addition, a survey was conducted of 1,970 adults and 1,582 children…
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Journal Article Fathers’ postnatal mental health is associated with emotional and behavioral outcomes for children in early childhood. The aim of this study was to examine whether parenting behavior mediated the relationship between fathers’ postnatal psychological distress and emotional–behavioral outcomes for children at age 5. The sample consisted of 2,025 fathers participating in Growing Up In Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Data collected when the children were aged 0 to 12 months and 4 to 5 years were used. Results revealed that the relationship between fathers’ postnatal…
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Journal Article Objective: The present study investigated the extent to which father-daughter relationships predicted risk-taking in a sample of female college students. Specifically, this study examined whether female adolescents' models of father psychological presence predicted substance use and sexual risk-taking, over and above impulsivity, depression, and other risky behaviors. Methods: A sample of 203 female college students were administered several scales assessing father psychological presence, sexual risk-taking, substance use, impulsivity, and depression. Results: Father psychological presence…