Poster #147 - Father involvement among Portuguese divorced parents

• In Event: 1-005 - Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Important changes in the traditional family structure and in opinions about parental roles lead to father’s and mother’s adaption in parenting tasks and, subsequently, to change their responsibilities in the caring of the child (Cabrera, 2010). These changes may be reflected in fathers’ overall involvement tasks regarding childrearing, such as direct and indirect care, teaching/discipline and social activities (e.g., Lamb, 2010). Although during the last years there have been an overall interest about father involvement in parental tasks, is less clear how father involvement happens among divorced families (e.g., Cabrera, Volling, & Barr, 2018). This is important taking into account the increased divorce rates worldwide, which may affect the involvement of the father with childrearing tasks (e.g., Cabrera et al., 2018; Monteiro et al., 2006). The main objective of the current study is to examine the levels of father involvement with their children among divorced parents on the following domains: Direct and Indirect Care, Teaching/Discipline, Play and Leisure Outdoors. Participants were 185 Portuguese divorced couples whose children in average were 56.21 months (SD=10.32). Mothers’ average of age was 32.6 (SD= 5.90). In average they have attended school for 11.44 years (SD= 3.86). Fathers’ age was, in average, 35.7 years (SD= 7.72) and attended school around 10 years (SD= 3.96). Both parents answered to a sociodemographic questionnaire and Parental Involvement Scale (PIS). Individual differences between fathers’ and mothers’ responses regarding age, educational level, infant gender and father involvement were examined. In general, there was a great degree of agreement between fathers and mothers’ reports (r= .15; p< .05). Results highlight that father involvement with child rearing tasks vary depending on the domain of activity. Overall, caretaking tasks were mostly provided by the mother, whereas play and leisure activities were shared by both parents. Nevertheless, higher educational qualifications of the father was related to an increased involvement with infants’ indirect care (e.g., organization or planning of activities for the child). Also, fathers’ involvement differ depending on infants’ gender: fathers were more involved with boys in the teaching/discipline domain [F(1, 215)= 6.014; p< .05]. Results suggest that although there are new beliefs about parental role’s responsibility regarding infant care, these changes were not consolidated in general practices yet (e.g., Lamb & Tamis- LeMonda, 2004; Monteiro et al., 2008). However, personal accounts, such as fathers’ education seems to play an important role regarding indirect care, which may rely on parents’ less rigidity regarding traditional gender roles (e.g., Monteiro et al., 2006). Also, it may reflect how mothers’ depict paternal qualifications as a source of increased responsibility and as a consequence they allow more father involvement in these type of tasks (e.g., Schoppe-Sullivan et al., 2008). These results may be helpful to guide counselling to divorced parents, as well as to ground interventions promoting father involvement in legal separation or divorce contexts.

Authors

• Eva Diniz, CIS-IUL, ISCTE-IUL; UFRGS
  Non-Presenting Author

• Leandra Coelho, ISPA- WJRC
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ligia Monteiro, ISCTE-Instituto Universitário de Lisboa; CIS-IUL
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nuno Torres, ISPA- Instituto Universitário
  Presenting Author

• Susana Tereno, Paris Descrtes
  Non-Presenting Author

• Manuela Veríssimo, ISPA - Instituto Universitário
  Non-Presenting Author