New Directions in Paternal Caregiving of Young Children

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Traditionally, parenting research has primarily focused on mothers, especially during early childhood. However, recently efforts have been made to understand the role of fathers in early childhood. Research on paternal caregiving has spanned from traditional, mother-centric parenting attributes (e.g., sensitivity) to creating ones that are more father-centric (e.g., activation parenting, challenging parenting behavior; Majdandžić et al., 2016; Paquette, 2004). Furthermore, extant research on paternal caregiving has tended to focus on White, non-Latinx, American samples. To help fill these gaps, the proposed panel includes four papers steeped in different traditions of measuring paternal involvement in early childhood across diverse families in three countries. Study one assesses the role of positive paternal and maternal involvement in infancy and toddlerhood, based on traditional constructs of parenting, in promoting children’s preschool-age self-regulation abilities in a sample of Norwegian families. Study two tests direct and moderated associations between paternal and maternal risk and protective factors in infancy and children’s socioemotional development in toddlerhood in a sample of ethnically diverse, low-income American families. Study three uses traditional parenting codes to generate profiles of maternal and paternal supportive and activation caregiving in a large sample of ethnically-diverse American families from low-income households. Finally, study four tests associations between maternal and paternal anxiety and challenging parenting behaviors, measured via observation and self-report, across early childhood in a sample of Dutch families. As a group, these papers advance our understanding of both predictors of paternal caregiving and associations with later child behavior using multiple theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches.

Sub Unit

• Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Chair

• Julia Sarah Feldman, University of Pittsburgh

Individual Presentations

• Longitudinal Relations Between Paternal Early Positive Involvement and Preschool-Age Children’s Self-Regulation - Presenting Author: Julia Sarah Feldman, University of Pittsburgh; Non-Presenting Author: Daniel S. Shaw, University of Pittsburgh; Non-Presenting Author: Kristin Berg Nordahl; Non-Presenting Author: Agathe Backer-Grøndahl, The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development; Non-Presenting Author: Ane Nærde, The Norwegian Center for Child Behavioral Development

• Protective Factors and Toddlers’ Positive Social Development: Developing Resilience in the Context of Family Distress - Presenting Author: Avery Hennigar, University of Maryland - College Park; Non-Presenting Author: Angelica Alonso, University of Maryland - College Park; Non-Presenting Author: S. Alexa McDorman, University of Maryland - College Park; Non-Presenting Author: Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park

• Testing the Father–Child Activation Relationship Theory: A Replication Study With Low-Income Unmarried Parents - Presenting Author: Joyce Yea-Eun Lee, Ohio State University; Non-Presenting Author: Brenda L Volling, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor; Non-Presenting Author: Shawna J. Lee, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Severity of Fathers’, but not Mothers’, Anxiety Disorders Predicts their Challenging Parenting Behavior - Presenting Author: Mirjana Majdandzic, Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA); Non-Presenting Author: Wieke De Vente, University of Amsterdam; Non-Presenting Author: Susan Bögels, University of Amsterdam