Father Involvement in Context: The Effects of Fathers’ Intergenerational, Psychological, and Relational Functioning on Children’s Development

Abstract

Moving toward a process model for understanding the antecedents to father involvement and the effects of father involvement on child development is important for gaining insight on the mechanisms by which father involvement influences children’s development. The current dissertation investigated possible process models for father involvement that incorporated important contextual factors that have salient influence on paternal engagement (e.g. family of origin experiences with biological father, psychological distress, and intimate relationship quality). Furthermore, the proposed process models also incorporated developmental outcomes for children and utilized longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Study one tested an adapted version of Belsky’s (1984) process model for the determinants of parenting. Fathers’ past experiences with their own biological fathers (e.g. living with their biological fathers during childhood, knowing their biological fathers during childhood, and having involved biological fathers during childhood) were negatively related fathers’ depression when their children are born. Furthermore, when children are newborns, paternal depression was negatively related to fathers’ intimate relationship quality with birth mothers. The most robust relationships were the following: a positive relationship between fathers’ intimate relationship quality when their children are born and later father involvement when their children are 3 years old; and a positive relationship between fathers’ intimate relationship quality when their children are newborns and later intimate relationship quality when children are 3 years old. Lastly, father involvement, intimate relationship quality, and the interaction between father involvement and intimate relationship quality when children are 3 years old significantly predicted child outcomes (pro-social, internalizing, and externalizing behaviors) when children are 5 years old. Fathers’ ethnic background and the sex of the focal child were significant moderators for the hypothesized model. Study two was an effort to determine if paternal postpartum depression indirectly affects children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors at age 3 and over time until age 9 via the intervening roles of father involvement and intimate relationship quality when children are 3 years old. An intervening role for father involvement and intimate relationship quality when children are 3 years old was not observed. However, paternal postpartum depression was negatively related to fathers’ intimate relationship quality when their children are 3 years old. Furthermore, paternal involvement and intimate relationship quality when children are 3 years old were significantly related to children’s internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but this was true only for girls. Fathers’ ethnic background also served as a significant moderator for the proposed model. Overall, the current dissertation provides poignant evidence for the cascade effects of fathers’ developmental experiences on their individual functioning, intimate relationships, father-child relationships, and children’s development.