Family adversity has been associated with children’s bullying behaviors. The evidence is, however, dominated by mothers’ perceptions of the family environment and a focus on mothers’ behaviors. This prospective population-based study examined whether children’s bullying behaviors were associated with mother- and father-reported family adversity, assessed before and after child birth. Peer-nominations were used to assess bullying behaviors of 1298 children in elementary school (mean age 7.5 years). The following paternal risk factors were prospectively associated with children’s bullying behaviors: (1) father-reported prenatal family distress, (2) fathers’ hostility at preschool age, and (3) fathers’ harsh disciplinary practices at preschool age, but effect sizes were relatively small. The effect of maternal risk factors was less consistent, only mother-reported family distress in childhood was associated with children’s bullying behaviors. The associations were independent of background family risk factors (i.e., life stress, contextual factors, and other background factors such as parental education and risk taking record) and early childhood externalizing problems. Moreover, our results indicated that father-reported family adversity predicted children’s bullying behaviors over and above the background family risk factors, early childhood externalizing problems and mother-reported family adversity. We also demonstrated that the association of fathers’ prenatal hostility and family distress with subsequent bullying behavior of their child at school was partly mediated by fathers’ harsh disciplinary practices at preschool age. Our findings highlight the importance of fathers’ behaviors in the development of children’s bullying behaviors.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s10802-017-0380-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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The goal of the present study was to unravel the unique contributions of fathers, mothers, and preschoolers to conversations about gender during picture book reading, as well as examining the relationship between parents' gender messages and their stereotypes. The sample consisted of 142 families. During a home visit, triadic parent-child Gender Stereotypes Picture Book reading was filmed to code implicit and explicit forms of gender talk. A computer task (implicit attitudes) and questionnaire (explicit attitudes) were used to measure parents' gender stereotypes. As expected, the gender picture book evoked questions and statements about gender (mostly from mothers). Regarding implicit forms of gender talk (i.e., gender labeling and evaluating activities), we found no structural differences between the three family members in terms of expressing stereotypical or contra-stereotypical ideas. There were also no differences between boys and girls in (receiving and expressing) implicit gender messages about the pictures. Regarding conversations that included explicit forms of gender talk, we found a pattern in which children started most often with a stereotypical comment, followed by questions (mostly mothers), confirmations, and negations by the parents. It was remarkable that children frequently received mixed messages in response to their stereotypical comments, and that children tended to stick to their stereotypical opinion even when challenged by their parents. Parents' gender messages were not structurally related to their gender stereotypes. This study shows that children are a driving force of family conversations about gender, and reveals messiness in the gender messages children receive from their parents.

Objective Individual differences in quality of father involvement in caregiving might in part be explained by fathers' testosterone (T) levels. We examined the links between fathers' (n = 32) salivary T levels, amount of time spent with their child (12-30 months of age), type of father-child interaction, and fathers' sensitivity. Methods During two home visits, video observations of father-child interactions were conducted to measure fathers' sensitivity during a challenging and harmonious interaction. Fathers' saliva was collected several times throughout the day on a working day and on the home visit days, including right before and after each father-child interaction. Results Fathers' T secretion throughout the day was lower on home visit days (i.e., days with a higher amount of time spent with their child) than on a working day. For both challenging and harmonious father-child interactions, mean T levels did not differ before and after father-child interactions. However, individual changes in fathers' T levels during the father-child interactions did predict fathers' sensitivity. Specifically, the more T increased during the challenging interaction, or decreased during the harmonious interaction, the more sensitive the father was during that interaction as well as during a subsequent interaction. Conclusions Parenting quality is most optimal when fathers' T system reacts in the expected direction given the context of the father-child interaction, i.e., a T decrease during a harmonious interaction and a T increase during a challenging interaction. Our study underscores the importance of examining the interplay between biology, behavior, and caregiving context in fathers' parenting.