Beyond Rough and Tumble: Low-Income Fathers' Interactions and Children's Cognitive Development at 24 Months

Abstract

SYNOPSISObjective. The purpose of this investigation was to explore associations between father-child interactions and children's cognitive status in an underrepresented group of low-income, ethnically diverse families. Design. Participants were 65 inner-city fathers and their 24-month-old children (34 boys, 31 girls). Father-child interactions were videotaped for 10 min at home during semistructured free play, and mental scale scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development were obtained on children. The quality of father-child interactions was assessed using 14 Likert ratings of fathers (e.g., responsiveness, language quality, and intrusiveness) and 12 of children (e.g., play, participation, emotional regulation, and communication). Results. Factor analyses revealed 2 patterns of engagement in fathers (Responsive-Didactic and Negative-Intrusive) and 3 in children (Playful-Communicative, Social, and Regulated). Thirty-six children scored within normal limits on the MDI and 29 scored in the delayed range. Together, fathers' and children's factor scores explained more than 25% of the variance in children's performance on the MDI. Logistic regressions indicated that fathers with high scores on the Responsive-Didactic factor were nearly 5 times more likely to have children within the normal range on the MDI than were low-scoring fathers. Conclusions. These findings point to the importance of considering fathers' role in early cognitive development, particularly in low-income families in which children begin to exhibit significant declines in their second and third years. Positive father-child interactions appear to obviate cognitive delay.

Father Involvement, Early Intervention Program and Well-being of Children with Special Needs

“…Results of this study support the findings of previous studies (Dunst, 1985;Gleason, 1975;Flippin & Crais, 2011;Middleton, 1995;Pellegrini, et al, 1985;Pleck & Masciadrelli, 2004;Shannon et al, 2002;Sloper, 1999;Sloper & Turner, 1993;Tannock, 1988) which prove that the relationship of father involvement with wellbeing of children with special needs is positive and significant. In the context of the father involvement against well-being of children with special needs, the father involvement clearly plays a large role in influencing the well-being of children with special needs widely not only in child development.…”

Fathers' and Mothers' Verbal Responsiveness and the Language Skills of Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…The use of these responsive verbal strategies by mothers has been linked to achievement of earlier language milestones and better cognitive and social-emotional outcomes in studies of children who are typically developing as well as children who are at-risk for poor outcomes (Landry, Swank, & Smith, 2006;Tamis-LeMonda, Bornstein, & Baumwell, 2001). Responsive fathering also is a strong predictor of better emotional regulation, cognition, and language development for both children with typical development and those who are at-risk (Shannon, Tamis-LeMonda, London, & Cabrera, 2002;Tamis-LeMonda, Shannon, Cabrera, & Lamb, 2004). Maternal responsiveness has also been shown to predict language development in children with developmental disorders, including developmental delay and Fragile X syndrome (Brady, Marquis, Fleming, & McLean, 2004;Brady, Warren, Fleming, Keller, & Sterling, 2014;Hauser-Cram, Warfield, Shonkoff, & Krauss, 2001;Landry, Smith, & Swank, 2006).…”

Family relationships during infancy and later mother and father vocabulary use with young children

“…Children may benefit from interacting with multiple caregivers, providing them with a diversity of stimulation (Gleason, 1975;. High-quality father-child interactions that are responsive, stimulating, and engaging have been found to positively predict better cognitive and language outcomes for young children during the first 3 years of life (Roopnarine, 2004;Shannon, Tamis-LeMonda, London, & Cabrera, 2002;. In one of the few studies to consider the contributions of father language input to early child language development, Pancsofar and Vernon-Feagans (2006) found that dual-earner fathers' vocabulary during triadic motherfather-child free-play interactions made a significant and unique contribution to children's expressive language development at 36 months of age, beyond the contribution of mother language input.…”