Father Involvement During Early Childhood: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

During recent years, fathers' involvement has been addressed as a key source of family well‐being and positive child development. However, the pathways to father involvement and its consequences for child development are varied, influenced by social, cultural, and ecological variables, and lack a systematic integration. This paper aims to bridge this gap by offering a systematic review of studies examining the psychosocial processes of father involvement during early childhood over the last 10 years. A database search was performed using a combination of relevant keywords, leading to identification of 3,655 articles, with 109 manuscripts assessed for eligibility, and finally 86 included. Most of the studies examine determinants of father involvement, with an emerging number of studies relying on the father's assessment and longitudinal designs. Nevertheless, the focus on White middle‐class families is dominant, leaving unexplored father involvement in other cultures and contexts. The findings are analyzed aiming to open new avenues for future research.

Prospective Associations Between Fathers’ Engagement in Infant Caregiving and Their Weight-Related Behaviors and Mental Health

“…Controlling for the outcomes at 6 months in the adjusted models was to account for the potential influence of fathers’ health outcomes at 6 months on their 12 months’ health outcomes. We considered children’s temperament, number of children in the household, child care usage, mothers’ breastfeeding status, mothers’ employment status, and coparenting support as potential covariates as they might drive fathers’ engagement ( Diniz et al, 2021 ). We decided not to include them as covariates because their direct effects on paternal weight-related health are unclear in the current literature and none of them were associated with both fathers’ engagement and our outcome variables in this study through bivariate examinations.…”

Preprint non-residential fatherhood and academic engagement among Curaçaoan and Dutch young people

“…This study adds important knowledge about associations between father absence and adolescents' and young adults' academic development and responded to the evident need to go beyond the study of Western middle-class families and examine father absence across cultures (Diniz, Brandão, Monteiro, & Veríssimo, 2021). Although this is the first study of its kind, some limitations need also be mentioned.…”

Validez y confiabilidad de la Escala de Involucramiento Parental: Actividades de cuidado y socialización en padres peruanos

“…En los últimos años, el involucramiento de los padres 1 en la crianza ha despertado mayor interés en la investigación debido al rol que estos cumplen en el desarrollo del niño o niña (Cabrera et al, 2014;Maroto-Navarro et al, 2020;Schoppe-Sullivan & Fagan, 2020). Así, diversos estudios muestran los beneficios del involucramiento del padre en el desarrollo físico, conductual, cognitivo y socioemocional de su hijo o hija (Cabrera et al, 2014;Cabrera et al, 2018;Craig et al, 2018;Diniz et al, 2021;Santis & Barham, 2017;Slaughter & Nagoshi, 2020).…”

“…Ahora bien, la existencia de múltiples dimensiones del involucramiento paterno y la ausencia de un concepto consensuado del mismo devienen en distintos retos teóricos y metodológicos para medir este constructo (Cabrera et al, 2014;Diniz et al, 2021;Lamb & Tamis-Lemonda, 2004;Schoppe-Sullivan & Fagan, 2020). Por ejemplo, diversos investigadores han planteado la dificultad de medir el involucramiento paterno en ausencia de un marco teórico comprensivo que guíe la investigación (Garfield et al, 2019;Lamb, 1987;Volling & Cabrera, 2019), a la vez que han resaltado la necesidad de desarrollar medidas válidas y confiables que contemplen aspectos centrales del involucramiento paterno y reflejen los cambios en la cultura y en los roles de género (Garfield et al, 2019;Pleck, 2010;Schoppe-Sullivan & Fagan, 2020).…”