Father Presence, Father Engagement, and Specific Health and Developmental Outcomes of Mongolian Pre-School Children

Abstract

This study explored father involvement as a social determinant of child health within the context of macro-environmental changes in Mongolia. Using data for children aged 3–4 from UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, this cross-sectional analysis examined the association between father presence and engagement with child health and educational outcomes. Multivariate regression modeling was employed to identify associations between father presence, engagement, and child outcomes including fever, respiratory illness, diarrhea and preschool attendance. In unadjusted analyses, father engagement was associated with higher odds of preschool attendance (Odds Ratio (OR) = 1.12; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.04–1.20) but not with child illness (OR = 1.04; 95% CI 0.95–1.14). Father engagement was no longer associated with preschool attendance after controlling for potentially confounding variables (ORadj = 0.95; 95% CI 0.88–1.03). Unadjusted and adjusted analyses showed that father presence was not associated with acute illness or preschool attendance. Results also suggest that a larger proportion of children were engaged in activities by their mother compared to their father or other adults. Data indicate that father presence and engagement were not associated with child illness or preschool attendance. Factors such as maternal education, household wealth, and region of residence are stronger predictors of preschool attendance and should continue to be considered for promoting child health and development in Mongolia.

Content Analysis of Interview on Engaged Fatherhood

“…The study also defined the benefits and the risks of shared child care. This is in line with the analyzed literature (Andersen, 2019;Azumah, 2018;Buehler & O'Brien, 2011;Cano et al, 2018;Heinrich, 2014;Henry et al, 2020;Jessee & Adamsons, 2018;Li, 2020;Miller et al, 2020;Pablo et al, 2021;Reily, 2021;Richter et al, 2010;Ros Pilarz, 2019). However, our study gave a more concise list of father engagement components than the above-mentioned articles one by one.…”

“…Becoming Baba can heal men as well, make them more humane, states the author. Pablo et al (2021) found that in Mongolia children's health state correlated significantly with mother care and not significantly correlated with father care. This indicates that care for children's health in Mongolia is still mostly on mothers' shoulders.…”

Raising Boys to be Men: Indonesian Muslim Single Mothers’ Perspective

“…Up to recently, fathers' involvement in parenting is still considered very limited (Panter-Brick et al, 2014). However, in the last decade, many studies have emphasized the importance of fathers' presence in parenting, such as (Vitz, 2013); (Kalil et al, 2016); (Bocknek, 2020); (Pablo et al, 2021); (Wei et al, 2023).…”

Parenting and Health: The Major Challenge of Complex Relations

“…This bidirectional relationship between parenting and health can be researched from various perspectives, among which three stand out and frame the papers included in this Special Issue. First, research focused on how parenting influences a child's health, which includes the study of the contribution of specific characteristics of parental behavior for the health of children, such as the presence and involvement of parents in childcare [11], or their attitude when shopping for toys [12]. Second, research aiming to understand how conditions that impact (or may come to) the health of parents and children influence parenting capacity or mediating processes.…”