Forward Progress of Scientific Inquiry Into the Early Father–child Relationship: Introduction to the Special Issue on Very Young Children and Their Fathers

Abstract

Research on fathering and the father-child relationship has made substantial progress in the most recent 15 years since the last special issue of the Infant Mental Health Journal on fathers and young children. This special issue on fathers and young children contains a series of papers exemplifying this progress, including advances in methodology-more direct assessment and more observational measures-in addition to the increasing dynamic complexity of the conceptual models used to study fathers, the diversity of fathers studied, and the growth of programs to support early father involvement. In assessing the current state of the field, special attention is given to contributions made by the papers contained in this special issue, and two critical areas for continued progress are addressed: (1) methodological and measurement development that specifically address fathers and fathering relationships and (2) cross-cultural and ecologically valid research examining the diversity of models of fathering.

Parental Reports of Early Socioemotional and Behavioral Problems: Does the Father's View Make a Difference?

“…Consequently, in addition to mothers who have traditionally been seen as primary informants, fathers have been acknowledged as essential sources of information for getting a comprehensive picture of infants' and toddlers' development and SEB problems in everyday life. However, there continues to be a relative dearth of knowledge about fathers in the context of children's early mental health compared to that about mothers (Bocknek, Hossain, & Roggman, 2014;Fitzgerald, Bocknek, Hossain, & Roggman, 2015;Phares & Compas, 1992;Phares, Fields, Kamboukos, & Lopez, 2005). This scarcity is particularly true of studies investigating very young, under 3-year-old children's mental health (Cassano, Adrian, Veits, & Zeman, 2006), especially when comparing maternal and paternal reports about infants'/toddlers' SEB problems.…”

Fathering across contexts: The moderating role of respiratory sinus arrhythmia in predicting toddler emotion regulation

“…To advance the study of fatherhood, it may be important to expand models of parenting practices to account for potentially unique ways that fathers influence child development. In particular, play relationships have been suggested as an influential aspect of fathering (Adamsons & Buehler, ; Ahnert et al, ; Bocknek et al, ; Lamb & Lewis, ). The activation relationship hypothesis posits that fathers provide young children with exposure to emotionally arousing play, which is then paired with the practice of regulating this arousal through dyadic interactions (Paquette, ; Roggman, Boyce, Cook, Christiansen, & Jones, ).…”

Paternal and Maternal Reflective Functioning in the Western Australian Peel Child Health Study

“…The study of fatherhood has changed markedly over recent decades (Lamb, ; Lamb, Pleck, Charnov, & Levine, ; Nash, ; Pleck, ), particularly in the investigation of fathers’ influence on child development (Fitzgerald, Bocknek, Hossain, & Roggman, ; Fitzgerald & Bradley, ; Lamb, ; Lewis, ). The role and definition of fatherhood can fluctuate widely and is largely dependent on cultural and societal influences (Blankenhorn, ; Bocknek, Hossain, & Roggman, ; Lupton & Barclay, ; Park & Brott, ; Vogel, Bradley, Raikes, Boller, & Shears, ). Evident in this expanding literature is the remarkable and increasingly diverse socioeconomic circumstances and structural position of fathers within families (Cabrera, Fitzgerald, Bradley, & Roggman, ; Hofferth, ).…”