TY - JOUR
T1 - Fathering in Infancy
T2 - Mutuality and Stability Between 8 and 16 Months
AU - Shannon, Jacqueline D.
AU - Tamis-LeMonda, Catherine S.
AU - Cabrera, Natasha J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge our colleagues in the Early Head Start Father Studies Work Group, who are our partners in the commitment to better understand the roles of fathers in young children’s lives. The Early Head Start Father Studies Work Group members represent the national Early Head Start evaluation contractor (Mathematica Policy Research and Columbia University), the funding agencies (the Ford Foundation; the Administration on Children, Youth and Families; and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in Department of Health and Human Services), the local research universities participating in the Early Head Start Research Consortium, and program directors from the Early Head Start programs participating in the national evaluation. Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda acknowledges funding from National Science Foundation for New York University’s Center for Research on Culture, Development and Education.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2006, Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2006/5/1
Y1 - 2006/5/1
N2 - Objective. This longitudinal investigation explores how fathers engage with their infants, how their behaviors matter within and across developmental time, and how demographic and social factors affect the quality of the father - infant relationship. Design. Participants were 74 racially and ethnically diverse, low-income fathers from the Father and Newborn Study (FANS) and their 8- and 16-month-old infants (36 boys, 38 girls). Father - infant interactions were videotaped during semistructured free play in participants' homes. The quality of father - infant interactions was assessed using Likert-type ratings of fathers' and infants' behaviors. Fathers also rated their relationship with their infant's mother. Results. Two factors of father engagement emerged at each age (Responsive - Didactic and Negative - Overbearing), 2 factors of infant behavior at 8 months (Mastery, Social - Communicative), and 3 factors of infant behavior at 16 months (Mastery, Social, and Communicative). Responsive - Didactic fathering was concurrently associated with infant behaviors at both ages, although fathering at 8 months only marginally predicted infant 16-month Social behaviors. Fathers who were older, more educated, married to their partners, and who had higher incomes were more Responsive - Didactic at 8 months. Fathers' age and the quality of the mother - father relationship predicted fathers' Responsive - Didactic behaviors at the 16-month assessment. Conclusions. Fathers' responsiveness is important to infants' social and communicative behaviors, and the mother - father relationship influences fathering during the formative period of infancy.
AB - Objective. This longitudinal investigation explores how fathers engage with their infants, how their behaviors matter within and across developmental time, and how demographic and social factors affect the quality of the father - infant relationship. Design. Participants were 74 racially and ethnically diverse, low-income fathers from the Father and Newborn Study (FANS) and their 8- and 16-month-old infants (36 boys, 38 girls). Father - infant interactions were videotaped during semistructured free play in participants' homes. The quality of father - infant interactions was assessed using Likert-type ratings of fathers' and infants' behaviors. Fathers also rated their relationship with their infant's mother. Results. Two factors of father engagement emerged at each age (Responsive - Didactic and Negative - Overbearing), 2 factors of infant behavior at 8 months (Mastery, Social - Communicative), and 3 factors of infant behavior at 16 months (Mastery, Social, and Communicative). Responsive - Didactic fathering was concurrently associated with infant behaviors at both ages, although fathering at 8 months only marginally predicted infant 16-month Social behaviors. Fathers who were older, more educated, married to their partners, and who had higher incomes were more Responsive - Didactic at 8 months. Fathers' age and the quality of the mother - father relationship predicted fathers' Responsive - Didactic behaviors at the 16-month assessment. Conclusions. Fathers' responsiveness is important to infants' social and communicative behaviors, and the mother - father relationship influences fathering during the formative period of infancy.
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U2 - 10.1080/15295192.2006.9681304
DO - 10.1080/15295192.2006.9681304
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33748997570
SN - 1529-5192
VL - 6
SP - 167
EP - 188
JO - Parenting
JF - Parenting
IS - 2-3
ER -