Fathering in Family Context and Child Adjustment: a Longitudinal Analysis

Overview

Journal J Fam Psychol

Publisher American Psychological Association

Specialty Psychology

Date 2009 Dec 17

PMID 20001137

Citations 28

Authors

Patricia M Schacht

E Mark Cummings

Patrick T Davies

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

This study focuses on relations between fathers' behavior in family context and children's adjustment, including the roles of paternal depressive symptoms, paternal marital conflict behaviors, paternal parenting, and children's emotional security. Participants included 235 families with a six-year-old child, with families followed longitudinally each year for three years. In terms of fathers' adjustment, paternal problem drinking was related to paternal negative marital conflict behaviors and decreased positive parenting, which was associated with children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Fathers' depressive symptoms were directly related with children's internalizing problems. Children's emotional security was an intervening variable in relations between father's behavior in family context and children's development.

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