The father-child relationship and father’s parenting style are examined as predictors of first delinquency and substance use, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997, Rounds 1 to 3 ( N = 5,345), among adolescents in intact families. Discrete time logistic regressions indicate that a more positive father-child relationship predicts a reduced risk of engagement in multiple first risky behaviors. Having a father with an authoritarian parenting style is associated with an increased risk of engaging in delinquent activity and substance use. Two-way interaction models further indicate that the negative effect of authoritarian parenting is reduced when fathers have a positive relationship with their adolescent. Permissive parenting also predicts less risky behavior when the father-child relationship is positive. The positive influence of the father-child relationship on risk behaviors is stronger for male than for female adolescents.

The authors used data from Grades 5 through 7 of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development to assess relations among sports participation, other out-of-school-time (OST) activities, and indicators of youth development. They used a mixture of variable- and pattern-centered analyses aimed at disentangling different features of participation (i.e., intensity, breadth). The benefits of sports participation were found to depend, in part, on specific combinations of multiple activities in which youths participated along with sports. In particular, participation in a combination of sports and youth development programs was related to positive youth development and youth contribution, even after controlling for the total time youths spent in OST activities and their sports participation duration. Adolescents' total time spent participating in OST activities, duration of participation in sports, and activity participation pattern each explained a unique part of the variance in some of the indicators of youth functioning. These findings suggest the need for future research to simultaneously assess multiple indices of OST activity participation.

This study uses a sample of 2,139 resident biological fathers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing surveys (baseline and 12-month follow-up), to examine whether paternal aggravation and stress in parenting is associated with father engagement and coparenting and whether this association differs by father's socioeconomic status. Results of Ordinary Least Squares regression models indicate that paternal aggravation and stress in parenting is significantly associated with lower levels of father engagement and with less supportive coparenting relationships (controlling for mothers' aggravation and stress in parenting). Findings also indicate a more negative association between paternal aggravation/stress in parenting and father engagement and coparenting for fathers with household incomes below the poverty threshold. Findings suggest that policies aimed at decreasing parenting stress may be especially beneficial to fathers living in poor families.

Depression has been extensively studied for mothers but not for fathers. This study examines the sociodemographic correlates of symptoms of depression and how depression is associated with father involvement using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview-Short Form (CIDI-SF) for major depression. The study uses a sample of 2,139 resident fathers in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing 12-Month Father Survey. Results indicate that symptoms of major depression differ by race, marital status, and employment status but not by age and educational status. Major depression also differs significantly based on drug and alcohol use and criminal justice experience. Results of ordinary least squares regression models indicate that major depression is negatively associated with father-child activities (engagement), positively associated with paternal aggravation/stress in parenting, and negatively associated with both the quality of the mother-father relationship and coparental relationship supportiveness. Findings are important for identifying fathers for whom interventions would be valuable.A lthough depression has been studied extensively among mothers, the incidence and implications of depression have received much less attention

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Birth Cohort, 9‐month resident father surveys (N= 6,816), this paper examines the association between male pregnancy intentions, prenatal behaviors, and postbirth father involvement. Findings indicate that prenatal behaviors are associated with five domains of father involvement. Men who did not want the pregnancy are less likely to exhibit paternal warmth following the birth, whereas men who wanted the pregnancy sooner than it occurred are more likely to exhibit nurturing behaviors. The influence of fathers’ pregnancy intentions and prenatal behaviors on postbirth involvement is for the most part not dependent on child gender. Findings suggest that prenatal programs that encourage fathers to actively participate in the pregnancy may be beneficial to later child well‐being.