As the study of fathering has matured in recent years, fathering scholars have recognized the need for richer, broader measures of the construct of father involvement (Hawkins & Palkovitz, 1999). In an effort to create a measure sensitive to affective, cognitive, and direct and indirect behavioral components of involvement, 100 items were initially generated. Of these, 43 were selected for the "Inventory of Father Involvement" (IFI). Fathers (N = 723) reported on "how good a job" they were doing on the 43 indicators of father involvement. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded nine relatively distinct first-order factors, indicating a single, global second-order factor of father involvement. The final model confirms a shorter, 26-item version of the IFI that reflects a multi-dimensional concept of father involvement.

Common factors in therapy such as the therapeutic alliance and client motivation have been found to account for more change than therapy models. But common factors have been critiqued as only lists of variables that provide little practical guidance. Some researchers have demonstrated that certain common elements (e.g., the therapeutic alliance) account for more variance than others (e.g., techniques), suggesting that some factors should be emphasized over others. Such findings suggest the need for alternatives to model-based therapy, with one alternative being meta-models, or "models of models," that focus on how therapeutic factors interact with each other to produce change. The purpose of this article is to propose a meta-model describing the relationship between two specific common factors-the therapeutic alliance and interventions. We also propose a new factor-a therapist's way of being-that we believe is foundational to effective therapy. The model is proposed in pyramid format, with techniques on top, the therapeutic alliance in the middle, and therapist way of being as the foundation. The hierarchical relationships between these three concepts are discussed, along with implications for training, research, and therapy.

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This study examined direct and indirect associations between overt and covert interparental conflict (IPC), parent-child conflict, and their links to youth problem behaviors. Data were collected from a sample of 641 schoolage youth, ages 12 to 18 years, using a school-based survey. Analyses yielded direct positive linkages from overt IPC to antisocial behavior and from covert IPC to depression and antisocial behavior. When parent-child conflict was added to the model, significant direct associations were again observed between covert conflict and depression, with significant indirect effects through increased parent-child conflict. Likewise, significant direct associations were observed between overt conflict and antisocial behavior, with significant indirect effects through increased parent-child conflict. Although there was little variance in the findings when contextualized, youth ratings of religiosity were moderately and negatively associated with antisocial behavior. These findings document distinct pathways in the spillover of IPC to parent-child relations and youth well-being.

Although scholars have documented many links between marital relationships and parenting, these associations are not commonly explained in terms of behavior that is learned or achieved over time. This paper examines the idea that good fathering-conceptualized here as competent fathering--is the result of a developmental process, and that a loving, committed relationship between parents creates a context in which traits supportive of caring fathering are likely to be learned and practiced. After setting the stage conceptually, we provide a modest initial test of this hypothesis to discern the associations between three components of marital intimacy (emotional intimacy, commitment, and passion) and fathering. Results yielded positive, moderate concurrent associations between marital intimacy and fathering, and positive, low associations between these variables longitudinally. These associations give a degree of support to the notion of fathering as a developmental process, and confirm the sensitivity of fathering to the marital context.