Fathering in Infancy: Mutuality and Stability Between 8 and 16 Months

Abstract

SYNOPSISObjective. 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 fatherinfant 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.

Father Involvement in Immigrant and Ethnically Diverse Families from the Prenatal Period to the Second Year: Prediction and Mediating Mechanisms

“…Somewhat counter to stereotypes about low-income, urban fathers of color, fathers' high levels of involvement at birth were much more likely to maintain over time than to present a pattern of Shannon et al 2006), but advances that work by exploring pathways in a majority immigrant sample. What might explain associations between fathers' prenatal involvement and later involvement?…”

“…Recent analysis of the ECLS-B (described above; BronteTinkew et al 2007) found that fathers' prenatal behaviors predicted fathers' warmth and engagement in cognitively stimulating activities with their 9 month olds. In the Early Head Start National Evaluation Project, measures of fathers' prenatal involvement (e.g., accompanying mother to prenatal visits, being present at the newborn's birth) predicted fathers' presence in their children's lives up to 5 years later (Shannon et al 2006). Over 90% of fathers, who displayed high levels of prenatal involvement, still saw their children at least three times per week during the prekindergarten period.…”

Mary Ainsworth’s legacy: a systematic review of observational instruments measuring parental sensitivity

“…All instruments reviewed in this paper have also Attachment & Human Development 497 been used with fathers and have shown meaningful associations between paternal sensitivity and a variety of other variables (e.g., Kelley et al, 1998;Lewis & Lamb, 2003;Lucassen et al, 2011;Shannon, Tamis-LeMonda, & Cabrera, 2006;Shannon, Tamis-LeMonda, London, & Cabrera, 2002). However, it has been suggested that other aspects of fatherchild interactions may be more salient for child development, such as challenging and stimulating play (Grossmann, Grossmann, Kindler, & Zimmermann, 2008).…”

Who Are the Gatekeepers? Predictors of Maternal Gatekeeping

“…This is an important juncture at which to examine gatekeeping because this transition has been described as a “critical period” (Doherty, Erickson, & LaRossa, 2006, p. 438) for the establishment of father-child relationships. Given that early levels of father involvement in infancy tend to persist (Shannon, Tamis-LeMonda, & Cabrera, 2006), maternal gatekeeping in the early postpartum months could have a particularly long-lasting effect on father involvement. We followed 182 dual-earner expectant couples from the third trimester through 3 months postpartum.…”