Toward a Better Understanding of the Associations Among Different Measures of Father Involvement and Parenting Alliance

Abstract

The variety of measurement methods used in fathering research to assess fathers’ involvement makes it difficult to summarize what we know about paternal involvement and its correlates and antecedents. Aiming to shed light on the potential consequences of using different measures of paternal involvement, this study examined: (a) the associations among three measures of father participation in parental activities, namely self- and mother-reported questionnaires and a father-completed time diary, and (b) their respective associations with a well-documented predictor of father involvement, i.e., parenting alliance. The sample included 80 parental couples with a 6-month-old child. Although moderate associations were found among measures of father involvement, only the maternal and paternal questionnaires were associated with parenting alliance. These results suggest that time diaries and questionnaires tap into different aspects of father involvement that can have distinct correlates and determinants. Better acknowledgment of the diverging results attributable to the use of different measurement approaches of father involvement is needed.