Background

The following is an abstract of Fathering in Infancy: Mutuality and Stability between 8 and 16 Months by Jacqueline D. Shannon and Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda (New York University) and Natasha J Cabrera (University of Maryland).

The quality of parent-infant interactions exerts enduring influence on children's social and cognitive development.  Although developmental processes such as attachment, communication, and social cognition characterise mother-infant and father-infant relationships alike, parenting literature is dominated by research on mother-infant interactions in predominantly middle-income, two-parent families.  This study of low-income fathers and their infants addresses the gap.

Assessing Father-Infant Interactions

The study's first goal was to describe father-infant interactions at eight and 16 months, and to explore associations between father and infant behaviours. The study contrasted didactic (educational or instructive), responsive and positive modes of fathering with behaviours that were overbearing and negative.

• Positive modes

Didactic behaviours were those in which fathers encouraged infants to engage and understand the environment outside by focusing the infant's attention on properties, objects and events as well as mediating between them and their infants.

Responsive behaviours include prompt and appropriate reactions to their infants' verbal and non-verbal initiatives.  Positive behaviours were affective displays, such as facial expressions, hand gestures and tone of voice that were positive and comforting.

• Negative modes

Overbearing behaviours were those in which fathers' interfered with or inhibited their infants' behaviour. Negative behaviours were those in which fathers displayed negative affect either facially or vocally.

Determinants of Father Involvement

The second goal was to examine determinants of father involvement within and across the 8- to 16-month period in terms of demographic characteristics of fathers (income, education, and age) as well as the mother-father relationship (father residency, marital status, and the quality of the mother-father relationship).

Method

The study used data from the Father and Newborn Study (FANS) of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project in the USA. Focusing on low-income families, 78% of the father-infant pairs were from urban neighbourhoods and came from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. 71% had been living with their infants since birth and 69% were unmarried.

Measures

• Father-infant videotaped interaction task

The pairs were videotaped during semi-structured free play for eight minutes when they were eight months old and for 10 minutes at 16 and 24 months.  They were provided with a standard set of age-appropriate toys and fathers were instructed to manage their own time and do whatever was most natural to them.

• Coding

The quality of father-infant interactions was assessed using the Caregiver-Child Affect, Responsiveness, and Engagement Scale (C-CARES) which rates father, infant and pair behaviours on a five-point Likert-type scale (1 = behaviour not observed to 5 = behaviour constantly observed).  The father behaviours assessed included affect, touch, verbal statements, responsiveness, toy play, and amount and quality of language.

• Demographics

Fathers were then interviewed on their residency status (resident or non-resident fathers), marital status, age, race and ethnicity, primary language, educational background, as well as monthly income and parity.

• Mother-father relationship

The quality of the relationship was based on two questions at eight and 16 months.  Fathers were asked to respond on a five-point Likert type scale (1 = poor to 5 = excellent) to the question: “In general, how would you rate the quality of your relationship with (the child's) mother?”

On a four-point scale, they were asked to respond to the question: “In general, how supportive would you say that your infant's mother is of your being a father to (the child)?”

In this study, fathers overwhelmingly viewed their relationship with their infants' mother positively.

Results

• Father behaviours

At both eight and 16 months, fathers received the highest scores on positive items such as participation, flexibility, toy play, structuring, and positive affect. They were more responsive to infants' vocalisations at 16 months, but less responsive to the non-verbal cues.  This is likely explained by developmental changes in infants, who were beginning to communicate verbally at 16 months. Fathers met these changes by increased attentiveness to infants' vocalisations and less attentiveness to non-verbal forms of infant communication.

• Predictive associations from eight to 16 months

Fathers' scores on the eight-month Responsive-Didactic scale marginally predicted infant social scale scores.  Fathers' scores on the Negative-Overbearing scale at the eight-month assessment did not predict any infant social scale scores at 16 months.

• Determinants of fathering

At eight months, older fathers and those married to their infants' mother received higher Responsive-Didactic scores and lower Negative-Overbearing scores.  Fathers with more education and higher incomes received higher scores on the Responsive-Didactic scale.  Fathers who reported being in a higher quality relationship with their infants' mothers received higher Responsive-Didactic scores at 16 months.

Discussion

• Broadening the perception of the role of fathers

The group of involved fathers interacted in ways that go beyond portrayals of fathers as “rough and tumble” playmates.  Fathers were generally positive in their engagement with infants at both ages, as indicated by their relatively high scores on participation, responsiveness and flexibility, and relatively low scores on intrusiveness, negative affect, and negative touch.

• Fathers' influence on infant development

Fathers with higher scores on the Responsive-Didactic scale had infants who were more social and communicative in their engagement. It is also safe to say that the associations likely reflect a bi-directional process, with positive infant behaviours also promoting sensitive, didactic interactions in their fathers, which may then influence infants' further developmental progress.

• Limited evidence of Early Effects Model

It is surprising that fathers' Responsive-Didactic behaviours at eight months only marginally predicted infants' 16-month behaviours, refuting an early effects model.  This may reflect qualitative changes that occur in infants' capacities over this time frame as well as the fact that fathering was only modestly stable across the eight-month period.

However, fathers who received consistently high scores and those who improved over time, had infants who were more communicative and social at 16 months, supporting a contemporary model of fathering effects. An optimistic interpretation of these data is fathers' engagement in the second year can compensate for less than optimal engagement in the earlier infancy period when their fathers become or remain positively involved.

• Importance of fathers' demographics

Fathers who were older, more educated, married to their partners, and who had higher incomes were better able to establish early connections with their infants.  By 16 months, fathers' age was the best single demographic predictor of fathering behaviour.

• Importance of high quality mother-father relationship

The quality of the mother-father relationship positively predicted fathers' 16-month Responsive-Didactic behaviours.  It also reliably predicted patterns of fathers' engagement over time.  These findings parallel those on men from middle-income backgrounds, showing that those who feel supported by their partners in their role as father are more sensitive and playful with their children.

• Limitations

This study has several limitations.  As the participants were a select sample of men who were nominated by their partners and willing to participate in the study, the assessments of fathering are likely to be biased toward positive engagement in this group.

The findings are also limited by the modest sample size of 74 father-infant pairs and the limited settings and questions asked in the study.  Father-infant interactions in other settings might offer a different perspective on what fathers do with their infants.

Nonetheless, the findings offer a glimpse into how involved, low-income fathers engage with and affect their infants' development, and shed new light on the contributions that fathers' education, age, income, and support from partners make to early father-infant relationships.

Reference:

Cabrera, N. J., Shannon, J. D., Tamis-LeMonda, C.S., (2006) Fathering in Infancy: Mutuality and Stability between 8 and 16 Months, Parenting: Science and Practice, Volume 6 (April –September 2006), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc,. pages 167-188

About the Author: The Dads for Life Resource Team comprises local content writers and experts, including psychologists, counsellors, educators and social service professionals, dedicated to developing useful resources for dads.