Research Abstract: Effectiveness of the ‘New Fathers Network’, an Internet-based Intervention

The Critical Transition to Fatherhood Two critical components of a healthy transition to parenthood are parenting self-efficacy – the mastery of the parenthood role – and parenting satisfaction with the parenting role. Both elements describe the parent’s comfort with parenting behaviour required in healthy and effective infant care. For fathers, regardless of background, the birth … Read more

New Fathers – Emerging Research from the Father Involvement Research Alliance

Source: Bader, E. & Doucet, A. (2006). New fathers cluster executive summary.  Father Involvement Community Research Forum, Spring 2006 This article summarises the work of the New Fathers Cluster of the Canadian-based Father Involvement Research Alliance (FIRA). This cluster focuses its research on the period from pregnancy through the first eighteen months of a child’s … Read more

Where Do Fathers Stand in Shaping Healthy Teen Sexuality?

Introduction Sexuality is a critical component of adolescent development. Experts define good sexual health as “not only the absence of disease, but the ability to understand and weigh the risks, responsibilities, outcomes, and impacts of sexual actions, to be knowledgeable of and comfortable with one’s body, and to be free from exploitation and coercion” (NASW, … Read more

A View from Inside: Experiences of the First Year as a Father

Source: Premberg, A., Hellström, A.L. & Berg, M. (2008). Experiences of the first year as father. Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 22(1), 56-63. Introduction Earlier research highlights the importance of fathers’ participation in the child’s development. In Sweden, it is a public policy goal to involve fathers in infant care and to increase gender equality between parents. A … Read more

Non-Resident Fatherhood: How it Matters and When Fathers are Most Likely to Stay Involved

Introduction Rising divorce rates have led to more children living apart from their biological fathers. Non-residency (father and child not living together) is a strong predictor of reduced father involvement. Non-residential fathers tend to be less involved with their children, in terms of paternal engagement (direct interaction with children), accessibility, and responsibility (Sandberg & Hofferth, … Read more

Barriers to Balance: Factors Linked to Fathers’ Use of Work-Life Initiatives

Father-Friendly Workplaces: The Implementation Gap More and more employers have adopted family-friendly initiatives, persuaded by the business case for such practices. Local research shows that for every S$1 invested in family-friendly initiatives, an organisation reaped an average return of S$1.28 in terms of increased productivity alone. When the additional benefit of reduced turnover was taken … Read more

Understanding Maternal Gatekeeping: How Mothers Help and Hinder Father Involvement

Introduction Research on fatherhood reveals a wide range of factors that support or hinder fathers’ positive engagement with their children. In fact, father involvement has been shown to be influenced, to a greater extent than mother involvement, by contextual factors, such as family dynamics or socio-economic situation (Doherty et al, 1996). One such factor is … Read more

How Mother-Child and Father-Child Relationships Influence Each Other: A Study on Families with Young Children in China

Zhang, X. & Chen, H. Reciprocal influences between parents’ perceptions of mother-child and father-child relationships: A short-term longitudinal study in Chinese preschoolers. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 2010, 171(1), 22–34. Introduction Research has traditionally explored the effect of parent-child relationships on children’s development or the effect of parents’ marital quality on parent-child relationships. Less explored is the … Read more