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Full-Time Dads;
The Magazine for Caregiver Fathers
Issue 16, originally appeared in print - July 1995
A report to the Wisconsin Governor's Commission on Families and Children.
Traditionally, society's view of what constitutes a good father has focused rather one-dimensionally on the role of provider. More recently, however, we have come to understand that men's involvement in the family realm, while fiscal by tradition and necessity, is much more than that. A welfare check or child support payment can only replace a father s financial contribution to their children. Research has shown that children need more than economic security to thrive, and that father involvement contributes to children's development in unique and different ways (Biller, 1994; Golant, 1992; Lamb, 1981; Snarey, 1993).
Research has found that the behavior of fathers plays an important part in sex-role development (Hetherington, Cox, & Cox, 1982). Involved fathering was predictive of raising sons and daughters who have less traditionally sex-stereotyped perceptions about male and female roles (Pruett, 1987; Radin & Russell, 1983), as well as sons who supported nontraditional employment and childrearing arrangements (Williams, Radin, & Allegro, 1992).
Students in two-parent families performed better academically and had less problematic school behavior than their counterparts in either single-parent families or stepfamilies (Kurdek & Sinclair, 1988); this is especially true when father's take an active interest in their child's school performance, help with homework, and have high educational expectations for their child. Sons of involved fathers perform a year above their expected age level on achievement tests (Biller, 1993). The number of years the father is present in the home is also predictive of high school completion (Brooks, Guo, & Furstenberg, 1993).
Several studies have shown that father involvement in child care is the strongest parent-related predictor in the development of empathy (Koestner, Franz, & Weinberger, 1990; Miedzian, 1991; Sagi, 1982). Involved fathering was also found to be related to other prosocial behaviors such as generosity, altruism, and helpfulness (Mussen & Eisenberg-Berg, 1977).
Involved fathering was associated with the development of problem-solving behavior (Easterbrooks & Goldberg, 1984), and reduced sibling conflict and aggression (Volling & Belsky, 1992).
Fathers may play a larger role in health care than previously realized. For example, mortality rates of infants born to college educated but unmarried mothers is higher than for infants born to married high school dropouts (Sullivan, 1992a). Also, children living with both biological parents are significantly less likely to suffer health problems than children raised in single parent homes (Dawson, 1991)
Research suggests a connection between positive fathering during childhood and maintaining long-term marriages and close friendships during adulthood (Franz, McClelland, & Weinberger, 1991).
Closeness to fathers has also proven important to adult children. Adult children who reported being close to their fathers also reported being happier, more satisfied with their lives, and less distressed; divorce weakens the relationship between closeness to one's father and life satisfaction, but not affect children's happiness or psychological distress (Amato, 1994). Furthermore, adult children's feelings of closeness to their stepfather is also related to happiness and life satisfaction.
In sum, what researchers have found is that fathers are just as important as mothers in their children's lives (Biller, 1993). Ironically, most of what is known about the positive effects of father involvement comes from studies of families where the father is absent. Hopefully the knowledge of how involved fathering can positively effect children and families will influence the efforts of researchers and policy makers alike.
James David Lambert
University of Madison-Wisconsin
Child and Family Studies
1430 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706
jlambert@ssc.wisc.edu
Marc S. Cwik
Child and Family Studies
University of Wisconsin
1430 Linden Drive
Madison, WI 53706
mscwik@students.wisc.edu
Copyright 1994 James Lambert, Marc Cwik, and Karen Bogeschneider
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