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PubMed2004

Parental smoking and passive smoking in infants: fathers matter too.

This study examines mothers' and fathers' smoking patterns in different kinds of smoking households, and assesses their relative contribution to infants' exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. It uses data from a cross-sectional survey of 314 smoking households (infants: mean age 10 weeks) in Coventry and Birmingham, England, examining reported tobacco consumption and objective measures of exposure: the study infant's urinary cotinine:creatinine ratios and their mother's salivary cotinine. The study shows that both mothers' and fathers' tobacco smoke make substantial contributions to infant exposure to tobacco smoke. Households were more likely to contain a smoking father than mother, with over two-thirds of households including a smoking father. In households where both parents smoke, fathers' tobacco consumption was found to be significantly higher than in households where only the father smokes. This suggests that the interaction between parents needs to be considered rather than focusing on mothers' or fathers' smoking behaviour in isolation. The implications for health promotion programmes are discussed, particularly the need to place more emphasis on tackling fathers' smoking. Currently, fathers' smoking receives far less research or health promotion attention than mothers' smoking. Protecting infants from fathers' as well as mothers' smoking is key to reducing environmental tobacco exposure in early infancy, when the risk of Sudden Infant Death is highest.

Cotinine↗
PubMed1990

Facilitating nurturant fathering behavior in the NICU.

Many of the roles required of the father of a NICU infant are new and unfamiliar, difficult to carry out, unrehearsed, and yet called for in an unexpected crisis. At a time when they too need nurturing, fathers of high-risk infants are expected to adapt readily and be models of self-control. It is apparent from this investigation that the primary nurse is in a strategic position to assist the new father in his acquaintance with and early adjustment to his infant. Although some of the fathers will become actively involved with their children, others prefer less involvement in infant care taking and display minimal nurturant behaviors. A nurse must be able to recognize these differences and support a father's (and mother's) choice. A couple's sociocultural ideology and perceptions of the father's role, as well as the family dynamics and values, need to be given primary consideration in planning nursing care. In order for the nurse to fulfill an important teaching role for the fathers (parents) of NICU infants, the nurse must meet the needs of each individual father in relation to the family system. This requires systematic and nonjudgmental assessment and caring facilitation of paternal role development and early father-infant and father-mother-infant interactions.

Father-Child Relations↗
PubMed2004

Insight from a breastfeeding peer support pilot program for husbands and fathers of Texas WIC participants.

A Father-to-Father Breastfeeding Support Pilot Program conducted by the Texas Department of Health provides a model of a viable way to increase breastfeeding rates in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC Program). The pilot concept was based on previous success with a breastfeeding peer counselor program and research documenting the father's attitude as an important influence on a mother's decision to breastfeed. Peer dads are fathers of breastfed infants participating in the WIC Program. They are recruited, trained, and hired to give breastfeeding and parenting information to other WIC fathers. WIC fathers rated the information they received as "very important" and indicated that counseling sessions would help them support their infants'mothers with breastfeeding and be better fathers. Breastfeeding initiation rates increased at clinics employing peer dads. Father-to-father breastfeeding education was successful in educating and empowering fathers, enabling them to support their breastfeeding family members.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Becoming a father to a stillborn child.

The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the reaction of fathers to a stillborn child. Because little research has been done on this topic, an exploratory descriptive study was conducted. Eight fathers who had experienced a stillborn child were interviewed in-depth within the first 5 years following the death. Although the fathers exhibited grief reactions and behaviors such as shock, denial, anger, and acceptance, it was evident that taking on a fathering role was of central importance. The basic social process that the fathers in this study experienced was becoming a father to the stillborn child. The fathers were trying to assume a fathering role while they were grieving the death of their child. Understanding the process of becoming a father to a stillborn child is of value to health care professionals when considering ways to help fathers who have experienced such a loss.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2001

Father involvement and children's functioning at age 6 years: a multisite study.

Research suggests that fathers' involvement in their children's lives is associated with enhanced child functioning. The current study examined (a) whether presence of a father was associated with better child functioning, (b) whether children's perceptions of fathers' support was associated with better functioning, and (c) whether the above association was moderated by the father's relationship to the child, the child's race, and the child's gender. Participants included 855 six-year-old children and their caregivers. Father presence was associated with better cognitive development and greater perceived competence by the children. For children with a father figure, those who described greater father support had a stronger sense of social competence and fewer depressive symptoms. The associations did not differ by child's gender, race, or relationship to the father figure. These findings support the value of fathers' presence and support to their children's functioning. Priorities for future research include clarifying what motivates fathers to be positively involved in their children's lives and finding strategies to achieve this.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Early father's and mother's involvement and child's later educational outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have investigated the individual long-term contributions that mothers and fathers make to their children's schooling. AIMS: (1) To explore the role of early father involvement in children's later educational attainment independently of the role of early mother involvement and other confounds, (2) to investigate whether gender and family structure moderate the relationship between father's and mother's involvement and child's educational attainment, and (3) to explore whether the impact of father's involvement depends on the level of mother's involvement. SAMPLE: The study used longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study. The initial sample were those 7,259 cohort members with valid data on mother involvement at age 7, father involvement at age 7, and school-leaving qualification by age 20. Of those, 3,303 were included in the final analysis. METHOD: The measures were control variables, structural factors (family structure, sibship size and residential mobility), child factors (emotional/behavioural problems, cognitive ability and academic motivation), and father's and mother's involvement. RESULTS: Father involvement and mother involvement at age 7 independently predicted educational attainment by age 20. The association between parents' involvement and educational attainment was not stronger for sons than for daughters. Father involvement was not more important for educational attainment when mother involvement was low rather than high. Not growing up in intact two-parent family did not weaken the association between father's or mother's involvement and educational outcomes. CONCLUSION: Early father involvement can be another protective factor in counteracting risk conditions that might lead to later low attainment levels.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Predictors of effortful control among children of alcoholic and nonalcoholic fathers.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was (1) to examine the association between fathers' alcoholism and children's effortful control and (2) to examine the role of parental warmth and toddler temperament as mediators or moderators of this relationship. METHOD: Families were recruited through New York State birth records when their infant was age 12 months. The final sample consisted of 226 families (116 boys) constituting two major groups: a nonalcoholic group consisting of parents with no or few current alcohol problems (n = 102) and a father alcoholic group (n = 124). Families were assessed when their child was ages 12, 18, 24 and 36 months. RESULTS: Results indicate that boys of alcoholic fathers exhibit lower overall levels of effortful control than boys of nonalcoholic fathers. For boys, fathers' warmth over the second year of life mediated the association between fathers' alcoholism and effortful control. Maternal warmth was a unique predictor of effortful control for boys. For girls, fathers' alcoholism was associated with lower paternal warmth, which was in turn a significant predictor of effortful control. Child activity level and negative affect were associated with effortful control for boys but did not account for significant variance when entered in regression models with fathers' alcoholism and parenting variables. CONCLUSIONS: Sons of alcoholic fathers are at an increased risk of problems in self-regulation when they are ages 2 to 3 years. Paternal warmth mediates the association between fathers' alcoholism and self-regulation for both boys and girls, although the nature of mediation may vary by child gender.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2004

Predictors of Urban fathers' involvement in their child's health care.

OBJECTIVE: Fathers make important contributions to many aspects of children's well-being, but relatively few studies have evaluated father involvement in their child's health care. The objective of this study was to explore the extent to which fathers are involved in their children's health care and identify those factors that are associated with greater involvement. METHODS: A convenience sample of 104 English-speaking, urban fathers with children younger than 7 years were recruited to complete an anonymous, structured interview. Fathers self-reported the number of well-child visits (WCVs) that they had ever attended and which factors had influenced their attendance. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify those factors that predicted greater involvement. RESULTS: Eighty-nine percent of the fathers had attended at least 1 WCV. Fifty-three percent had high involvement, ie, had attended > or =40% of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended visits for their child's age. In multivariate modeling, factors that were significantly associated with high involvement in attending WCVs included attendance at the child's delivery (odds ratio [OR]: 7.3 [1.7-30.4]), younger child age (OR: 0.96 [0.94-0.99]), older father age (OR: 1.2 [1.2-1.3]), the child's having health insurance (OR: 4.1 [1.3-12.0]), and having >1 child (OR: 0.22 [0.06-0.72]). CONCLUSIONS: The factors identified suggest ways that pediatric providers can support fathers' involvement in their children's health care. Providers should focus on encouraging greater involvement early, especially for younger fathers and those with older children. In addition, support of universal health coverage for children might, in addition to other obvious benefits, enhance a father's engagement with his child's health care.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Assessing father-infant interactions using the NCAST teaching scale: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this pilot study was to gather preliminary data on father-infant dyads using the Nursing Child Assessment Satellite Training (NCAST) Teaching scale, a parent-infant interaction measure, to determine whether and how fathers score differently than mothers from normative samples. METHOD: Interactions between first-time father (N = 15) and their infants, 3 months to 6 months of age, during the instruction of an unfamiliar play activity were rated using the NCAST Teaching scale. Scores were compared both with a normative database (N = 2,123) of mother-infant dyads and with a subsample (n = 34) of the normative database to control for demographic variables, including the age, gender, and birth parity of the child and the age, education, marital status, and ethnicity of the parent. RESULTS: The fathers scored significantly lower on items related to fostering the infants' cognitive growth than the mothers in the normative database. However, the infants in this study provided clearer behavioral cues and were more responsive to their fathers than the infants in the normative sample. These findings were also true for the subsample comparison. The fathers also scored significantly lower than the normative subsample on items measuring their ability to foster the social and emotional growth of their infants. CONCLUSION: There may be important differences in the interactions of father-infant dyads compared with mother-infant dyads, but further research with a larger, more representative sample of fathers on this parent-infant interaction measure is warranted to support this. The development of normative scores for fathers and their infants is recommended to accurately interpret father-infant interactions when administering the NCAST Teaching scale.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Welfare reform, fertility, and father involvement.

Recognizing that most poor families are single-parent families, the federal welfare reform law of 1996 emphasized the responsibility of both parents to support their children. In addition to strengthening the child support enforcement system, the law included several provisions designed to decrease childbearing outside of marriage and to promote two-parent families. This article focuses on the important role that fathers play in children's lives and how public policies have affected childbearing and father involvement. Key observations are: Compared with children living with both biological parents, children in father-absent families often have fewer economic and socioemotional resources from their parents, and do not fare as well on many outcome measures. Efforts to reduce the rising number of father-absent families by focusing on preventing unwanted pregnancy among unmarried women, especially teen girls, have met with some success; those programs seeking to alter adolescents' life opportunities in addition to providing education or family planning services appear to hold the most promise. Efforts to encourage greater father involvement by focusing almost exclusively on increasing absent parents' child support payments reap only minimal benefits for poor children because their absent parents often have few resources and little incentive to make support payments. To date, efforts to increase the emotional involvement of unmarried fathers with their children have produced disappointing results, but new research suggests that such programs can make a difference when targeting fathers at the time of a child's birth. Many children spend some time living away from their fathers, deprived of the financial and emotional resources they can provide. Because of the importance of fathers to child well-being, the authors conclude that new directions in research and public policies are needed to encourage greater father involvement across the wide diversity of family arrangements in society today.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Perceptions of parenthood among adolescent fathers.

To investigate perceptions of parenthood among adolescent fathers, we studied three groups of first-time fathers: adolescent fathers with adolescent partners (n = 21), adult fathers with adolescent partners (n = 14), and adult fathers with adult partners (n = 55). Subjects were interviewed during the immediate postpartum period and then again 3 months later. Group differences were noted concerning items related to paternal involvement, sex stereotypic behaviors, and stress, but not concerning preparation for parenthood. Fathers' perceptions appeared to be influenced by both their ages and those of the mothers as well as an interaction between these two fathers (adult fathers with adolescent partners v adult fathers with adult partners). Our results suggest that fathers with adolescent partners may benefit from interventions designed to promote more active involvement in parenthood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Fathering and the separation-individuation process.

Empirical evidence supports the belief that fathers play a significant role in the development of children. The father is becoming a more visible participant in physical care (feeding, diapering, and bathing) and the emotional life of the infant. Father-infant interactions have resulted in early formation of attachment to the father, but later than with the mother. Separation anxiety is reduced if the father-infant interactions have been qualitatively satisfactory to the infant. Father-infant interactions have a definite effect on the infant's progression through the separation-individuation process as described by Mahler and Abelin. The father's behavior toward the infant, particularly during the practicing subphase, enhances ego autonomy, differentiation, and individuation. According to Abelin, completion of the separation-individuation process may be impossible for the mother and the child if the father does not interact with the child. In view of this deduction, the writer concludes that special effort should be made by child and health care workers to encourage fathers' involvement with their very young children. Also, further investigation is needed in order to identify specific father-infant interactions that might facilitate the separation-individuation process.

Child Development↗
PubMed1993

The Finnish Family Competence Study: young fathers' views on health education.

The views of fathers of young families on health education were obtained using questionnaires issued through Maternity Health Care Clinics and Well-Baby Clinics. The present study is part of the Finnish Family Competence Study. The first phase of the study included 1,414 fathers whose wives were expecting their first baby. Of them, 1,279 returned a questionnaire. In the second phase, at week 28 of the wife's pregnancy, 1,123 fathers returned a questionnaire. A third questionnaire issued when the baby was born was completed by 1,134 fathers. A further questionnaire issued three months after the baby's birth was completed by 1,089 fathers. When the child was three years old, 753 fathers returned a questionnaire. Basic educational level, age and occupation were used as demographic variables. Backgrounds of respondents were studied using questions on the socioeconomic status of the fathers, as well as that of their wives and parents, and the locations of respondents' childhood and present homes. Subjects were asked comment on health education intended for their children. The socioeconomic status and age of the father affected preferences for the content and form of the child's health education. In memorizing their childhood experience of dental visits, most fathers stated that they had been frightened. Attention was not paid in the study to the extent to which the fathers had transferred this fear to their children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

No fathers' names: a risk factor for infant mortality in the State of Georgia, USA.

Many studies have explored maternal and infant factors as risks for infant mortality, but little attention is given to paternal factors. In Georgia, listing a father's name on the birth certificate is optional for married couples and possible after paternal acknowledgment for unmarried couples. The authors evaluated father's name reporting as a paternity measure and risk for infant mortality. Using the linked 1989-1990 birth and death certificates of singleton Georgia infants to calculate relative risks (RRs), infant mortality rates for 38,943 infants with no father's names listed were compared to rates for 178,100 with father's names listed. Compared with the rate for married women listing names, the death rates were higher for unmarried mothers not listing fathers (relative risk, RR = 2.5; 95% CI 2.3-2.7), unmarried mothers listing fathers (RR = 1.4; 95% CI 1.3-1.6), and married women not listing fathers (RR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.6-3.1). Increased risks remained after stratifying by maternal race, age, adequacy of prenatal care and medical risks; and congenital malformations, birthweight, gestational age, and small-for-gestational age. Using logistic regression to examine for effect modification and to adjust for these factors together, the adjusted relative risks for death varied across different groups without fathers' names, regardless of marital status. For example, it remained statistically higher for infants with no father listed and without effect-modifying conditions such as low birthweight (estimated RR = 2.0; 95% CI 1.6-2.4). Although these findings suggest paternal involvement, as measured by listing fathers' names, is protective against low birthweight and infant mortality, further evaluation is needed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

First-time mothers' and fathers' transition to parenthood: infant care self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction, and infant sex.

The threefold purposes of our study were to determine differences between first-time mothers' and fathers' development of infant care self-efficacy and parenting satisfaction, relationships between mothers' and fathers' infant care self-efficacy and parenting satisfaction, and the effect of infant sex on the development of mothers' and fathers' infant care self-efficacy and parenting satisfaction during the first 4 months following the infant's birth. A convenience sample of 44 couples in a midwestern state completed the Demographic Questionnaire, the Infant Care Survey, and What Being the Parent of a New Baby is Like-Revised. Fathers' reports of infant care self-efficacy increased linearly during the first 4 months following the infant's birth while mothers' reports of infant care self-efficacy increased linearly during the first 3 months. At all data collection times, fathers reported significantly lower infant care self-efficacy than mothers. Reports of parenting satisfaction increased over time for mothers and fathers. At 8, 12, and 16 weeks following the infant's birth, mothers' infant care self-efficacy scores were significantly related to their parenting satisfaction scores. Fathers' infant care self-efficacy scores were significantly related to their parenting satisfaction scores at 12 and 16 weeks. Fathers of male infants had significantly higher parenting satisfaction scores than fathers of female infants at 12 and 16 weeks following the infant's birth. Nurses can develop individualized interventions to assist mothers and fathers during the transition to parenthood.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Frequency quotient of paternity index Qf in a case of replacement of the natural father within a trio with his brother].

Cases of trios in which the natural father's near blood-relative instead of the natural father are among the hardest to give an expert opinion on. The goal of this study was to determine with what frequencies specific given values of paternity index appear in trios with the natural father and with the natural father's brother, and whether these frequencies can be the basis for discovering the substitution of the natural father by a brother in a given trio examined. The study material was the population of genotypes investigated in the AmpF/STR SGM Plus system. It was seen that the higher the paternity index values, the more frequently they appear in trios with the natural father, and less frequently in trios with the natural father's brother. This dependency has a general character and obtained in all the systems studied. The frequency quotients Qf (defined as the frequency of a given PI value in trios with the natural father in relation to the "reduced" frequency of the PI value in trios with the brother of the natural father) are found in the region of c. 0.6 to c. 1.4, whereby extreme values are rare, and the most frequent are cases where Qf oscillates within modest limits around the value 1. This fact shows that the majority of cases, calculated Qf values contribute little to resolving the question of whether the defendant--or his brother--is the child's father.

DNA Fingerprinting↗
PubMed1995

Incest and its meaning: the perspectives of fathers and daughters.

This article describes incestuous events and the structure of meaning surrounding the events by biologic fathers and stepfathers and biologic daughters and stepdaughters. Using a symbolic interaction framework the study is guided by the thesis that the meanings people attach to incestuous events are central to understanding the phenomena of incest. Data were obtained from indepth interviews with 40 men (14 natural fathers and 26 stepfathers) and 44 children (18 biologic daughters and 26 stepdaughters). The interviews emphasized fathers' and daughters' recollection of events and their thoughts and interpretations of the incestuous activity while it was occurring. Both fathers and daughters reported that the sexual activity grew out of already existing family interactions. However, fathers and daughters' cognitions surrounding the events differed dramatically. Many of the fathers said their thoughts were dominated by themes of sexual gratification, control, power and anger, and rights and responsibilities vis-à-vis their role as father or stepfather. Daughters reported disbelief, confusion, guilt, and anger. According to fathers, they completely misread their child's reaction to what was happening. Although fathers said that they knew what they were doing was wrong, few reported that they were concerned with possible legal consequences.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Correlates of directiveness in the interactions of fathers and mothers of children with developmental delays.

Twenty preschool-age children with developmental delays and language impairment participated in this study, which compared fathers' and mothers' directiveness and parental stress. Similarities between fathers and mothers were found for turntaking control, response referents, and responses to the child's participation. However, fathers differed from mothers in two of the dimensions of directiveness examined: fathers used more response control and topic control than mothers. Both parents reported similarly low levels of child-related and parenting stress, but mothers perceived more stress than fathers related to the responsibilities associated with parenting a child with a handicap. Correlations between directiveness, child characteristics, and stress revealed that fathers used greater turntaking control and topic control with children who were developmentally less mature, whereas mothers used greater topic control with children who were less involved in interaction. Both fathers' and mothers' use of response control was positively related to stress. Implications for involving fathers in parent-focused intervention include screening father-child interactions before intervention, interpreting parent-child interaction styles in terms of their role in enhancing the child's social participation, and acknowledging the role of familial factors (such as stress) on interaction styles.

Adult↗