Journal
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 13, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.785376
Keywords
father involvement; parenting; self-regulation; coparenting; non-resident fathers
Categories
Funding
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [R01HD036093]
- National Institutes of Health
- United States Department of Health and Human Services
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Self-regulation is a critical skill to develop in early childhood, and children living in economic hardship are at risk for self-regulation difficulties. This study found associations between fathers' parenting and coparenting quality and children's self-regulation.
Self-regulation, or the ability to effectively manage emotions and behavior, is a critical skill to develop in early childhood. Children living in a context of economic hardship are at an increased risk for developing self-regulation difficulties. However, few studies have comprehensively examined how multiple aspects of the caregiving environment, including fathers' parenting and coparenting quality, may contribute to child self-regulation. Thus, this study applied a family systems perspective to examine whether coparenting and resident and non-resident fathers' reports of parenting quantity and quality were associated with observations of children's self-regulation. Participants were drawn from the Embedded Developmental Study (n = 257) of the Three-City Study, a longitudinal study of children and families facing economic hardship. At Wave 1, when children were 2-4 years old, reports of parenting (i.e., quantity and quality) and coparenting (i.e., support) were obtained. At Wave 2, when children were 3-6 years old, children participated in a snack delay and gift wrap task, which assessed their self-regulation. Multi-group path analyses indicated that resident fathers' harsh parenting at Wave 1 predicted decreased levels of self-regulation at Wave 2. Non-resident fathers' reported hours of involvement at Wave 1 predicted greater levels of self-regulation at Wave 2. Additionally, supportive coparenting among families with a non-resident father predicted greater self-regulation. Supportive coparenting was not associated with child self-regulation in families with a resident father. The implications for research focused on facilitating positive father-child relationships in diverse family contexts are discussed.
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