Factors Associated with Father Involvement During Infancy: A Multifactorial and Multidimensional Approach

SYNOPSIS

Objective. The goal of the present study was to provide a clearer picture of the correlates of father involvement during infancy using a multidimensional and multifactorial approach. Design. In a sample of 84 couples having a 7-month-old infant, various factors (paternal psychological symptoms and sense of competence, child sex and difficultness, marital satisfaction, parenting alliance, and maternal gatekeeping attitudes and support for the father’s role) were examined in association with several dimensions of fathers’ involvement (engagement in childcare and play, accessibility, and responsibility) measured by a time diary covering a 7-day week. Results. Father engagement in childcare was associated with maternal gatekeeping attitudes and support for the father’s role, and father engagement in play was associated with child difficultness. Correlates of father involvement vary across dimensions of involvement, highlighting the importance of using a multifactorial and multidimensional framework to increase understanding of factors that promote or hinder such involvement. Conclusions. Findings highlight the importance of supporting fathers in their parenting role, especially when they are experiencing difficulty in their relationship with the child and his/her mother.

AFFILIATIONS AND ADDRESSES

Pascale Voyer-Perron, 2325 des Bibliothèques, Quebec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada. Email: [email protected]. Célia Matte-Gagné and Catherine Levesque are at Laval University.

ARTICLE INFORMATION

Conflict of Interest Disclosures

Each author signed a form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. No authors reported any financial or other conflicts of interest in relation to the work described.

Ethical Principles

The authors affirms having followed professional ethical guidelines in preparing this work. These guidelines include obtaining informed consent from human participants, maintaining ethical treatment and respect for the rights of human or animal participants, and ensuring the privacy of participants and their data, such as ensuring that individual participants cannot be identified in reported results or from publicly available original or archival data.

Role of the Funders/Sponsors

None of the funders or sponsors of this research had any role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Andréanne Beaupré, Catherine Levesque, Olivier Aubuchon, Laurence Champeau, Alexane Baribeau-Lambert, and Samuel Dallaire for their help with data collection. Special thanks go to the participating families of the project who generously opened their homes to us. The ideas and opinions expressed herein are those of the authors alone, and endorsement by the author’s Institutions or the funding agency is not intended and should not be inferred.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Grant 2016-NP-188926 from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec-Société et Culture. Financial support was also provided by the Canada Research Chairs program to Célia Matte-Gagné.