Fathers’ emotional experiences while parenting toddlers: a qualitative exploration

ABSTRACT

Though fatherhood research has recently burgeoned, extant literature primarily focuses on father characteristics and father–child interactions. A critical gap remains in understanding fathers’ emotional experiences. Using the Parent Development Interview-Revised, 74 interviews with fathers of toddlers were coded using questions about six positive and negative emotions: joy, pain/difficulty, happiness, pride, annoyance/anger, and guilt. Themes reflected 4 overarching concepts: father–child relationship, child-focused experiences, father-focused experiences, and the fatherhood role or identity. Frequent themes included: watching their children grow, sharing affection and love, children’s behavior, and spending time away. Some codes appeared especially salient for some fathers, such as growth in their co-parenting relationship and comparison to their family of origin. This study describes men who are deeply invested in fatherhood, highlighting the importance of research that goes beyond documenting fathers’ influence on their children, and instead emphasizes the inherent value of fathers and in understanding fathers’ experiences.

KEYWORDS:

• Fatherhood
• parenting
• emotions
• qualitative

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the families who participated in this project and research assistants in the Pomona CARE and UCI THRIVE Lab for their help in collecting and processing the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Pomona College Faculty Research Grants (Borelli and Smiley), David L. Hirsch III and Susan H. Hirsch Research Initiation Grant (Borelli), American Psychoanalytic Association Grant (Borelli), the Claremont Graduate University Dissertation Fellowship Award (Buttitta), and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (Rasmussen).

Notes on contributors

Margaret L. Kerr

Margaret L. Kerr, PhD is an assistant professor in the Human Development & Family Studies department at University of Wisconsin–Madison. She also serves as a state specialist in vulnerable and underserved children with UW-Madison Division of Extension. She holds an MA and PhD in Positive Developmental Psychology from Claremont Graduate University. Her research focuses on examining links between attachment, emotions, and stress in the context of parent–child relationships. In particular, she explores factors that influence how adults perceive and experience parenting, including attachment, relationship quality, and socioeconomic status. Dr Kerr has presented and published on parents’ emotions, parent–child relationship quality, family well-being, relational savouring interventions, and ecological momentary assessment methodology.

Kerrie A. Fanning

Kerrie A. Fanning, MA is a PhD student in Human Development and Family Studies in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Her research focuses on the impacts of trauma and toxic stress on young children and their families through a resilience lens. Her work currently focuses on the impacts of family homelessness on families with infants and toddlers, exploring the protective nature of family relationships, caregiver-child interactions, child-caregiver attachment relationships, and perception of and engagement with community-based programmes in this high-risk context. Kerrie utilizes a variety of methods in her work, including observations, micro-coding of behaviours, self-report measures, standardized assessments, and in-depth semi-structured and unstructured interviews.

Ashleigh M. Engbretson

Ashleigh M. Engbretson, MA is a PhD student in Human Development and Family Studies in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her research focuses on the implementation and evaluation of intergenerational parenting programmes through an attachment lens. Her work currently focuses on examining the complexity and emotional content of parents’ schemas of their young children and how those schemas are predictive of parenting behaviours. Ashleigh uses a variety of methods in her work, including observations, micro-coding of behaviours, self-report measures, and semi-structured and open-ended interviews. She hopes to someday disseminate research and information on families and parenting for policymakers.

Katherine V. Buttitta

Katherine V. Buttitta, PhD is a developmental psychologist and programme evaluator with expertise in child development, parenting, and developmental and relational interventions for young children and families. She holds an MA and PhD in Psychology from the School of Social Science, Policy, and Evaluation, Claremont Graduate University. Dr Buttitta joined the Brazelton Touchpoints Center (BTC) at Boston Children’s Hospital in 2016. In her role as Project Director of Research and Evaluation, she leads an evaluation project funded by the William Penn Foundation investigating the implementation and effects of evidence-based parenting curricula in Philadelphia Head Start and childcare centres using a multimethod approach. She also leads an evaluation project funded by the United Way of Greater Houston examining quality of their Bright Beginnings childcare programme. Finally, she provides data analytic and project coordination support on a secondary data analysis project examining the long-term impact of Early Head Start on child maltreatment and parent and child outcomes. Dr Buttitta has presented and published on parent–child relationship quality, children’s development of self-regulation, and impact of early care programmes on children and families.

Jessica L. Borelli

Jessica L. Borelli, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychological Science at University of California, Irvine. She received her MS and PhD In Psychology from Yale University, where she specialized in developmental psychopathology. At UC Irvine, she directs The Health, Relationships, and Interventions (THRIVE) Laboratory, a research group conducting both basic and intervention studies. Dr Borelli is also a practicing clinical psychologist who maintains a small private practice where she mainly sees children and families.

Patricia A. Smiley

Patricia A. Smiley, PhD is a professor in the Psychological Science department at Pomona College in Claremont, CA. Her MA in educational psychology and PhD in developmental psychology are from the University of Chicago. Research interests include the effects of parenting practices, particularly the use of a controlling form of parenting known as conditional regard, on the development of behaviour and emotion self-regulation in children from 2 to 12 years. She relies on multiple methods of assessment, among them self-report, observational coding, and physiological measures of stress responses from both parents and children. Self-regulation, persistence, and help-seeking are observed in contexts of solving impossible puzzles and engaging with other difficult tasks, alone and in the presence of their parent. Parent and child stress reactivity are considered as mediators of associations between parenting and self-regulation and parent and child characteristics including anxiety, fearfulness, relationship closeness, and age are considered as moderators.

Hannah F. Rasmussen

Hannah F. Rasmussen, MA is a Clinical-Science Psychology Doctoral Candidate at the University of Southern California where she specializes in couple and familial relationships, parenting, and family violence. Her research investigates the physiological underpinnings of couple conflict as well as psychobiological risk factors for later child maltreatment.