The Inclusion of Fathers in the Empirical Investigation of Child Psychopathology: An Update

Abstract

This investigation provides an update on the inclusion of fathers in child psychopathology research. Articles published from January 1992 to January 2005 that examined parental contributions to child psychological maladjustment were identified. Each article was coded for child age, parental race, how parent gender was analyzed, type of journal, and year of publication. Overall, results replicated previous reviews (Phares & Compas, 1992), suggesting that fathers continue to be neglected in child psychopathology research. Further analyses revealed (a) higher rates of paternal research involvement as child age increased, (b) studies with a predominantly Caucasian sample included separate analyses for mothers and fathers more frequently than those with predominantly African American samples, (c) paternal research inclusion was higher in clinical compared to developmental psychology journals, and (d) over the past 6 years, more research has included fathers as participants than from the previous 7-year period (1992–1998).