Factors Associated With Fathers' Caregiving Activities … · 0893-320W00/$5.00 DOI...

Journal of Family Psychology2000, Vol. 14, No. 2, 200-219

Copyright 2000 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.0893-320W00/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//D893-3200.14.2.200

Factors Associated With Fathers' Caregiving Activitiesand Sensitivity With Young Children

NICHD Early Child Care Research NetworkRockville, Maryland

A multifactorial model was used to identify child, sociodemographic, paternal, andmaternal characteristics associated with 2 aspects of fathers' parenting. Fathers wereinterviewed about their caregiving responsibilities at 6, 15, 24, and 36 months, and asubset was videotaped during father-child play at 6 and 36 months. Caregivingactivities and sensitivity during play interactions were predicted by different factors.Fathers were more involved in caregiving when fathers worked fewer hours andmothers worked more hours, when fathers and mothers were younger, when fathers hadmore positive personalities, when mothers reported greater marital intimacy, and whenchildren were boys. Fathers who had less traditional child-rearing beliefs, were older,and reported more marital intimacy were more sensitive during play. These findings areconsistent with a multifactorial and multidimensional view of fathering.

In the last 2 decades, one of the major themesin child developmental research has been the

NICHD Early Child Care Research Network,Rockville, Maryland.

This study was directed by a Steering Committeeand supported by the National Institute of ChildHealth and Human Development (NICHD) through acooperative agreement that calls for a scientific col-laboration between the grantees and the NICHD staff.The participating investigators are listed in alphabet-ical order: Mark Appelbaum, University of Califor-nia, San Diego; Jay Belsky, Birkbeck College, Uni-versity of London, London, England; Cathryn Booth,University of Washington; Robert Bradley, Univer-sity of Arkansas at Little Rock; Celia Brownell, Uni-versity of Pittsburgh; Margaret Burchinal, Universityof North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Yvonne Caldera,Texas Tech University; Bettye Caldwell, Universityof Arkansas Medical Sciences; Susan Campbell, Uni-versity of Pittsburgh; Alison Clarke-Stewart, Univer-sity of California, Irvine; Martha Cox, University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill; Sarah Friedman, Na-tional Institute of Child Health and Human Develop-ment, Rockville, Maryland; Aletha Huston, Univer-sity of Texas at Austin; Bonnie Knoke, ResearchTriangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC;Nancy Marshall, Wellesley College; MarionO'Brien, University of Kansas; Margaret TreschOwen, University of Texas at Dallas; Deborah Phil-lips, National Research Council, Washington, DC;Robert Pianta, University of Virginia; Susan Spieker,University of Washington; Anne Stright, Indiana

"discovery" of the father. After abundant re-search on the importance of maternal sensitivityfor the development of children, there is a real-ization that paternal sensitivity to the child'sneeds also is important (Lamb, 1997; Parke,1996). Moreover, there is an appreciation thatfathers often provide significant caregiving fortheir children, and that many fathers providelong hours of care for children while motherswork (Hofferth, Brayfield, Deich, & Holcomb,1991). Still, within families in which mothersare employed as well as within those in whichmothers are not employed, there is significantvariability in the sensitivity of fathers to theirchildren and the amount of caregiving fathersprovide for their children (Parke, 1996).

Scholarship on fathering has coalescedaround the idea that fathering is multifaceted

University; and Deborah Lowe Vandell, Universityof Wisconsin—Madison.

We express our appreciation to the study coordi-nators at each site who supervised the data collection,the research assistants who collected the data, andespecially the families who welcomed us to theirhomes with good grace and who cooperated willinglywith our repeated requests for information.

Correspondence concerning this article should beaddressed to NICHD Early Child Care Research Net-work, CRMC, NICHD, 6100 Executive Boulevard,4B05, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

200

FATHERS7 CAREGIVING AND SENSITIVITY 201

and multidetermined, that fathering tends to hemore sensitive to contextual factors than moth-ering, and that future inquiry on fathers is likelyto be more productive if viewed from the frameof responsible or generative fathering ratherthan from notions that accentuate paternal ab-sence or inadequate parenting behaviors. Therehas been a spate of efforts to synthesize researchon fathering, to explicate the nature of paternalinvolvement, and to offer conceptual modelsaimed at identifying the key determinants offathering (Cabrera, Tamis-LeMonda, Bradley,Hofferth, & Lamb, 2000; Doherty, Kouneski, &Erickson, 1998; Lamb, 1997; Levine & Pitt,1995; Marsiglio, 1995; Palkovitz, 1997; Parke,1996; Pleck, 1997). The components of thesefathering models vary somewhat, but there issubstantial overlap among them, and many de-rive from earlier conceptions about parenting ingeneral (e.g., Belsky, 1984).

The model offered by Doherty et al. (1998)is, in most respects, representative and inclu-sive. It includes five major components: childcharacteristics including gender, temperament,and age; father characteristics including his em-ployment, beliefs, and well-being; mother char-acteristics including her employment, beliefs,and well-being; coparental relationships includ-ing marital support and intimacy; and contex-tual or sociodemographic characteristics includ-ing income and ethnicity. In this article weexamine elements of each of these componentsas they relate to two distinct aspects of fathers'parenting: engagement in caregiving activitiesand the quality (specifically, sensitivity) of fa-thers' interactions with their children. Fatherswhose families were participants in the NationalInstitute of Child Health and Human Develop-ment (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care wereinterviewed about their caregiving responsibili-ties when their children were 6, 15, 24, and 36months of age. A subset of fathers also wasvideotaped as they played with their children at6 and 36 months.

Multidimensional Natureof Fathers' Parenting

Much of the existing literature has focused onthe global construct of **father involvement."This construct, for the most part, has referred tothe amount of time fathers spend with then-children or the extent of their caregiving respon-

sibilities. Generally, when using this construct,researchers have not considered separately thequality of father's parenting as well as theamount (Lamb, 1997; Pleck, 1997), althoughthe two are likely to have different effects onchildren. Recent surveys (Coltrane, 1996) indi-cate that some fathers regularly participate inhands-on caregiving tasks such as feeding anddiapering, whereas others do not. The quality offathers1 interactions with their children also isvariable, with some fathers being engaged,warm, and supportive during play with theirinfants and young children whereas others areconsiderably less so (Belsky, Hsieh, & Cmic,1998; Cox, Owen, Lewis, & Henderson, 1989).The amount of caregiving and the sensitivity offather's care have been differentially related tochildren's developmental outcomes and topaternal-family characteristics (Barnett & Ba-ruch, 1987; Parke, 1996; Volling & Belsky,1991). Thus, it is important to consider involve-ment in caregiving and paternal sensitivity sep-arately because different factors may predicteach of them. In the sections that follow, weconsider the research relevant to factors thatmay predict these different aspects of father'sparenting.

Child Characteristics andFathers' Parenting

Child characteristics such as gender and tem-perament have been proposed to influence fa-thers' parenting (Belsky, 1984; Doherty et al.,1998; Parke, 1996). Fathers appear more in-volved with their sons than with their daughters(Barnett & Baruch, 1987; Goldscheider &Waite, 1991; Harris & Morgan, 1991), and theirinvolvement is more stable with sons than withdaughters (Radin, 1993). With regard to tem-perament, fathers in single-earner families havebeen observed to spend more time caring fordifficult infants than temperamentally easy in-fants (Volling & Belsky, 1991), and there areindications that fathers' interactions with diffi-cult infants are less positive than with temper-amentally easy infants (Grych & Clark, 1999).Children's birth order also has been related tofather involvement. In families with severalchildren, fathers are more likely to handle thecaregiving needs of the older children whilemothers care for the younger children, espe-cially infants (Vandell, 1987). In the current

202 NICHD EARLY CHILD CARE RESEARCH NETWORK

study, we consider fathers' caregiving activitiesand sensitivity in relation to these four childcharacteristics: age, gender, temperament, andbirth order.

Paternal Characteristics andFathers' Parenting

Conceptual models proposed by Doherty etal. (1998), Parke (1996), and Belsky (1984)suggest that individual characteristics of the fa-ther are associated with parenting. In general,research supports this hypothesis. Fathers whohave more child-centered beliefs about childrearing (Cowan & Cowan, 1987) and moreegalitarian attitudes about gender roles (Aldous,Mulligan, & Bjarnason, 1998; Baruch & Bar-nett, 1981) are more likely to participate incaregiving activities than fathers with more tra-ditional beliefs. Fathers with higher self-esteem(Volling & Belsky, 1991), better overall lifeadaptation (Grossman, Pollack, & Golding,1988), and lower levels of depression (Gross-man et al., 1988) and hostility (Cox, Paley,Payne, & Burchinal, 1999) are more supportiveand warm with their children than fathers withpoorer psychological adjustment. How fathersperceive the mothers' employment appears im-portant as well. Men who have more positiveviews of their wives' employment are moreinvolved with their children than men who havemore negative views (Peterson & Gerson,1992). Fathers' employment hours also havebeen portrayed as an individual father charac-teristic that is linked to paternal involvement(Doherty et al., 1998). Coltrane (1996) foundthat fathers who were employed for more hourswere less involved in caregiving than fatherswho worked fewer hours. Fathers who had pres-tigious occupations requiring significant timeand emotional investments have appeared lessaccessible and engaged than fathers whose oc-cupations were less demanding (Grossman etal., 1988; Hood, 1993). In the current study, weconsider five paternal characteristics (workhours, personality, age, child-rearing beliefs,and beliefs about maternal employment) in re-lation to fathers' caregiving activities and sen-sitivity.

Coparental Relations and Fathering

Doherty et al. (1998), Belsky (1984), andCox et al. (1989) have argued that the marital

relationship is an important support system forthe father in his parenting role. Indeed, Feld-man, Nash, and Aschenbrenner (1983) sug-gested that the father's perception of his maritalrelationship is consistently the most powerfulpredictor of his involvement in and satisfactionwith parenting. A number of studies have con-firmed such a link, for both the quality of thefather's interactions with his young childrenand the amount of caregiving involvement ofthe father. Belsky, Youngblade, Rovine, andVolling (1991) reported that as marriages dete-riorate, men become more negative and intru-sive and less sensitive in their parenting. Coxand her colleagues (Cox et al., 1999; Cox,Payne, & Margand, 1995) found that both thesensitivity of fathers to their young infants andtheir reported involvement with the infant sufferwhen marriages are more conflicted and menperceive their marriages less positively. Thisfinding occurs even when such variables asmen's education, income, and adjustment,which could account for the association, arecontrolled. Similarly, Cummings and O'Reilly(1997) noted in their review of fathering in afamily context that, in harmonious marriages asopposed to discordant marriages, mothers andfathers are more likely to have similar, shared,and reciprocal roles within the family. Thismight suggest that the father's provision ofchild care may occur more often in harmoniousmarriages. In the current study, both fathers'and mothers' perceptions of marital intimacywere considered as predictors of paternal care-giving responsibilities and paternal sensitivity.

Maternal Characteristics andFathers' Parenting

Maternal characteristics need to be consid-ered in determining how involved fathers are inparenting (Doherty et al., 1998; Parke, 1996;Pleck, 1985). Fathers have been found to bemore involved in caregiving activities whenmothers value their participation and whenmothers view the fathers as competent caregiv-ers (Beitel & Parke, 1998; Haas, 1988; Palko-vitz, 1984). Fathers are more involved whenmothers endorse more liberal attitudes aboutgender (Ishii-Kuntz & Coltrane, 1992). Paternalcaregiving activities also have been related tomaternal employment (Parke, 1996; Pleck,1997). There is considerable evidence that fa-

FATHERS' CAREGIVING AND SENSITIVITY 203

thers assume more caregiving responsibilities indual-earner households than in single-earnerhouseholds (Coltrane, 1996; Grych & Clark,1999; Robinson, 1988; Russell, 1986) and thatfathers are more engaged with their offspringwhen mothers are employed for more hours(Baruch & Barnett, 1981; Goldscheider &Waite, 1991).

Evidence regarding relations between mater-nal employment and the quality of fathers' be-haviors is more mixed. In 2-hr, dinner-timeobservations of 150 children ages 2 and 3,Clarke-Stewart, Gruber, and Fitzgerald (1994)reported that maternal employment was not re-lated to the quality or style of paternal behaviorbut was related to fathers being involved inmore caregiving activities when mothers wereemployed. Belsky (1999), however, determinedthat fathers of firstborn sons (n = 120) pro-vided less sensitive, affectionate, and involvedcare for their sons during naturalistic home ob-servations conducted at 15, 21, 27, and 33months when the boys were in nonparental carefor more hours. In the current study, we furtherexamined these issues in our observations offather-child interaction and reports of caregiv-ing activities.

Are Predictors of Fathers' ParentingDifferent When Mothers Are Employed?

Because households in which both parentsare employed, especially on a full-time basis,may be organized differently than homes inwhich mothers are not employed, it seems rea-sonable to ask whether family processes—including the determinants of fathering—operate differently across different types offamilies. Is it the case, for example, that theeffect on fathering of having a son (vs. a daugh-ter), or a child who cries a lot, or a marriage thatis particularly harmonious varies depending onmaternal employment status?

Although there is not a great deal of study ofthis intriguing issue, at least with respect to thedeterminants of family processes, the prospecthas been examined with regard to child out-comes. In these studies, there are indicationsthat the determinants of child functioning varyas a function of whether the mother is em-ployed, the child is in child care, or both. Forexample, Howes (1990) found that a compositeparenting measure was a stronger predictor of

child development for children who had beencared for by their mothers during the first yearof life than for children who had been in childcare because of their mother's employment. Re-latedly, Dunham and Dunham (1992) reportedthat features of maternal speech to their 13-month-olds predicted child language develop-ment across the first 2 years of life when moth-ers were not employed but did not predictlanguage outcomes when mothers were em-ployed. Other research on the families enrolledin the NICHD Study of Early Child Care alsoprovides some evidence of family processesoperating differently, at least in terms of pre-dicting child outcomes, as a function of child-care experience and maternal employment(NICHD Early Child Care Research Network,1998). Although multivariate analyses revealedsimilar overall patterns between family predic-tors and child outcomes across groups, univar-iate analyses revealed some differences. Al-though single parenthood was associated withlower school readiness and more problem be-haviors at age 3 in the case of children cared foralmost exclusively by their mothers, this wasnot the case when children were in child care ona full-time basis beginning early in the first yearof life.

Such evidence for the differential predictionof child outcomes as a function of maternalemployment encourages thinking about the dif-ferential prediction of fathering as a function ofmaternal employment. There are two relevantstudies on this issue. Crouter, Perry-Jenkins,Huston, and McHale (1987) reported that ma-ternal work status moderated relations betweenmarital quality and involvement in caregiving.In that study, high levels of father involvementin caregiving predicted more marital conflict inhouseholds in which mothers were employed,whereas high levels of caregiving predicted lessmarital conflict when mothers were not em-ployed. In a study of 63 fathers of infants,Grych and Clark (1999) determined that mater-nal employment moderated relations betweenquality and quantity of paternal behaviors. Fa-thers with nonemployed wives or wives whowere employed part time exhibited more posi-tive behaviors with their infants when the fa-thers were more involved in caregiving activi-ties, whereas fathers whose wives wereemployed full time showed no association be-


tween the quantity and quality of their parentingbehaviors.

Clearly, these data raise the prospect that thedeterminants of family dynamics, including fa-ther involvement, may vary as a function ofmaternal employment. Thus, another goal inthis inquiry was to test the general hypothesisthat maternal employment moderates the effectof putative determinants of fathering.

Study Hypotheses

The NICHD Study of Early Child Care of-fered an opportunity to consider two broadquestions regarding fathers' parenting behav-iors. First, we asked if child characteristics,sociodemographic factors, and father character-istics predict fathers' caregiving activities andsensitivity during interactions, and if the addi-tion of mother characteristics improves the pre-diction of paternal behavior over and above theother factors. Second, we asked if associationsbetween the predictor variables (child charac-teristics, sociodemographic factors, and fathercharacteristics) and paternal behavior are mod-erated by maternal employment, that is, if asso-ciations differ for families in which mothers arenot employed, employed part-time, or em-ployed full-time.

We expected greater father involvement withsons as opposed to daughters and with firstbornchildren. We expected that the father's ownadjustment and attitudes would relate to care-giving involvement and sensitivity in that fa-thers who are better adjusted and have lesstraditional beliefs would be more highly in-volved in the care of their young children andmore sensitive in that care. We expected fatherswho are employed for more hours to be lessengaged in caregiving activities. More positiveperceptions of the marriage were expected topredict more caregiving by fathers and greatersensitivity in play because (we suspect that)couples who perceive their marriage as moresupportive are more likely to work as a teamwith greater similarity in their roles and respon-sibilities within the family. Finally, we hypoth-esized that fathers would be more involved incaregiving activities when mothers are em-ployed for more hours and they have morepositive views about maternal employment. Wedid not propose a directional hypothesis withrespect to relations between maternal employ-

ment hours and paternal sensitivity because thecurrent literature in this area is conflicting. Ourexamination of maternal employment as a mod-erator of other relations also may be viewed asexploratory.

Method

Participants

Participants in the NICHD Study of Early ChildCare were recruited from 10 sites located in or nearLittle Rock, AR; Orange County, CA; Lawrence, KS;Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Char-lottesville, VA; Seattle, WA; Morganton, NC; andMadison, WI. During selected 24-hr sampling peri-ods in 1991, 8,986 women were visited in the hos-pital following their infant's birth. Of these, 5,416met the eligibility criteria (mother speaks English,mother is over 18 years of age, infant is healthy, andthere are no plans to move from the area in thecoming year) and agreed to be contacted after theirreturn home from the hospital. A subset of this groupwas selected for the sample using a stratified randomsampling plan that was designed to ensure that atleast 10% of the recruited families had mothers whohad not graduated from high school, at least 10%were headed by single mothers, and at least 10% hadchildren who were ethnic minorities (i.e., non-White). When infants were 1 month old, 1,364 chil-dren (58% of those contacted) were enrolled in thestudy. The recruited families included 24% ethnicminority children, 11% mothers without a highschool education, and 14% single mothers. Of themothers enrolled, 53% were planning to work fulltime, 23% were planning to work part time, and 24%were not planning to be employed. The recruitedfamilies were similar to the eligible families in thehospitals on these demographic variables, except thatmothers in the study were slightly more likely (4%)to report that they expected to be employed thannonparticipating mothers.

Six of the research sites (Arkansas, California,Kansas, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, and Wisconsin)obtained funding to collect additional informationdirectly from fathers. After infants and mothers wereenrolled in the study, households at these sites wereinvited to participate in the father protocol if a hus-band or partner was in residence (n = 816). In mostcases, the men were married to the infants' mothers(87.7%). Of the eligible households, 585 agreed toparticipate in at least one data collection period.When children were 6 and 36 months old, a sub-sample of fathers at three sites (Kansas, North Caro-lina, and Wisconsin) participated in the observationalcomponent of the father protocol (n = 278 at 6months and n = 184 at 36 months).


Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics offamilies who participated in the interview portion ofthe father protocol, those who participated in theobservational component of the father protocol* andeligible households who did not participate in thefather protocol. White, non-Hispanic fathers weremore likely than Black, non-Hispanic fathers to par-ticipate in the interview protocol, ^ ( 3 , N = 812) -74.20, p < .001, and the observational protocol at 6and 36 months, ^ ( 3 , N = 509) = 12.03, p < .007,and ^ ( 3 , N = 415) = 11.83, p < .008, respectively.Fathers who had received at least a college degreewere more likely to participate in interviews, *2(4,N = 812) - 25.04, p < .001, and observations at 6months, x\4, N = 509) = 31.88, p < .001, and at 36months, ;r(4, JV = 415) - 25.13, p < .001, than werefathers with a high school diploma or less. Therewere no significant differences between fathers whoparticipated in the observational component of thestudy and fathers who participated only in the inter-view component of the study in terms of child gen-der, father ethnicity, or father education.

Overview of Data Collection Procedures

During home visits, fathers completed question-naires concerning their personality, attitudes, beliefs,relationship with their partner, and involvement incaregiving activities. Thirty-seven percent of the fa-thers were interviewed at four visits, 34% at threevisits, 15% at two visits, and 14% at one visit. At 6and 36 months, a subset of fathers was videotapedplaying with their child during 15-min semi structuredplay procedures. During separate home visits, moth-

ers were interviewed and completed questionnairespertaining to their personality, attitudes, beliefs, fam-ily demographics, financial resources, child temper-ament, and their relationship with their partner.Mothers also were interviewed by phone every 3months about their employment hours and their hus-band or partner's employment hours.

Measures of Fathers' Parenting

Two aspects of fathers' parenting were assessed.We examined responsibilities for caregiving activi-ties such as diapering and feeding and observed sen-sitivity during father-child interaction.

Caregiving activities. When children were 6,15,24, and 36 months of age, fathers completed ques-tionnaires describing their responsibilities for care-giving activities (Glysch & Vandell, 1992). The 15items included bathing the child, feeding the child,diapering the child, dressing the child, putting thechild to bed, attending to the child at night, playingwith the child, reading to the child, buying clothes ortoys for the child, taking the child to day care, takingthe child to the doctor, and taking the child on out-ings. Some of these items changed for the infant,toddler, and preschool assessments, reflecting differ-ent developmental needs. A total score was calcu-lated by averaging the 5-point ratings (1 = partner'sjob, 3 = we share equally, 5 = my job). A higherscore indicated greater paternal responsibility forcaregiving activities. Cronbach's alphas ranged from.72 to .80. Paternal reports of caregiving responsibil-ities over time were moderately correlated (r = .54 to.73, mean r - .65).

Table 1Demographic Characteristics of the Father Sample and the Sample of Eligible Families

Variable

Child sexMaleFemale

Paternal ethnicityWhite, non-HispanicBlack, non-HispanicHispanicOther

Paternal educationLess than 12 yearsHigh school or GEDSome collegeBachelor's degreePostgraduate work

Interviewsample8

n

299286

506442410

4511019712597

Participants

%

5149

87842

819342217

Observedsampleb

n

143135

24716105

1843956060

%

5149

89642

716342222

Eligiblenonparticipantsc

n

8160

1081977

1638462120

%

5843

771455

1127331514

n = 231.


Observed father sensitivity. Fathers' sensitivitywas assessed during 15-min videotaped observationsof father-child play. When children were 6 monthsold, fathers were asked to play with them for 7 minwith any toy or object available in the home (or noneat all). Then, they were asked to play for 8 min witha standard set of toys provided by an examiner (rat-tles, activity center, ball, rolling toy, book, andstuffed animal). At 36 months, fathers and childrenwere provided with three numbered containers. A setof washable markers, stencils, and paper was in thefirst container, a set of dress-up clothes and a cashregister was in the second, and a set of Duplo blockswith a picture of a model was in the third container.Fathers were instructed that the child play with thetoys in all three containers and do so in the orderspecified (Vandell, 1979). The toys were selectedbecause they were expected to elicit a range of pa-ternal behaviors. Videotapes were coded at a singlelocation by observers who knew nothing about thefamilies' child care, parents' employment, or otherfamily circumstances.

At 6 months, three aspects of father sensitivitywere rated using 4-point scales: (a) father's respon-sivity to infant signals and needs, with high scoresindicating consistent and appropriate responsivenessto the infant's social gestures, needs, moods, andinterests; (b) positive regard, indicating the qualityand quantity of positive feelings shown to the infantthrough facial, vocal, and physical expressions ofaffection; and (c) intrusiveness, the degree to whichthe father attempted to control the interaction, allow-ing the child little self-direction.

The global ratings were made after viewing theentire videotaped interaction while taking notes onrelevant behavior throughout the interaction. Coderswere trained extensively and established good reli-ability on the coding of the larger NICHD study'svideotaped mother-infant interactions prior to codingthe father-child interaction videotapes. Intercoderagreement of the 6-month father-child interactionson the basis of 27 of the cases (10% of the sampleobserved) was calculated as the intraclass correlation(Winer, 1971). Interrater agreement was .83, .82, and.86 for responsivity, positive regard, and intrusive-ness, respectively. A paternal sensitivity compositescore was created by averaging the individual scalesafter intrusiveness was reflected. Cronbach's alphafor the composite was .71.

At 36 months, coders rated three aspects of thefather's sensitivity—supportive presence, respect forthe child's autonomy, and hostility toward thechild—using 7-point rating scales. Supportive pres-ence was analogous to the 6-month responsivity rat-ing scale; high scores indicated emotional support,encouragement, and positive emotional regard. Hos-tility reflected the father's expression of anger, dis-counting, or rejection of the child. Respect for the

child's autonomy (analogous to a reversed score ofintrusiveness) was shown in acknowledging thechild's intentions and displaying respect for thechild's individuality. Low scores on this scale weregiven when the father was highly intrusive and con-trolling.

Coders of the 36-month father-child interactionswere reliable coders of the mother-child interactionsfrom the larger NICHD study. Interrater agreementon the father-child tapes on the basis of 38 (30%) ofthe 36-month cases was calculated using Winer's(1971) technique. Agreement was .90, .83, and .89for the ratings of supportiveness, respect for auton-omy, and hostility, respectively. The three ratingswere averaged, after reversing hostility, to create apaternal sensitivity composite score. Cronbach's al-pha for the composite score was .75.

The 6-month and 36-month sensitivity compositeswere not significantly correlated (r = .15). In con-trast, the sensitivity composite ratings for mother-child interaction, using the same observation proce-dures and rating scales, were moderately stable from6 to 36 months (r = .42; see NICHD Early ChildCare Research Network, 1999).

Predictor Variables

Variables that were considered as predictors offather's parenting included: (a) child characteristics(gender, a difficult temperament, and birth order), (b)sociodemographic factors (family income, percent-age of income earned by the father, and father'sethnicity), (c) father characteristics (age, work hours,personality, child-rearing beliefs, beliefs about ma-ternal employment, and marital intimacy), and (d)mother characteristics (age, work hours, personality,child-rearing beliefs, beliefs about maternal employ-ment, and marital intimacy).

Child characteristics. At the 6-month homevisit, mothers completed a modified Infant Temper-ament Questionnaire (Carey & McDevitt, 1978).Mothers rated their infants on 55 items, using a6-point response scale. The composite measure, dif-ficult temperament, was created by calculating themean of the nonmissing items with appropriate re-versal of items, so that the total score had a possiblerange from 1 to 6 with a higher score reflecting amore "difficult" temperament. Cronbach's alpha forthe composite score was .81. Child gender and birthorder (scored here as firstborn yes-no) were reportedby the mothers at the 1-month interview.

Sociodemographic factors. Total family income,income from the father, and income from the motherwere reported by mothers at 6,15,24, and 36 months.Mothers reported the race and ethnicity of the in-fants' fathers at the 1-month interview.

Father and mother characteristics. During tele-phone interviews conducted every 3 months, mothers


reported their own employment hours and theirhusbands-partner's employment hours. Average num-ber of hours per week in all jobs was consideredbeginning at 3 months postpartum. Fathers and moth-ers who were not employed during a given 3-monthepoch were assigned scores of 0 hours for that epoch.

At the 1-month visit, fathers and mothers com-pleted a 30-item questionnaire about child-rearingbeliefs (E. S. Schaefer & Edgerton, 1985). Responseswere scored on a 5-point scale. Higher overall scoresindicate more traditional, less progressive beliefsabout child rearing. Cronbach's alphas were .87 and.84 for men and women, respectively.

At the 6-month home visit, fathers and motherscompleted three subscales of the NEO Five FactorInventory, a short form of the NEO Personality In-ventory (Costa & McCrae, 1989). Five-point ratingswere used to assess Neuroticism (12 items), Extro-version (12 items), and Agreeableness (12 items).Summing scores for Extroversion, Agreeableness,and Neuroticism (reversed) created a positive person-ality composite. The alphas for the composites formen and women were .82 and .63, respectively.

At 6, IS, 24, and 36 months, men's and women'sbeliefs about the effects of maternal employment onchildren were assessed using 11 items that were ratedon 6-point scales (Greenberger, Goldberg, Crawford,& Granger, 1988). The questionnaire yielded scoresreflecting beliefs about the benefits (5 items) andcosts (6 items) of maternal employment for children.Summing the benefits subscale and cost subscale(reversed) created a composite positive beliefs scoremat was internally consistent The mean alpha was.89.

At 6, 15, 24, and 36 months, mothers and fathersalso completed a 6-item scale assessing marital inti-macy (M. T. Schaefer & Olson, 1981). Ratings weremade on 5-point Likert scales (1 — strongly disagree,5 = strongly agree). Higher scores indicated greatermarital intimacy. Cronbach alphas ranged from .80 to.87 (M = .85).

asked if child characteristics, sociodemographicfactors, and father characteristics predicted fa-thers' caregiving activities and sensitivity dur-ing play interactions, and if the addition ofmother characteristics improved the predictionof paternal involvement over and above theother factors. Second, we asked if associationsbetween the predictor variables (child charac-teristics, sociodemographic factors, and fathercharacteristics) and paternal involvement weremoderated by maternal employment, that is,whether these associations differed for familiesin which mothers were not employed, were em-ployed part-tune, and were employed full-time.

Fathers* Caregiving Activities

Are fathers' caregiving activities predictedby individual characteristics and sociodemo-graphic factors? Table 4 presents the Pearsonproduct-moment correlations between predictorvariables (child characteristics, sociodemo-graphic factors, father characteristics, andmother characteristics) and fathers' caregivingactivities at 6 months, 15 months, 24 months,and 36 months. Also summarized in Table 4 arethe results of simultaneous hierarchical linearmodels (HLMs) in which individual interceptsand slopes were estimated with respect to timeand time squared. For Model 1, three blocks ofpredictors (child characteristics, sociodemo-graphic factors, and father attributes) were en-tered simultaneously as predictors of paternalcaregiving responsibilities.1 Interactions withtime and time squared were tested for eachblock.

The HLM analyses indicated that fathers in-

Results

Table 2 presents the means and standard de-viations for predictor variables and outcomevariables used in the data analyses. Table 3presents the correlations between cumulativescores of predictor variables at 36 months. Sim-ilar correlations between predictors were ob-tained for separate analyses conducted at eachobservational age (6, 15, 24, and 36 months).Tables summarizing correlations are availableon request

In our major analyses we considered twoquestions about paternal involvement. First, we

1 Because the income variables were skewed, pre-venting parameters from being estimated in the iter-ative procedure used to fit longitudinal models, wecreated ordinal rankings for family income and pro-portion of income earned by father that were used inthe HLM analyses of caregiving activities. Incomecategories were no income, less than the 25th per-centile ($17,500), between the 25th percentile and themedian ($37,500), between the median and the 75thpercentile ($62,750), and greater than the 75th per-centile. Percentage of father earnings was categorizedas less then 25%, 25% to less than 50%, 50% to lessthan 75%, 75% to less than 100%, or 100%. Actualincome and percentage of income were used in thesimultaneous regressions of sensitivity.


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creased their caregiving activities over time(B = .042, p < .001), but the pattern of changewas nonlinear (B = -.024, p < .01) in thatfathers increased caregiving responsibilities be-tween 6 and 15 months and were relativelystable thereafter (see Table 2 for these meanscores). No significant interactions with timewere found when we jointly tested the set ofinteractions between time and each predictorwithin each block.

The HLM analyses also showed that fathers*caregiving activities were related to child char-acteristics, F(3, 485) = 3.53, p < .02; sociode-mographic factors, F(3, 485) = 4.77, p < .01;and father characteristics, F(6,485) = 4.78, p <.001. In terms of significant individual predic-tors, fathers assumed more caregiving responsi-bilities for sons than for daughters. Fathers alsoassumed more caregiving responsibilities whenthey contributed lower proportions of familyincome, they were employed for fewer hours,they were younger, and they had more positivepersonalities.

Next, we asked if the addition of mothercharacteristics to the model further improvedthe prediction. As shown in Table 4, the blockof mother predictors also was associated withfathers' caregiving activities, F(6, 483) = 7.95,p < .001. Fathers reported being more involvedin caregiving activities when mothers wereyounger, mothers were employed for morehours, and mothers reported more intimate mar-riages.

Multicolinearity between predictors did notappear to substantially influence these findings.As indicated in Table 3, correlations betweenpredictors tended to be small. Furthermore, re-sults from the simple correlations and the HLManalyses were similar.

Are associations between predictor variablesand caregiving activities moderated by mater-nal employment? To address this question, wecrossed each predictor in the final HLM modelwith maternal work hours scored as a three-level categorical variable: full-time, part-time,or minimal (<10 hr per week). Overall andblock tests were conducted to see if patterns ofassociations varied across work groups. A sig-nificant interaction between maternal workgroup and the father characteristics block wasfound, F(12, 448) = 2.02, p < .02. When weexamined interactions within the father charac-

teristics block, we found that the associationbetween fathers' child-rearing beliefs and theircaregiving activities was moderated by mater-nal employment, F(2,448) = 5.74, p < .003. Inhouseholds in which mothers were not em-ployed or were employed part-time, fathers whoendorsed traditional child-rearing beliefs weresignificantly less likely to participate in caregiv-ing activities. In households in which motherswere employed full-time, whether the fatherendorsed traditional child-rearing beliefs wasnot significantly related to whether he partici-pated in caregiving activities.

Fathers' Sensitivity During PlayInteractions

Is father sensitivity predicted by individualcharacteristics and sociodemographic factors?In Table 5 we present results of Pearsonproduct-moment correlations of the sociodemo-graphic and individual factors with paternalsensitivity at 6 and 36 months. Also presentedin Table 5 are the results of multiple regressionanalyses. In Model 1, paternal sensitivity wasregressed on three blocks of predictors: childcharacteristics, sociodemographic factors, andfather characteristics. In Model 2, the block ofmaternal characteristics was added as predic-tors. Separate regressions were conducted at 6and 36 months instead of HLM analyses be-cause different families were typically observedat the two ages.

As shown in Table 5, neither Model 1 norModel 2 was significant at 6 months. At 36months, paternal sensitivity was significantlypredicted by Model 1, F(12, 117) = 3.30, p <.001. Within this model, both sociodemographicfactors, F(3, 117) = 2.68, p < .05, and fathercharacteristics, F(6, 117) = 4.53, p < .001,were associated with fathers' sensitivity duringplay interactions. Fathers who were older, whoendorsed less traditional child-rearing beliefs,and who reported more marital intimacy weremore sensitive during the play interactions. Inaddition, paternal sensitivity was higher inhouseholds in which family income was lower.The addition of maternal characteristics inModel 2 did not improve the prediction of pa-ternal sensitivity.

Is paternal sensitivity moderated by maternalemployment? In our test of this moderatorquestion, the maternal block was omitted be-


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cause maternal characteristics did not add sig-nificantly to the overall model and its deletionreduced the number of parameters being esti-mated. Each predictor was crossed with thethree-level maternal work hours variable—full-time, part-time, or minimal (<10 hr per week)or no employment—to estimate a separate re-gression model for each of these three groups.Overall and block tests were conducted to see ifobserved patterns of associations varied acrosswork groups.

At 6 months, there was an interaction be-tween the overall model and maternal employ-ment, F(24, 152) = 1.74, p = .024. Whenspecific block interactions were examined, asignificant interaction was found between ma-ternal employment and sociodemographic fac-tors, F(6,152) = 3.17, p = .006. When motherswere not employed or were employed full-time,families with higher incomes had more sensi-tive fathers; in contrast, in households in whichmothers were employed part-time, families withhigher incomes had less sensitive fathers.

At 36 months, the overall model was notsignificantly different for the three maternal em-ployment groups (none, part-time, and full-time) nor were there any Block X MaternalEmployment interactions.

How Large Are the Effects on PaternalInvolvement?

In order to evaluate the size of the associa-tions with paternal involvement, partial correla-tions (controlling for all other factors) wereconducted. Because there is not a standard ef-fect size from HLM analysis, we computed thepartial correlations from the data from each ageseparately. The partial correlations betweencaregiving activities and individual significantpredictors were of similar magnitude and smallby Cohen's criterion (pr — .10). The medianpartial correlation between paternal caregivingactivities and father work hours was —.16(range = - .15 to -.21). Other partial correla-tions with caregiving activities were .16(range = .15 to .21) for father personality, —.14(range = —.11 to —.15) for mother age, .16(range = .12 to .17) for mother work hours,- .06 (range = —.02 to —.23) for mother per-sonality, and .09 (range = .10 to .18) formother-reported marital intimacy. The partial

correlations between paternal sensitivity at 36months and individual predictors were moder-ate in size according to Cohen's criterion (pr =.30). The partial correlations were —.25 withfamily income, .21 with father's age, —.31 withtraditional child-rearing beliefs, and .21 withfather-reported marital intimacy.

Discussion

Results from the current study attest to thevalue of a multifactor model of fathering and tothe idea that fathering is better understood asmultifaceted rather than global, with caregivingactivities and paternal sensitivity having differ-ent sets of correlates.

Predicting Fathers' Caregiving Activities

Child characteristics. Not surprisingly we,like others, found that what fathers do with andfor their children reflects characteristics of thechildren themselves. Fathers increased their en-gagement in caregiving activities between 6 and15 months, and they spent more time in care-giving activities with sons than daughters. Thislatter finding mirrors findings from other studies(Bamett & Baruch, 1987; Goldscheider &Waite, 1991; Harris & Morgan, 1991). How-ever, neither birth order nor temperament wereassociated with fathers' caregiving responsibil-ities. The finding pertaining to child tempera-ment is consistent with recent findings by Grychand Clark (1999), who also studied single- anddual-earner households, but is at odds with find-ings by Volling and Belsky (1991), who studiedonly single-earner families. Although there arestill too few studies to warrant generalizations,it seems unlikely that an infant's behavioralstyle will substantially impact the level of fatherinvolvement in caregiving activities except incases where infants are highly disregulated oractive, thereby putting extra demands on theparenting system (Cox & Paley, 1997).

Paternal characteristics. Fathers' level ofengagement in caregiving activities was foundto reflect the father's own psychological andemployment characteristics. More specifically,fathers who were younger, fathers who workedfewer hours, and fathers whose incomes consti-tuted a smaller percentage of total family in-come spent more time in caregiving activities.


These findings, likewise, are reminiscent offindings from earlier studies (Coltrane, 1996;Grossman et al., 1988; Hood, 1993). Fatherswith more positive personality attributes alsospent more time in caregiving activities withtheir infants. This finding appears consonantwith previous research showing that fatherswith higher self-esteem, lower levels of depres-sion and hostility, and overall better life adap-tation and psychological adjustment spend moretime in caregiving activities (Cox et al., 1999;Grossman et al., 1988; Peterson & Gerson,1992; Volling & Belsky, 1991).

Maternal characteristics. Congruent withmodels by Doherty et al. (1998) and Parke(1996), paternal involvement in caregiving ac-tivities also reflected maternal characteristics,most specifically maternal age and the numberof hours that the mother works. The findingpertaining to maternal work hours jibes withrecent findings by Bonney, Kelley, and Levant(1999) showing that fathers are more involvedwith children when mothers work longer hours(see also Clarke-Stewart et al., 1994; Gold-scheider & Waite, 1991). The findings on ma-ternal age and maternal working hours also mir-ror the findings on paternal age and workinghours. Care is more evenly distributed betweenmothers and fathers when both are young andwhen both have similar obligations related towork.

Coparental relations. The coparental rela-tionship also was a significant factor in predict-ing the level of paternal involvement in care-giving activities. Mothers who reported higherlevels of marital intimacy had partners whoengaged in more caregiving activities. Interest-ingly* father's perception of marital intimacywas not related to his amount of caregiving.This latter result runs somewhat counter to theprevious literature (see Pleck, 1997, for a re-view, and more recently, Bonney et al., 1999;Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 1999). However, inmany of the previous studies, mothers were theprimary reporters on marital quality. Thus, ourfindings are essentially consonant with previousstudies, but they may also point to an importantdistinction between factors related to the qualityversus the quantity of fathers' behaviors (i.e.,paternal reports of marital intimacy were relatedto paternal sensitivity in this study as will bediscussed below).

Sociodemographic factors. In the currentstudy, there was no evidence that sociodemo-graphic or contextual factors such as familyincome and ethnicity were connected to thefather's level of engagement in caregiving ac-tivities independent of their relation with theother factors in the model tested. Both familyincome and ethnicity showed small bivariaterelations with paternal caregiving responsibili-ties as expected. These bivariate findings areconsistent with earlier findings by Grossman etal. (1988) and Hood (1993) showing that fatherswith more prestigious occupations tend to spendless time with their children. However, the factthat family income was no longer significantonce father's age and father's percentage offamily income were included as predictors sug-gests that family economic status may no longerbe a primary determinant of the level of paternalinvolvement in caregiving in most families inand of itself.

Predicting Fathers' Sensitivity

The array of factors associated with paternalsensitivity was different from the array associ-ated with fathers* level of engagement in care-giving activities. Surprisingly, although therewere a number of significant bivariate correla-tions between fathers' level of sensitivity at 6months and child (temperament), sociodemo-graphic (ethnicity), and father (personality) fac-tors, the overall model linking these classes offactors and coparental factors was not signifi-cant. This finding stands in contrast to thebroader literature on factors related to paternalnurturance and sensitivity, including some pre-vious studies of fathers and infants (e.g., Cox etal., 1999; Volling & Belsky, 1991). Perhaps the15-min videotaped play procedure was not assuccessful in capturing variations in paternalsensitivity as it was maternal sensitivity(NICHD Early Child Care Research Network,1999).

We were more successful in our multivariateprediction of paternal sensitivity at 36 months.Fathers of firstborns appeared more sensitivethan were fathers of later borns. In addition,older fathers and fathers who endorsed less tra-ditional child-rearing beliefs were rated as moresensitive. The finding regarding child-rearingbeliefs comports with previous research on

FATHERS' CAREGIV1NG AND SENSITIVITY 215

egalitarian attitudes (Baruch & Barnett, 1931;Cowan & Cowan, 1987).

As expected, paternal sensitivity at 36months was connected to fathers' reports ofmarital intimacy. This finding is quite congruentwith the larger literature linking both the qualityand quantity of paternal involvement to maritalquality (for reviews, see Doherty et al., 1998;Lamb, 1997; Parke, 1996; Pleck, 1997). Thefinding that father's perception of marital qual-ity was related to paternal sensitivity whereasmother's perception of marital quality was re-lated to paternal engagement in caregiving ac-tivities lends credence to the notion that paternalinvolvement is multifaceted. It also suggeststhat there is value in looking at father involve-ment hoHstically but not as representing a singleglobal construct.

Paternal sensitivity at 36 months was notconnected to maternal characteristics—perhapsmost important for this study, it was connectedin no consistent way with maternal employ-ment. These results are at odds with Belsky's(1999) report that fathers were less sensitive andaffectionate when nonparental care was used formore hours during the child's first 3 years, andthey are consistent with the Clarke-Stewart etal. (1994) report of no differences in the qualityof •father-child interactions. Because these stud-ies differ in a number of respects (semistruc-tured play situation in the laboratory vs. natu-ralistic home observations; boys only vs. boysand girls), it will be important to investigate thisissue further to identify conditions under whichdifferences may be evident.

Finally, the finding that family income wasnegatively associated with paternal sensitivitymay well represent the impact of paternal char-acteristics rather than family economic statusper se. First, the bivariate correlation betweenfamily income and paternal sensitivity was non-significant. Second, bivariate correlations be-tween family income, paternal age, father's rat-ings of marital intimacy, and father's views onchild rearing were in the same direction as cor-relations between paternal sensitivity and thelatter three father factors. These patterns of cor-relations suggest the possibility of a suppressoreffect. The precise factors responsible for thenegative residual relation between family in-come and paternal sensitivity are not directlydeterminable from data available in the NICHD

study. However, a separate analysis determinedthat the amount of time fathers spent in care-giving did not account for these results.

Identity theory may provide some leads as tothe factors that may have operated to producethis last finding. Specifically, Marsiglio (1995)and Ihinger-Tallman, Pasley, and Buehler(1995) have argued that paternal behavior canbe understood as an extension of paternal iden-tity. In constructing a view of the self, differentroles (parent, worker, partner, etc.) have differ-ent salience at any given time. In effect, there isa salience hierarchy among roles that deter-mines how much commitment a person has toeach role at that time. Relatedly, within everymajor role identity (e.g., parenting), there is asalience hierarchy among its constituent sub-roles (e.g., breadwinner, playmate, moralteacher, disciplinarian, nurturer). Thus, forsome men the role of worker may have highersalience than the role of parent—such men maymake more money but be less sensitive as fa-thers (see Grossman et al., 1988; Hood, 1993).And even within their role as father, such menmay value the role of breadwinner more thantheir role as nurturer. By contrast, other fathersmay eschew the idea of success in business infavor of the role as parent. In effect, the nega-tive residual relation between family incomeand paternal sensitivity observed in this studymay be masking the impact of unmeasured fa-ther factors pertaining to commitment to therole of parenting rather than the effect of eco-nomic well-being per se.

Are These Relations Moderated byMaternal Employment?

Although we had suspected that maternal em-ployment might be a pervasive moderator offathers' caregiving activities and sensitivity, wedid not find this to be the case. In the case of thecurrent analyses, it did not appear that the fac-tors associated with fathers' involvement werefundamentally altered by mothers' employment.In fact, only two interactions involving maternalemployment were observed. This relativelymodest evidence is consistent with a previousreport from the NICHD Early Child Care Re-search Network (1998) that indicated generallysimilar patterns between family predictors andchild outcomes for children with extensive ver-sus minimal child-care hours.


At the same time, it should be noted thatmaternal employment did modify the relationbetween fathers* child-rearing beliefs and theircaregiving activities. In households wheremothers did not work or worked only part time,fathers were more likely to participate in care-giving activities if they espoused less traditionalchild-rearing philosophies, whereas in house-holds in which mothers were employed fulltime, fathers were involved in caregiving activ-ities regardless of their child-rearing beliefs.This finding suggests that mothers' full-timeemployment creates demands on family life thatnecessitate fathers assuming more caregivingresponsibilities regardless of their underlyingbeliefs. It is informative to juxtapose these find-ings to earlier reports by Cowan and Cowan(1987), Baruch and Barnett (1981), and Peter-son and Gerson (1992), who have found thatfathers who endorsed child-centered and egali-tarian beliefs were more likely to assume care-giving responsibilities than were fathers whohad more traditional beliefs. An evolving con-sciousness about what constitutes appropriatemale and female parenting roles may partiallyaccount for the discrepancy in findings as mightsampling differences between the NICHD studyand the other studies cited. As well, there is nowan even higher percentage of women in theworkforce and a higher percentage of men whoare aware of the kinds of family adjustmentsbeing made to care for children.

The second significant interaction involvedmaternal employment and family income in theprediction of paternal sensitivity at 6 months. Inhouseholds in which mothers were not em-ployed or were employed full time, fathers wereobserved to be more sensitive when family in-comes were higher. In households in whichmothers were employed part time, fathers wereless sensitive when family incomes were higher.We are cautious about placing too much em-phasis on this interaction, however, because theoverall prediction model was not significant at 6months and because the interaction was notreplicated at 36 months.

Summary

Overall, the findings pertaining to the multi-ple factors associated with paternal involvementattest to the importance of not thinking of in-

volvement in a global way (Doherty et al., 1998;Lamb, 1997; Parke, 1996). Fathers' involve-ment in caregiving activities and their sensitiv-ity during play interactions were predicted bydifferent factors. In particular, fathers weremore involved in caregiving when fathersworked fewer hours and mothers worked morehours, when fathers and mothers were younger,when the fathers had more positive personali-ties, when mothers reported greater marital in-timacy, and when the child being cared for wasa boy. Fathers were more sensitive during playinteractions when fathers had less traditionalchild-rearing beliefs, were older, and reportedmore marital intimacy. It was notable that nosingle predictor accounted for more than a smallfraction of the variance in either the level ofpaternal caregiving or paternal sensitivity. Assuch, our results vouchsafe Pleck's (1997) con-clusion that "no single predictor exerts a pre-dominant influence [on paternal involvement]"(p. 95). Of importance, they also extended find-ings pertaining to two important components offathers' parenting: fathers' engagement in care-giving activities and their sensitivity. The com-plexity of these findings, together with the dif-ferences observed between the sets of findingspertaining to engagement and sensitivity, sug-gests that neither set may be applicable to othercomponents of paternal involvement.

Implications for Applicationsand Public Policy

These findings have implications for educa-tors, practitioners, and policymakers who areseeking ways to help families respond to therecent macrolevel social, political, economic,and technological changes. These changes, in-dividually and collectively, impact the meaningof fatherhood for men and their families (Ca-brera et al., in press). In this context, there iswidespread agreement on the importance of fa-cilitating responsible, generative fathering—thequestion is one of how to do so (Tamis-LeMonda & Cabrera, 1999; Tanfer & Mott,1998). Numerous suggestions and recommen-dations have been made, from those focused onhow to inculcate a stronger sense of fatherhoodin men to those focused on increasing incentivesfor and reducing barriers to responsible father-ing at community or societal levels. The results


of the current study suggest that pressures forfathers to assume caregiving responsibilities arelikely to continue to increase as more mothersjoin the workforce. Opportunities for increasedinvolvement can be facilitated by more family-friendly policies in the workplace that allowfathers more flexibility in their work hours. Im-proving the quality of father-child interactionsmay require different strategies. Our resultssuggest that developing educational programsfor new fathers that target their child-rearingbeliefs (by focusing on their children's needsand capacities) might be beneficial.

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Received November 23, 1998Revision received November 18, 1999

Accepted November 23, 1999 •

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