Are uninvolved fathers really incompetent and unsatisfied? Testing the mediator role of father involvement from fathers’ perspectives

Gender role attitudes and father practices as predictors of nonresident father-child contact

Due to an increasing number of parental union dissolutions, a growing number of fathers does not cohabit with their biological children. This article analyses individual and societal gender role attitudes as well as societal father practices as determinants of nonresident father-child contact. Previous research shows that individual-level factors influence the relationship between nonresident fathers and their children. Research on resident fathers indicates that individual attitudes and societal contexts affect father-child involvement. Little is known on the relationship between individual gender role attitudes as well as societal gender role attitudes and father practices and nonresident fathers’ involvement in their children’s lives. To shed more light thereon, we examine data from eleven Eastern and Western European countries from the first wave of the Gender and Generations Survey. We analyze two samples: One consisting of nonresident fathers of children aged 0 to 13 and one of fathers of adolescents aged 14 to 17. Logistic regression models assess if individual and societal gender role attitudes as well as societal father practices predict the probability of monthly father-child contact. Contact between nonresident fathers is affected by different factors depending on whether the focus is on children or adolescents. Societal gender role attitudes and societal father practices predict the probability of monthly contact between fathers and their children; individual gender role attitudes are less important. Individual gender role attitudes, on the other hand, predict the probability of monthly contact between nonresident fathers and their adolescent children; societal factors matter less for this age group.

Fathers' Involvement in Rearing Children With Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities

The aim of this study was to explore father's involvement in rearing a child with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven fathers in Japan, and the data were analyzed using a qualitative inductive method. The relationship between the parents, in the context of childrearing, influenced father's involvement with their child with PIMD. Fathers improved their self-confidence in childrearing by discussing and sharing about their child's conditions and caregiving approaches with their spouse. Moreover, fathers' experience of being acknowledged and entrusted by their spouse with childrearing motivated and enhanced their involvement. On the contrary, fathers struggled with concerns regarding their family's future, the balance between childrearing and work, and their own health status. The current findings contribute to nurses' understanding of father's involvement in childrearing a child with PIMD and the development of support focusing on the parental dyadic relationship and coparenting behavior.