Parenting and child adjustment in families with primary caregiver fathers.

Abstract

Although greater attention has been paid to fathers involvement in caregiving in recent decades, there is limited understanding of families with primary caregiver fathers (PCFs), particularly in terms of parental psychological health and parenting quality. Findings are presented from a study of 41 PCF, 45 primary caregiver mother (PCM), and 41 dual-earner (DE) families in the U.K. with children aged 3-6 years. Standardized interviews and questionnaires on parental psychological well-being, parenting and child adjustment were completed by fathers, mothers, and teachers. No differences were found between family types on any of the measures. However, multilevel modeling showed that increased parental stress was associated with greater child difficulties irrespective of family type. Overall, the findings revealed that the PCFs were well-adjusted to their parenting role and showed no differences in quality of parenting to PCMs. The study findings challenge the assumption that women are more suited to primary caregiving than men. Policy implications for fathers and their families are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).