Daniel Paquette

Theorizing the Father-Child Relationship: Mechanisms and Developmental Outcomes

The aim of this article is to propose a theorization of the father-child relationship based on our current understanding of attachment, interactions between fathers and their young children, and human-specific adaptations. The comparison of mother-child and father-child interactions suggests that fathers play a particularly important role in the development of children’s openness to the world. Men seem to have a tendency to excite, surprise, and momentarily destabilize children; they also tend to encourage children to take risks, while at the same time ensuring the latter’s safety and security, thus permitting children to learn to be braver in unfamiliar situations, as well as to stand up for themselves. But this dynamic can only be effective in the context of an emotional bond between father and child; this relationship is termed the father-child activation relationship, in contrast to the mother-child attachment relationship aimed at calming and comforting children in times of stress. The activation relationship is developed primarily through physical play. It is postulated, in particular, that father-child rough-and-tumble play encourages obedience and the development of competition skills in children.

Testosterone, Physical Aggression, Dominance, and Physical Development in Early Adolescence

The associations among testosterone, physical development, social dominance, and antisocial behaviour during early adolescence were assessed in a sample of boys followed from 6 to 13 years. Saliva testosterone level was positively correlated with height, and uncorrelated with measures of fatness, including the body mass index. Physical aggression and social dominance were not significantly correlated. Regression analyses revealed that testosterone level and body mass additively predicted social dominance, whereas only body mass predicted physical aggression. Thus, early adolescents with high levels of testosterone were more likely to be socially dominant, especially if they had a large body mass. Those who had a large body mass were more likely to be physically aggressive, independently of their testosterone level. The observed pattern of correlations between testosterone, body mass, dominance, and physical aggression offers an interesting example of the complex hormone-physique-behaviour relations at puberty. They support the hypothesis that testosterone level and social dominance are related, and that the association between testosterone level and physical aggression is probably observed in contexts where physical aggression leads to social dominance.

The Risky Situation: A Procedure for Assessing the Father-Child Activation Relationship.

Initial validation data are presented for the Risky Situation (RS), a 20‐minute observational procedure designed to assess the father–child activation relationship with children aged 12–18 months. The coding grid, which is simple and easy to use, allows parent–child dyads to be classified into three categories and provides an activation score. By having the same parent–child dyads participate in the Strange Situation (SS) and in the RS, researchers were able to demonstrate that the RS appears to evoke specific relationship patterns. Moreover, parental stimulation of risk‐taking, the central construct of the RS, was shown to play a significant role after controlling for child characteristics (sex and temperament). These results suggested that the RS has the potential to make a significant contribution to the study of the human relationship.

Rough-and-tumble play and the regulation of aggression: an observational study of father-child play dyads.

Rough-and-tumble play (RTP) is a common form of play between fathers and children. It has been suggested that RTP can contribute to the development of selfregulation. This study addressed the hypothesis that the frequency of father-child RTP is related to the frequency of physically aggressive behavior in early childhood. This relationship was expected to be moderated by the dominance relationship between father and son during play. Eighty-five children between the ages of 2 and 6 years were videotaped during a free-play session with their fathers in their homes and questionnaire data was collected about father-child RTP frequency during the past year. The play dyads were rated for the degree to which the father dominated play interactions. A significant statistical interaction revealed that RTP frequency was associated with higher levels of physical aggression in children whose fathers were less dominant. These results indicate that RTP is indeed related to physical aggression, though this relationship is moderated by the degree to which the father is a dominant playmate.

Fighting and playfighting in captive adolescent chimpanzees

Most young non-human primates spend a great deal of time playing alone or with conspecifics. Despite numerous studies on social play, its adaptive functions remain unclear. A longitudinal study comparing social interactions preceding and following rank reversals among four captive adolescent chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurtii) suggests that social play during their adolescent period functioned in establishing and maintaining the dominance rank within dyads, without interventions from allies. Interventions were less frequent in rough-and-tumble play than in real fighting. Within dyads of competing chimpanzees, rough play was more frequent than gentle play. Both types of play were correlated with reciprocal aggression between competitors, and most play bouts terminated in truly aggressive conflict. Dominant individuals seemed to be responsible for maintaining play activity, by responding playfully to threats and aggression of contestants. In addition, dominant individuals more often initiated play encounters with their subordinates when the dominance relationships were clear, but subordinate individuals also initiated play sequences when they challenged the dominants rank. The adaptive value and mechanisms of rough-and-tumble play are discussed in the context of adolescence.

The Association of Major Depression, Conduct Disorder, and Maternal Overcontrol with a Failure to Show a Cortisol Buffered Response in 4-Month-Old Infants of Teenage Mothers

BACKGROUND Adolescent pregnancy can be associated with major depression (MD) and conduct disorder (CD). Some infants of adolescent mothers are prenatally exposed to these factors, which may result in heightened risk for perturbations of their stress systems. Between 2 and 4 months, a normal shift occurs in the adrenocortical system in which we observe a marked decrease in infant cortisol response when facing mild stressors. This study aimed to explore whether MD (lifetime, during pregnancy, postpartum), CD, and maternal overcontrol are associated with increased cortisol reactivity in 4-month-old infants of teenage mothers. METHODS Using arm restraint as a stressor, morning salivary cortisol was taken prestressor and poststressor in 212 infants during a laboratory visit. Major depression and CD were measured with the computerized National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule (NIMH-DIS), postpartum depressive mood was measured with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and overcontrol was observed with the CARE-Index. RESULTS Independent of the predictors, there was a dampened cortisol response. Infants of mothers with lifetime MD and of average to highly overcontrolling mothers showed increased cortisol reactivity. Conduct disorder and cortisol levels were not associated. CONCLUSIONS Future studies should detect whether the absence of a dampened cortisol response in infants whose mothers have lifetime MD or display overcontrolling parenting is stable over time.

Cortisol Levels and Conduct Disorder in Adolescent Mothers.

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between cortisol levels and conduct disorder (CD) in adolescent mothers. Past research has shown that low levels of cortisol were associated with CD, particularly with its aggressive symptoms. The authors tested the hypothesis that adolescent mothers with CD would show lower levels of salivary cortisol compared to mothers without CD at 4 and 9 months postpartum. METHOD Midmorning salivary cortisol levels were measured in 228 adolescent mothers (age at delivery 16.9 +/- 1 years [mean +/- SD]) during a laboratory visit at 4 and 9 months postpartum. CD was diagnosed during pregnancy according to the CD subsection on the criteria for antisocial personality disorder (DSM-III-R). RESULTS Results did not confirm the hypothesis. Lower cortisol levels were not significantly associated with a CD diagnosis, the number of CD symptoms, or aggressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Despite valid measures and strong statistical power, this study failed to find an association between cortisol levels and CD in a sample of adolescent mothers. The results may have been influenced by the fact that participants were 4 and 9 months postpartum and by comparisons of mothers with CD to mothers living in stressful circumstances.

What about the child's tie to the father? A new insight into fathering, father–child attachment, children's socio-emotional development and the activation relationship theory

The broad aim of this study on father–child attachment was to verify whether the Risky Situation (RS) procedure is a more valid means than the Strange Situation (SS) procedure of predicting childrens socio-emotional development, and to evaluate the moderator effect of day-to-day involvement on attachment and activation. Participants were 53 father–child dyads. The RS and the SS were conducted when children were 12–18 months old to measure attachment and activation, and a questionnaire on fathering was administered at the same time. Childcare workers rated childrens socio-emotional development at 30–36 months. Regression analyses revealed that the RS predicted childrens socio-emotional development, while the SS did not, even when controlling for paternal involvement. This study advances the field by empirically testing the predictive relationships from attachment and activation to social emotional outcomes, and the moderator effect of fathering. The results underscore the value of the activation relationship theory and the RS procedure as a means for comprehending and capturing the essence of father–child attachment.

Is father–child rough-and-tumble play associated with attachment or activation relationships?

The activation relationship theory, primarily focused on parental stimulation of risk-taking along with parental control during exploration, predicts that boys will be activated more than girls by their fathers. This theory may explain why fathers engage in rough-and-tumble play (RTP) with children more frequently than mothers, especially with boys. Thus, the main objective of this study is to verify the existence of a positive association between the father–son activation relationship and the frequency of father–son RTP. Given that RTP is thought to encourage the development of competition skills, it was anticipated that no association would be found between the father–child attachment relationship and the frequency of father–child RTP. The Strange Situation (SS) and Risky Situation procedures were conducted with 58 father–child dyads (22 boys and 36 girls) during toddlerhood to evaluate the attachment relationship and the activation relationship, respectively. The fathers completed a play questionnaire when children were three years old to assess RTP. Results show that the more optimally activated boys are by their fathers in toddlerhood, the more they engage in RTP with them at the age of three years. As it was anticipated, there is no association between the father–child attachment relationship in toddlerhood and the frequency of father–child RTP in the preschool period. In addition, the tendency of avoidant children to engage in more RTP with their fathers supports the hypothesis that the SS evaluates something different when used with father–child dyads instead of mother–child dyads.

The father–child activation relationship and internalising disorders at preschool age

The activation relationship is a new theorisation of father–child attachment that places the emphasis on exploration and openness to the world. This study, which was the first to employ the Preschool Risky Situation and which used a convenience sample of 51 father–child dyads, confirmed the hypothesis of an association between the activation relationship and internalising disorders (IDs) in children. The analyses demonstrated the existence of the anticipated link between underactivation and IDs: underactivated children had significantly more IDs than activated children. Children were underactivated when they received less encouragement to take risks and explore their environment and when they were overprotected through the exertion of more control than was necessary based on the potential danger. Also, the association between activation scores and IDs was significant after controlling for child temperament, parental behaviour, and the number of hours worked per week by fathers. The more positively activated children were in their relationship with their father, the fewer IDs they displayed. The exploration of links between the activation relationship and ID subscales revealed a unique connection to anxiety. This study could lead to the development of prevention programmes and interventions that include fathers.