Once upon a time, the job description for "dad" had only two
parts: A father put bread on the table and disciplined the children
when they got out of line. If you did those two things, you were
a good father.
But times change, and now with more than 60 percent of mothers
working when their children are older than age 6, the active involvement
of fathers in all phases of child rearing is more important than
ever, say Notre Dame sociologists Joan Aldous and Gail Mulligan.
Their recent study, published in the Journal of Family Issues,
in fact, offers evidence that fathers who are actively
involved in child rearing have a profound positive influence on
their children. Analyzing a national sample of white children
from stable, two-biological-parent homes, Aldous and Mulligan
found that preschoolers with active caregiver fathers were less
likely to exhibit behavioral problems later in elementary school.
At the same time, difficult preschoolers whose fathers were not
much involved were reported to have more behavioral problems in
elementary school.
The Notre Dame sociologists' research suggests that fathers'
care is particularly helpful in heading off behavioral problems
among sons. Aldous and Mulligan report that "fathers who take
more care of sons seem to establish special relationships with
them that positively influence sons' later behavior." Young daughters
did not receive the same benefit.
The active attention of fathers as well as the comfort they
provide can be "an essential source of well-being for children,"Aldous
and Mulligan write. "To be effective now, fathers, like good mothers
always have been, must be there for their children when they are
experiencing personal difficulties.
"It is not just providing a good income that good fathering
requires, although that is important," they say. "Fathers along
with mothers can serve as confidants for troubled children's worries."
All this good parenting doesn't come without a cost, however.
Aldous and Mulligan report that the more hours a father spends
watching over grade-school children, the more depressed he is
likely to be. "Child care, it seems, can be discouraging for fathers
as well as mothers," they write.
