Parental interest in children's education,children's self‐esteem and locus of control,and later educational attainment: Twenty‐six year follow‐up of the 1970 British Birth Cohort

Background. Few studies have investigated if mother's interest and father's interest in child's education are linked to educational attainment via their impact on child's self‐esteem and locus of control. Aims. (1) To investigate (after controlling for known confounding factors) the long‐term effect of mother's and father's interest in child's education at age 10 and child's locus of control and self‐esteem at age 10 in educational attainment at age 26; and (2) to explore if mother's interest and father's interest in child's education are linked to child's educational attainment via their effect in increasing child's self‐esteem and internal locus of control. Sample. The study used longitudinal data from sweeps of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). The initial sample was those 1,737 men and 2,033 women with valid data on age 10 self‐esteem, locus of control, father's interest, mother's interest, and age 26 educational attainment. Of these, 1,326 men and 1,578 women were included in the final analysis. Method. The birth to age 10 factors that were controlled for were birth weight, parental social class, socio‐economic disadvantage, emotional/behavioural problems, cognitive ability, and mother's educational attainment. Results. At the multivariate level, internal locus of control and mother's interest (but not self‐esteem) were significantly related to educational attainment in both men and women. Father's interest was a significant predictor of educational attainment only in women. Parent's interest was not linked to educational attainment via its impact on child's self‐esteem or locus of control. Self‐esteem predicted educational attainment in both genders by increasing internal locus of control, and fathers' interest predicted educational attainment in men by increasing mother's involvement. Conclusion. Although mothers' and fathers' interest in their children's education were not linked to educational attainment via their impact on children's self‐esteem or locus of control, they were significant predictors of educational attainment especially in daughters.     

What predicts fathers' involvement with their children? A prospective study of intact families

This study used longitudinal data from the National Child Development Study to explore factors associated with aspects of fathers' involvement with their children at age 7, 11 and 16 years in intact families. Father involvement was predicted by different factors at different ages but generally it was continuous and multidimensional, and strongly associated with mother involvement. Low parental socio‐economic status and child behaviour problems were negatively related to father involvement at age 7. With older children, father involvement was inversely related to family size and poor school performance. Financial difficulties in the family were not related to father involvement at either age. Domestic tension was negatively related to certain aspects of fathers' involvement with younger children. Father's education was generally related to father's involvement but maternal employment was only related to low father‐interest in child's education at age 7 and 11 years.     

Parents' convergence on sharing and marital satisfaction,father involvement,and parent–child relationship at the transition to parenthood

This study examines determinants of father involvement, the parents' convergence on marital satisfaction, and mothers' and fathers' interactive behavior in dual‐earner families at the transition to parenthood. Sixty dual‐earner Israeli couples and their five‐month‐old firstborn child were interviewed and videotaped in infant–mother and infant–father interactions. Interactions were coded globally for 21 interactive behaviors and composited into measures of parent sensitivity and infant readiness to interact. Five determinants of each parent's involvement in house and childcare were assessed as predictors of parent–infant interactions: the sharing of household and childcare responsibilities, the amount of time each parent spends with the infant during the week and on weekends, and the range of childcare activities the parent typically performs. Marital convergence was indexed by the absolute difference score between mothers' and fathers' marital satisfaction. Father sensitivity was related to the sharing of household and childcare responsibilities, to the amount of time the father spends with the child on weekends (but not during the week), to the range of childcare activities father performs, and to marital convergence. Mother sensitivity was related only to the sharing of responsibilities between spouses. The range of the father's childcare activities predicted maternal interactive sensitivity. Infant readiness to interact with the father, but not with the mother, was related to the sharing of childcare responsibilities, to the range of father's childcare activities, and to marital convergence. Results further specify the differential associations between the marital and the parent–child relationship for mothers and fathers and point to the importance of the father's instrumental involvement in childcare to the development of fathering. © 2000 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Ambitious mothers – successful daughters: Mothers' early expectations for children's education and children's earnings and sense of control in adult life

Background . Mothers' expectations for their children's educational attainment are related to children's educational and occupational attainment. Studies have yet to establish, however, the long‐term links between maternal expectations and offspring earnings, which are not always related to occupational attainment especially in women, or between maternal expectations and offspring sense of control and self‐efficacy, which are pivotal factors in career choice and development. Aims . To explore the role of mothers' expectations for their children's educational attainment in children's earnings attainment and sense of control later in life. Method . Data from sweeps of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) were used. The study sample was those cohort members with complete information on all the variables of interest. The study sample (N = 3,285) was more educated and less disadvantaged than the whole sample. If cohort members of this type are more likely to have a mother who has high expectations, then our results are biased downwards, which suggests that we underestimate the effect of expectations on our two outcome variables. Results . Mothers' expectations at the age of 10 were positively related to daughters' sense of control at the age of 30 even after controlling for ethnicity, educational attainment, and concurrent partner, parent, and labour market participation status, as well as the following confounding variables (measured at the ages of 0–10): general ability and general ability squared, locus of control, emotional and behavioural problems and emotional and behavioural problems squared, socio‐economic disadvantage, parental social class, parental family structure, and mothers' education, child‐rearing attitudes, and mental health. Mothers' expectations had no effect on sons' adult outcomes. Conclusions . Given that women are particularly at risk for poor psychological and economic outcomes in adulthood, and that this study likely underestimated the effect of expectations on these two outcomes, this is an important conclusion.     

Subjective Well-Being in Midlife: The Role of Involvement of and Closeness to Parents in Childhood

This study used data from the British National Child Development Study to examine the role of parenting in later subjective well-being (SWB). Parenting was defined as mother involvement and father involvement (measured at age 7) and as closeness to mother and closeness to father (measured at age 16). SWB was measured at age 42 and was defined as life satisfaction, psychological functioning (measured with the GHQ-12), and absence of psychological distress (measured with the Malaise Inventory). Control factors were parental social class at birth, parental family structure throughout childhood, domestic tension in the parental home, parental ill mental health in early childhood, psychological maladjustment in adolescence, financial difficulties throughout childhood, educational attainment, self-rated health in early adulthood, and current socio-demographic correlates of SWB (labour force participation, religion and being partnered). It was found that even after adjusting for these factors closeness to mother at age 16 predicted life satisfaction at age 42 in both men and women, whereas mother involvement at age 7 predicted life satisfaction at age 42 in men. Closeness to mother at age 16 was also negatively related to poor psychological functioning at age 42 in women.     

Parents’ postnatal depressive symptoms and their children's academic attainment at 16 years: Pathways of risk transmission

The aim of the study was to examine whether parents’ increased postnatal depressive symptoms predicted children's academic attainment over time and whether the parent–child relationship, children's prior academic attainment, and mental health mediated this association. We conducted secondary analyses on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children data (12,607 mothers, 9,456 fathers). Each parent completed the Edinburgh-Postnatal Depression Scale at 8 weeks after the child's birth (predictor) and a questionnaire about the mother–child and father–child relationship at 7 years and 1 month (mediator). The children's mental health problems were assessed with the teacher version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at 10–11 years (mediator). We used data on the children's academic attainment on UK Key Stage 1 (5–7 years; mediator) and Key Stage 4 (General Certificate of Secondary Education 16 years) (outcome). We adjusted for the parents’ education, and child gender and cognitive ability. The results revealed that parents’ depressive symptoms at 8 weeks predicted lower academic performance in children at 16 years. Mothers’ postnatal depressive symptoms had an indirect effect through children's mental health problems on academic outcomes at 16 years via negative mother–child relationship, and prior academic attainment. There was a significant negative indirect effect of fathers’ postnatal depressive symptoms on academic attainment at 16 years via negative father–child relationship on child mental health. The findings suggest that the family environment (parental mental health and parent–child relationship) and children's mental health should be potential targets for support programmes for children of depressed parents.     

Fathers Do Matter: Evidence From an Asian School-Based Aggressive Sample

The impact of children's perception of a father's and mother's support on children's quality of relationship with their classroom teacher was examined in a sample of 51 third and fourth grade Asian children rated by their teachers as aggressive. Children's perception of a father's support predicted teacher-ratings in all three areas of the teacher-student relationship (instrumental help, satisfaction, and conflict) but children's perception of a mother's support did not. This adds to a gradually expanding research base documenting the benefits of fatherly support across selected and unselected samples in various cross-cultural settings. Implications of the findings for child and family therapy are discussed.     

Synchrony in the Triad: A Microlevel Process Model of Coparenting and Parent‐Child Interactions

Guided by a microanalytic approach to the study of relationships, we assessed parent, infant, and coparental behaviors during triadic interactions in 94 parents and their 5‐month‐old firstborn child. Relational behaviors in each family subsystem—mother‐infant, father‐infant, and coparenting—were microcoded. Marital satisfaction and infant temperament were self‐reported. No differences were found in the infants' behavior toward mother and father or in the time spent with each parent. Mothers' and fathers' relational behavior during parent‐infant episodes were generally comparable, yet mothers vocalized more and the latency to father's displaying positive affect was longer. Conditional probabilities indicated that under conditions of coparental mutuality, fathers showed more positive behaviors than mothers. Lag‐sequential analysis demonstrated that change in the infant's social focus between parents followed change in coparental behavior. Fathers' coparental mutuality was independently predicted by maternal behavior during mother‐child episodes, father marital satisfaction, and infant difficult temperament, whereas mothers' coparental mutuality was only linked with fathers' relational behavior. Results highlight the importance of including a microlevel perspective on the family system at the first stages of family development.     

Explaining Social Disparities in Mathematical Achievement: The Role of Motivation

This study examined the role of motivation as a mediator of the relationship between parents' socio‐economic status (SES) and children's standardized test achievement in math. We employed a one‐year longitudinal approach using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 and a follow‐up exam in 2004. The sample consisted of N = 6020 German students (mean age 15.5 years, SD = .55) who continued school after Grade 9 (PISA 2003) and were in Grade 10 at the time of PISA 2004. Children completed measures related to their parents' SES, math‐specific self‐concept, task‐specific and global self‐efficacy, and interest, intelligence and mathematical competence. We found a small to moderate correlation between parents' SES and children's achievement. All motivational constructs partially mediated the relationship between father's SES as well as a family index for SES (economic, social, and cultural status) and children's mathematical competence, but only math‐specific self‐concept and self‐efficacy were significant mediators for mother's SES. Even when simultaneously considering the mediating effect of children's intelligence and prior achievement, the mediation effects of motivation remained significant. These results are important for our understanding of educational equality. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Mother's marital satisfaction associated with the quality of mother‐father‐child triadic interaction

Low marital satisfaction has been shown to be a risk factor for early parenthood and parent‐child relationship problems (Erel & Burman, 1995 ; McHale, 1995 ). The aim of this study was to assess how parental reports of marital satisfaction related to family alliance and coordination in the observed triadic interaction. The study group included 120 families. Marital satisfaction was evaluated during pregnancy, at 4 months, and at 18 months using the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS; Busby, Christensen, Crane & Larsson, 1995 ) for both parents. Mother‐father‐child interaction was analyzed in the Lausanne Triadic Play setting and coded using the Family Alliance Assessment Scale (Favez, Lavanchy Scaiola, Tissot, Darwiche & Frascarolo, 2011 ) when the child reached 18 months of age. The mother's higher marital satisfaction at every measuring point was associated with a cooperative family alliance and/or higher family coordination at 18 months. The father's experience of marital satisfaction was not related to family interaction at any assessment point. Our study suggests that a mother's experience of lower marital satisfaction during pregnancy may be an early sign of later problems in family relationships.     

Caring for infant daughters and sons in dual‐earner households: maternal reports of father involvement in weekday time and tasks

This study focused on maternal reports of gender differences in weekday father involvement with 12‐month‐olds in 47 dual‐earner households utilizing full time infant day care. Three involvement variables were considered: father's time alone with the infant; father's time available to the infant; and father participation in caregiving tasks. The results showed fathers to be available to sons significantly more than daughters. Fathers were also significantly more involved in caregiving tasks with sons than with daughters. There was no difference in father time alone with sons and daughters. Examination of these three involvement measures in relation to demographic, family environment, and infant temperament measures revealed that mothers' reported fathers as being available more to sons than to daughters. In addition, mothers reported fathers to be more available to temperamentally easy sons than to temperamentally difficult sons. Recommendations are made for future research. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parental capacities for triadic relationships during pregnancy: Early predictors of children's behavioral and representational functioning at preschool age

This study examines associations between parental capacities for triadic (mother–father–child) relationships, assessed prenatally, and the representational and behavioral functioning of their offspring at preschool age. Thirty‐eight parental couples were given an intensive psychodynamic interview during their first pregnancy to assess how they anticipated their future parenthood and their relationships as threesomes (mother–father–child). The capacity for triadic relationships (“triadic capacity”) was defined as the capacity of fathers and mothers to anticipate their family relationships without excluding either themselves or their partners from the relationship with the infant. Four years later, the representational and behavioral functioning of their children were assessed in depth using child narrative interviews and parental behavior ratings. The coherence of the children's narratives and the number of positive themes they expressed were significantly negatively correlated with the number of behavioral problems. In the longitudinal analyses, there were significant positive correlations between the parental triadic capacities and the coherence/number of positive themes in the children's narratives whereas parental triadic capacities showed a significant negative correlation with the number of the children's externalizing problems. The significance of triadic relational family processes for the development of children's representational world and behavioral functioning is discussed. ©2005 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Attachment and Family Processes in Children's Psychological Adjustment in Middle Childhood

This study examined the links between parent–child attachment, whole family interaction patterns, and child emotional adjustment and adaptability in a sample of 86 community families with children between the ages of 8 and 11 years. Family interactions were observed and coded with the System for Coding Interactions and Family Functioning (SCIFF; Lindahl, 2001). Both parents and each target child completed the appropriate form of the Behavior Assessment System for Children‐2nd Edition (BASC‐2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004). Target children also completed the Children's Coping Strategies Questionnaire (CCSQ; Yunger, Corby, & Perry, 2005). Hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that Secure mother–child attachment was a robust predictor of children's emotional symptoms, but father–child attachment strategies were not significant independent predictors. Positive Affect in family interactions significantly increased the amount of variance accounted for in children's emotional symptoms. In addition, Family Cohesion and Positive Affect moderated the relationship between father–child attachment and children's emotional symptoms. When data from all BASC‐2 informants (mother, father, child) were considered simultaneously and multidimensional constructs were modeled, mother–child security directly predicted children's adjustment and adaptive skills, but the influence of father–child security was fully mediated through positive family functioning. Results of the current study support the utility of considering dyadic attachment and family interaction patterns conjointly when conceptualizing and fostering positive emotional and behavioral outcomes in children.     

Pathways from infant exposure to marital conflict to parent–toddler role reversal

We know that exposure to marital conflict places infants at risk, but we know less about processes. One process may be role reversal, when a distressed parent looks to the child to meet unmet needs for comfort, intimacy, or companionship. A parent in marital conflict may be particularly prone to role reversal, which in turn adversely affects child development. The current study examined pathways from infants' exposure to marital conflict at 12 months to role reversal at 24 months. We sampled low–middle socioeconomic status (SES) families with their first child (N = 128). Independent observers assessed marital conflict (in a problem‐solving task) and role reversal (in a story‐telling task). We found that each parent's conflict behavior predicted the other parent's role reversal. In a direct pathway, mother's conflict behavior towards father led directly to father's role reversal with the child. In an indirect pathway, father's conflict behavior towards mother led to his withdrawal from her, which in turn led to mother's role reversal with the child. Clinical implications are discussed within a developmental psychopathology framework in terms of preventive interventions to offset the deleterious effect of marital conflict and role reversal on child development.     

Mothers' and Fathers' Parenting Quality and Toddlers' Interactive Behaviours in Dyadic and Triadic Family Contexts

Based on a family systems perspective, this research examined the role of parental gender and family play context in parent–toddler interactions and how behaviours of family members influence each other. Sixty‐seven mostly White, middle‐class families consisting of a mother, father and toddler were videotaped in three separate sessions: mother–child, father–child and both parents–child at a university laboratory setting. The results indicated that there were significant main effects of both parent gender (mother versus father) and context (dyadic versus triadic) on parents' positive and negative parenting and children's engagement and negativity toward parents. Higher levels of mutual engagement between mothers and toddlers were associated with lower levels of fathers' positive parenting and children's engagement with fathers, when moving from the dyadic to the triadic play context. However, fathers' mutual engagement with toddlers was not associated with mothers' parenting quality and child interactive behaviours with mothers. There were also interaction effects of parent gender and context on parents' negative parenting and children's engagement and negativity toward parents. This study adds unique insights to the differences and similarities of parent–child dyadic and triadic interactions during toddlerhood. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MOTHER–CHILD AND FATHER–CHILD PLAY INTERACTION: THE IMPORTANCE OF PARENTAL PLAYFULNESS AS A MODERATOR OF THE LINKS BETWEEN PARENTAL BEHAVIOR AND CHILD NEGATIVITY

Based on the premise that father–child play is an important context for children's development and that fathers “specialize” in play, similarities and differences in the role of playfulness in the father–child and mother–child relationship were examined. Participants in this study included 111 families (children's age: 1–3 years). Father–child and mother–child play interactions were videotaped and coded for parental playfulness, sensitivity, structuring, and nonintrusiveness as well as child negativity. Results indicated that mothers and fathers did not differ in playfulness and that mothers and fathers who were higher in playfulness had children with lower levels of negativity. However, playfulness differently moderated the links between parents’ and children's behaviors for mothers and fathers. A double‐risk pattern was found for mothers, such that the links between child negativity and maternal sensitivity, structuring, and nonintrusiveness were significant only for the subgroup of mothers with low levels of playfulness. When mothers had high levels of playfulness, these effects were negligible. For fathers, a double‐buffer pattern was revealed, indicating that the links between child negativity and paternal sensitivity and structuring were significant only for fathers with high levels of playfulness. When fathers had low levels of playfulness, these effects were negligible. These findings demonstrate the important role that parental playfulness has on parent–child interaction as well as the need to examine moderation patterns separately for fathers and mothers.     

Academic Self-concept and Educational Attainment Level: A Ten-year Longitudinal Study

The purpose of this study was to test children's academic self-concept, family socioeconomic status, family structure (single parent vs. two parent family) and academic achievement in elementary school as predictors of children's educational attainment level in young adulthood within a ten-year longitudinal design. Participants (254 girls, 211 boys) were three cohorts of students in Grades 3, 4, and 5 from ten elementary schools. Results from structural equation modeling revealed that academic self-concept predicted educational attainment level ten years later over and above prior achievement. Moreover, this pattern of results was invariant across cohorts. In addition, regression analyses based on a restricted sample (n?=?243) indicated that the academic self-concept/educational attainment level relation was still significant while controlling for family SES, family structure (single parent vs. two parent family), and academic achievement. Discussion focuses on the theoretical and practical implications of the results.     

Political socialization: A multivariate analysis of Swedish political attitude and preference data

Studied the socio-political attitudes and political party preferences of 532 Swedish high school students as a function of seven background variables: (I) the mother's political party preference, (2) the father's political party preference, (3) the mother's education, (4) the father's education, (5) the mother's income, (6) the father's income and (7) social class identification. Multiple classification analysis and multivariate nominal analysis were used to uncover the most important possible determinants of political socialization of the youth in both bivariate and multivariate aspects. The results showed that, of the seven predictor or background variables studied, only three had any substantial relationship with socio-political attitudes and political party preferences of the youth: (a) the mother's political party preference, (b) class identification and (c) the father's political party preference in that general order of importance. Furthermore, the superiority of the mother's political party preference over the father's political party preference was especially marked for girls. Among other things, the results also disclosed that ‘left-wing’ youth tended to be more loyal to parental political beliefs than ‘moderate’ and ‘right-wing’ youth. Several alternative explanations were proposed for these findings.     

Father and mother contributions to family functioning when the child has a mental delay

Less is known about the father's than the mother's role in family adaptation to children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine relationships of both father and mother use of coping strategies and perceptions of the child with measures of family functioning style. Subjects were 26 families of 30-month-old children with a mental delay and a comparison group of 26 families of same-aged children with no delay. Functioning style for study families showed a balance of cohesion and adaptability; comparison families were more chaotically flexible on the adaptability scale. Mothers and fathers agreed on family functioning style. Study parents made the greatest use of external coping strategies, while in both groups mothers used more external and fathers more internal coping strategies. Relationships between coping and family functioning varied by parent and by group. Results suggest the need for further exploration of the separate needs of fathers and mothers in maintaining balanced family functioning.     

Paternal Family Expressiveness as a Mediator Between Father's Dispositional Optimism and Child's Dispositional Optimism

Although dispositional optimism serves as a resource for psychological and physical well-being, very little research has explored how to promote child dispositional optimism within the family context. The authors evaluated paternal emotional expressiveness within the family as a mediator of the association between father's and child's dispositional optimism. Participants were 422 father (M age = 44.97 years, SD = 4.21 years)–child (M age = 11.75 years, SD = 0.77 years) dyads in South Korea. Results showed that fathers’ dispositional optimism was positively linked to their expressiveness, which in turn was positively linked to their children's dispositional optimism. No significant gender or socioeconomic status differences were found. The findings have important implications for future research and for preventive interventions.