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Father involvement and the social development of children in the school-entry transition stage

This study aimed to examine the relationships between indicators of parental involvement and their children’s social and included 97 father-mother pairs (parents of children in the first or second grade), and 20 teachers. To evaluate father involvement, fathers and mothers completed an Evaluation of personal and family wellbeing and the parent-child relationship - Fathering Version, and to evaluate the children’s social development, the mothers, fathers and teachers completed the Social Skills Rating System-SSRS. The results indicate that more frequent: communication between father and child, paternal participation in child caregiving and in the child’s school, cultural and leisure activities are each associated with indicators of lower hyperactivity, fewer behavior problems and a wider repertoire of appropriate social skills. These results point to the importance of the constructive involvement of fathers for their children’s social development and the likely benefits of programs to promote father involvement.

Father involvement; social skills; behavior problems


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