Resident Fathers' Positive Engagement, Family Poverty, and Change in Child Behavior Problems

• Author: Jin‐kyung Lee,Sarah J. Schoppe‐Sullivan
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12283
• Published date: 01 July 2017
• Date: 01 July 2017

J- L  S J. S-S The Ohio State University

Resident Fathers’ Positive Engagement, Family

Poverty, and Change in Child Behavior Problems

Objective: To investigate the role of fathers’

positive engagement as a protective factor in

the development of children’sbehavior problems

and whether this buffering effectdiffers by family

poverty status.

Background: Children who have behavior pro-

blems at early ages are more likely to show

persistent behavior problems over time.Fathers’

roles in the development and persistence of child

behavior problems have been less investigated

than mothers’ roles.

Method: Longitudinal survey data from 762

constant-resident-father families participating

in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing

Study were used. Mothers reported on children’s

internalizing and externalizing behavior prob-

lems when the focal child was 5 and 9 years

of age, and fathers reported on their frequency

of positive engagement with children at child

age 5. Data were analyzed using moderated

moderation regression analyses.

Results: Children living in greater family pov-

erty at age 5 showed more internalizing and

externalizing behavior problems at age 9, but

greater positive engagement by fathers weak-

ened the association between family poverty

and children’s later behavior problems. More-

over, fathers’ positive engagement appeared

to disrupt continuity in internalizing behavior

Human Development & Family Science Program, Depart-

ment of Human Sciences, Ohio State University, 135

Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43210

(lee.5944@osu.edu).

Key Words: Child behavior problems, fathers’ positive

engagement, family poverty.

problems from early to middle childhood for

children in families living below the poverty

level.

Conclusion: Fathers’ positive engagement may

serve as a protective factor for children’s social–

emotional development.

Implications: Emphasizing fathers’ positive en-

gagement in prevention and intervention pro-

grams designed to lower children’s risk for

behavior problems may have potential value.

Children who have internalizing and external-

izing behavior problems at early ages are more

likely to show persistent behavior problems in

later periods (Fanti & Henrich, 2010; Mesman,

Bongers, & Koot, 2001). Thus, it is important

to prevent problem behaviors in early child-

hood to avoid behavior problems as children

grow (Campbell, Shaw,& Gilliom, 2000). Moth-

ers’ parenting or psychological characteristics

have been implicated in child behavior problems

(Hoffman, Crnic, & Baker, 2006; Mackler et al.,

2015). Relative to studies of mothers, however,

fathers’ roles in the development and persistence

of child behavior problems have been less inves-

tigated, although benecial effects of fathers on

children’s development have been observed in

social, behavioral, and psychological domains

(Sarkadi, Kristiansson, Oberklaid, & Bremberg,

2008).

Focusing on the potential benecial roles of

fathers in child development, the purpose of

this study was to test the buffering effect of

fathers’ positive engagement on the develop-

ment of child behavior problems from early to

484 Family Relations 66 (July 2017): 484–496

DOI:10.1111/fare.12283