Advancing Research and Measurement on Fathering and Child Development.

Fathers are more than social accidents. Research has demonstrated that fathers matter to children's development. Despite noted progress, challenges remain on how best to conceptualize and assess fathering and father-child relationships. The current monograph is the result of an SRCD-sponsored meeting of fatherhood scholars brought together to discuss these challenges and make recommendations for best practices for incorporating fathers in studies on parenting and children's development. The first aim of this monograph was to provide a brief update on the current state of research on fathering and to lay out a developmental ecological systems perspective as a conceptual framework for understanding the different spaces fathers inhabit in their children's lives. Because there is wide variability in fathers' roles, the ecological systems perspective situates fathers, mothers, children, and other caregivers within an evolving network of interrelated social relationships in which children and their parents change over time and space (e.g., residence). The second aim was to present examples of empirical studies conducted by members of the international working group that highlighted different methods, data collection, and statistical analyses used to capture the variability in father-child relationships. The monograph ends with a commentary that elaborates on the ecological systems framework with a discussion of the broader macrosystem and social-contextual influences that impinge on fathers and their children. The collection of articles contributes to research on father-child relationships by advancing theory and presenting varied methods and analysis strategies that assist in understanding the father-child relationship and its impact on child development.

Relations between Fathers' and Mothers' Infant Engagement Patterns in Dual-Earner Families and Toddler Competence.

This study examined the trajectories of time new fathers and mothers in dual-earner families (N = 178) reported spending in developmentally appropriate positive engagement activities over the first 9 months of their child's life on both work and non-workdays. We also explored how paternal and maternal engagement patterns in infancy were associated with children's later social-emotional competence during toddlerhood (M = 25 months). Utilizing latent growth models, we found that, compared with mothers, fathers spent significantly less time engaging with their infants; however, both parents increased their engagement over time at relatively the same rate. Fathers' rate of increase over time and mothers' initial starting point of engagement on non-workdays were associated with toddlers' attention and mastery motivation. Findings are discussed with regards to what they mean for dual-earner couples and fathers' investment in their offspring, highlighting what they may imply about the second demographic transition and family functioning.

National Couples' Health and Time Study: Sample, Design, and Weighting.

The National Couples' Health and Time Study (NCHAT) is the first fully powered, population-representative study of couples in America containing large samples of sexual, gender, and racial and ethnic diverse individuals. Drawn from the Gallup Panel and the Gallup Recontact Sample, when weighted, the data are population representative of individuals in the United States who (1) are married or cohabiting, (2) are between 20 and 60, (3) speak English or Spanish, and (4) have internet access. The data were collected between September 2020 and April 2021 in the midst of a global pandemic as well as racial and political upheaval. NCHAT includes surveys of 3,642 main respondents and 1,515 partners along with time diaries. We describe the sampling process, challenges weighting a diverse population-representative samples, and sociodemographic characteristics of the NCHAT study. These data will provide opportunities for new research on the health and well-being of American families.

The mental health of mothers in and after violent and controlling unions.

Studies have shown that intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with poor mental health. But, does women's, and specifically mother's, mental health improve after leaving a union marked by IPV? We used two waves of the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (n = 2610) to examine the association between IPV as measured by controlling and violent behaviors, and maternal mental health and union dissolution. Mothers in unions marked by IPV reported poorer mental health, became more depressed and maintained high levels of anxiety over time regardless of whether or not their union dissolved, compared to mothers who were in non-abusive unions. Mothers in stable non-abusive unions became more depressed over time, but at a lower magnitude than mothers in controlling and violent unions. Mothers in non-abusive unions that dissolved also became more depressed and anxious over time. Overall, we find that women are still at risk for mental health problems even after leaving IPV unions.

"Best-Laid Plans": Barriers to Meeting Marital Timing Desires Over the Life Course.

Most youth desire to marry, and often around a certain age, but many individuals marry earlier or later than originally desired. Off-time marriage could have consequences for subsequent relationship stability and mental health. Whereas barriers to marriage goals in the short term have been studied extensively, predictors of meeting marital timing expectations over the life course are less well understood. This study examined possible barriers, including socioeconomic characteristics and family experiences, both background and formation, to meeting marital timing desires by age 40 using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort (NLSY79). Multinomial logistic regression revealed that greater education, religiousness, cohabitation, and premarital childbearing were associated with delayed or forgone marriage, but associations varied by gender and the age at which respondents stated their expectations.

The Production of Inequality: The Gender Division of Labor Across the Transition to Parenthood.

Using longitudinal time diary and survey data from a community sample of dual-earner couples across the transition to parenthood, the authors examined change in divisions of paid and unpaid work and assessed the accuracy of survey data for time use measurement. Mothers, according to the time diaries, shouldered the majority of child care and did not decrease their paid work hours. Furthermore, the gender gap was not present prebirth but emerged postbirth with women doing more than 2 hours of additional work per day compared to an additional 40 minutes for men. Moreover, the birth of a child magnified parents' overestimations of work in the survey data, and had the authors relied only on survey data, gender work inequalities would not have been apparent. The findings have important implications for (a) the state of the gender revolution among couples well positioned to obtained balanced workloads and (b) the utility of survey data to measure parents' division of labor.

Fathers' Involvement in Child Health Care: Associations with Prenatal Involvement, Parents' Beliefs, and Maternal Gatekeeping.

Using data from 182 dual-earner couples experiencing the transition to parenthood, this study examined associations between prenatal involvement, gender role beliefs, and maternal gatekeeping and new fathers' involvement in child health care. Results indicated that prenatal father involvement was associated with both fathers' direct engagement in child health care and fathers' perceived influence in child health-related decision-making. Fathers also demonstrated greater direct engagement in child health care when mothers held more nontraditional beliefs about gender roles. Moreover, when mothers were more encouraging of fathers' involvement in childrearing, fathers felt more influential in child health-related decision-making, whereas when mothers engaged in greater gate closing behavior, fathers with more traditional gender role beliefs felt less influential in child health-related decision-making. This study suggests that fathers' prenatal involvement, mothers' beliefs, and maternal gatekeeping may play a role in the development of new fathers' involvement in child health care at the transition to parenthood.

Time in Parenting Activities in Dual-Earner Families at the Transition to Parenthood.

Time in parenting was compared for new mothers and fathers in a sample of 182 dual-earner families. Parenting domains included positive engagement, responsibility, routine childcare, and accessibility. Time diaries captured parents' time use over a 24-hour workday and nonworkday when infants were 3 and 9 months old. Parents were highly involved with their infants. Mothers were more involved than fathers in positive engagement and routine childcare on both days and at each assessment, and allocated more available time on workdays to these domains than fathers, with one exception. Fathers and mothers allocated similar shares of available workday time to positive engagement at 9 months. Greater equity in responsibility and accessibility was found; Mothers spent more, and a greater share of, parenting time in responsibility than fathers on the 9-month workday only, and were more accessible on the 3 month workday only. Implications for parents in today's diverse families are discussed.

Genetic influences on language, reading, and mathematics skills in a national sample: an analysis using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

PURPOSE: The present study had two purposes: provide an illustration of use of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Children's (CNLSY; U.S. Department of Labor, 2009) database and use the database to seek convergent evidence regarding the magnitude and significance of genetic effects influencing low and typical performers on measures of language, reading, and mathematics. METHODS: A kinship algorithm that assigned a degree of genetic relatedness to all available pairings was applied to the 1994 wave of the CNLSY sample. Four cognitive achievement outcomes related to language, reading, and mathematics were analyzed across the general sample as well as for children selected below the lowest 20(th) percentile. RESULTS: The tests of receptive vocabulary, decoding, reading comprehension, and mathematics all suggested estimates of group heritability and full sample heritability of moderate effect sizes, and all estimates were statistically significant. Furthermore, all estimates were within confidence intervals of previously reported estimates from twin and adoption studies. CONCLUSION: The present study provides additional support for significant genetic effects across low and wide ranges of specific achievement. Moreover, this study supports that genetic influences on reading, language, and mathematics are generalizable beyond twin and adoption studies.