Dad's Early Connection With Child 'Writes
Script' For Later School Involvement
June 23, 2009
When a dad changes diapers and makes pediatrician's appointments, he's more
likely to stay interested and involved when his child makes the transition to
school, said a new University of Illinois study that explores the role of parent
involvement on student achievement.
"If we want fathers to be involved in school, we need to focus on men
building close, loving relationships with their children in the preschool years.
When fathers do this, they're writing a script that says they're involved in
their child's life, and their expectation is that they'll go on being involved
in that child's life," said Brent McBride, a U of I professor of human
development.
McBride likes to use affection as an example of early parent involvement.
"That can be as simple as a father winking at his three-year-old
child," he said.
"If you, as a dad, develop an affectionate way of interacting with your
preschooler, later when your child comes home and tells you what he's done in
school that day, the warm, close relationship you've built will allow him to
approach you with trust, and it will allow you to respond to your child's
enthusiasm or frustration in a positive way," he said.
"If fathers wait to seek a closer relationship with their child until later
in the child's life, the moment has passed," he said.
The study involved 390 children and their families from the Child Development
Supplement data set of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.
When the children were two to five years old, five early parenting behaviors
"parent-child household-centered activities, parent-child child-centered
activities (for example, reading to kids), parental limit setting,
responsibility (such as making doctor's appointments), and demonstrating
affection" were measured for both parents. Later the mothers' and fathers'
involvement in school and the children's student achievement were assessed.
The study is unique in that it looks at mothers and fathers simultaneously, said
the researcher. "No one person in a family system does anything without
being influenced by every other person in that system. Having both parents in
these analyses is a big advantage and a step above the previous research."
The study showed that the paths are different for mothers and fathers, and the
researcher believes that parents and teachers should acknowledge that and build
on these differences.
For example, although mother involvement in school-related activities was
positively associated with student achievement, father involvement in such
activities had a negative correlation with academic success.
"But this occurs because fathers who have established a pattern of being
involved early in a child's life are more likely to step in at school (for
example, in formal conferences and interaction with teachers) when their child
is struggling in the school setting," he said.
McBride explained that parental roles aren't scripted for men as they are for
women, and expectations aren't as clear-cut. "As long as a father is
providing for his children, he's usually considered a good father," he
said.
"And, although we're trying to encourage fathers to become more engaged in
parenting than they have been, I don't believe the institutional mechanisms are
in place to help that engagement along. Child-care providers and teachers aren't
trained to approach fathers to help them become more involved as parents,"
he said.
He believes the best way to make these changes is to work with child-care
providers and educators so they broaden their definition of parent to mean more
than mothers.
"For example, if you're a day-care provider and a child is experiencing
stress because of toileting issues, you would probably automatically reach out
to the mother about these problems. Why shouldn't the father get that call?
"We need to train teachers so they're comfortable communicating with men as
parents," he said.
Notes>
The study, which appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of Educational
Psychology, was co-authored by W. Justin Dyer, Ying Liu, and Sungjin Hong of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Geoffrey L. Brown of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was funded in part by grants
from the American Educational Research Association and the National Science
Foundation.
Source:
Phyllis Picklesimer
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
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