The Effects of "FatherFullness"

1. According to a Gallup Poll, 90.3 percent of Americans agree that "fathers make a unique contribution to their children's lives."
   
   Gallup Poll, 1996. National Center for Fathering. "Father Figures." Today's Father 4.1 (1996)
   
   
2. A study on parent-infant attachment found that fathers who were affectionate, spent time with their children, and overall had a positive attitude were more likely to have securely attached infants.
   
   Cox, M.J. et al. "Prediction of Infant-Father and Infant-Mother Attachment." Developmental Psychology 28 (1992): 474-483.
   
   
3. A study assessing the level of adaptation of one-year olds found that, when left with a stranger, children whose fathers were highly involved were less likely to cry, worry, or disrupt play than other one-year olds whose fathers were less involved.
   
   Kotelchuk, M. "The Infant's Relationship to His Father: Experimental Evidence." The Role of the Father in Child Development. by Michael Lamb. 2nd ed. New York: Wiley, 1981.
   
   
4. Father-child interaction has been shown to promote a child's physical well-being, perceptual abilities, and competency for relatedness with others, even at a young age.
   
   Krampe, E.M. and P.D. Fair-weather. "Father Presence and Family Formation: A theoretical Reformulation." Journal of Family Issues 14.4 (December 1993): 572-591.
   
   
5. A survey of over 20,000 parents found that when fathers are involved in their children's education including attending school meetings and volunteering at school, children were more likely to get A's, enjoy school, and participate in extracurricular activities and less likely to have repeated a grade.
   
   Fathers' Involvement in Their Children's Schools. National Center for Education Statistics. Washington DC: GPO, 1997.
   
   
6. Using nationally representative data on over 2,600 adults born in the inner city, it was found that children who lived with both parents were more likely to have finished high school, be economically self-sufficient, and to have a healthier life style than their peers who grew up in a broken home.
   
   Hardy, Janet B. et al. "Self Sufficiency at Ages 27 to 33 Years: Factors Present between Birth and 18 Years that Predict Educational Attainment Among children Born to Inner-city Families."Pediatrics 99 (1997): 80-87.
   
   
7. In a 26 year longitudinal study on 379 individuals, researchers found that the single most important childhood factor in developing empathy is paternal involvement. Fathers who spent time alone with their kids performing routine childcare at least two times a week, raised children who were the most compassionate adults.
   
   Koestner, Richard, Carol Franz, and Joel Weinberger. "The Family Origins of Empathic Concern: A Twenty-Six Year Longitudinal study." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 58 (1990): 709-717

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Fathering Research: US

Consequences of Fatherlessness

Effects of Fatherfullness

Fathering Research: Local

Dr Ong Ai Choo, NIE

NUS Centre for Advanced Studies