Identifying the Associations between Child Temperament and Father Involvement: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evidence

Using a sample of resident fathers (either married or cohabiting) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 2,213), this study assessed the relationship between child temperament and father involvement. The direct effects of child temperament on father involvement, as well as its moderating effect on the association between other predictor variables and father involvement were measured. A two-equation model was estimated, using a two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression procedure. Findings suggest that fathers are less involved with temperamentally difficult children than with temperamentally easy children. Further, temperament moderated the strength of the association between parental relationship quality and father involvement for married fathers. Implications for intervention programs targeted at increasing paternal involvement are discussed.