O envolvimento paterno: contextos e qualidade. As suas implicações para a qualidade do ajustamento sócio-emocional

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Publications

The role of child’s age, sex, and temperament in father involvement during the pre-school years

Publication . Santos, Carolina; Monteiro, Lígia; Torres, Nuno

(1) Background: The aim of the study was to explore how child’s characteristics (age, sex, and temperament) were associated with father’s involvement in child-related activities. In a sample of 410 bi-parental families with pre-school age children. (2) Methods: Dividing the sample into two age groups, OLS regression models were conducted for each dimension of father involvement with child characteristics as predicting variables. (3) Results: for the younger children (3 and 4 years) fathers were more involved in teaching/discipline and played with their more extroverted daughters. With older children (5 and 6 years), fathers were more involved in teaching/discipline and played when children were higher on negative-affectivity. An interaction was found with boys’ higher negativeaffectivity, predicting fathers’ higher involvement in teaching and discipline. (4) Conclusions: Our results suggest that children’s characteristics have an impact on what fathers do, particularly in a dimension salient to pre-school years such as teaching/discipline. This can help build tailored empirical-sustained programs aiming to encourage and support fathers’ positive involvement.

2022Journal article

Open access

Children’s play profiles: Contributions from child’s temperament and father’s parenting styles in a portuguese sample

Publication . Santos, Carolina; Monteiro, Lígia Maria Santos; Ribeiro, Olívia; Vaughn, Brian

Using a sample of Portuguese preschool-age children, we aimed to identify different play profiles based on teachers' descriptions of social and non-social behaviors, as well as characterize them in terms of children's characteristics (sex and temperament) and fathers' parenting styles (e.g., warmth and involvement or punitive strategies). The 243 children were distributed across four profiles (identified through a two-stage cluster analysis): Solitary/Reticent, Social Rough, Social, and Social Solitary. A univariate effect was found between play profiles and children's effortful control, as well as fathers' punitive strategies. In addition, a significant multivariate interaction was found between child's sex and the Solitary/Reticent and Social Rough profiles for father's punitive strategies. In this sample, children with social play profiles seem to use diverse types of behaviors during their interactions with peers and in being adjusted within the group. As children's early experiences with peers are a central context for healthy development, a better understating of the diversity of play profiles and its predictors is important for early interventions.

2020Journal article

Open access