Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne des sciences du compartment, 43(3), 173. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0023948
Introduction
The study carried out in this article aims to find out the kind of impact that a father has on the cognitive and behavioral functioning of his children. This is based on his presence and absence. The authors hypothesize that middle school children who live with fathers demonstrating positive early parenting abilities demonstrate higher levels of cognitive functions and lower preadolescent behavioral problems. The authors anticipated that the relationship between the fathers’ presence and preadolescence behavior would be moderated by gender.
The study was carried out in an urban French Canadian setting. It involved 138 children together with their families, all of who were part of the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project. The children participants were between the ages of 6 and 10 with 76 girls and 62 boys. The study used data from these participants that was generated from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project.
The study employed a correlation research design where researchers were determining whether there is a relationship between the cognitive and behavioral function of a child and the presence of their father and what kind of relationship exists. Data was collected from participating families at two points in time. These times were 3 to 5 years apart and at every point in time data was collected in different sessions that spanned two weeks. The tests that were carried out on the participants took place both at home and in school. Two different research methods were employed for the two locations. Questionnaires were used at home to determine the annual family income, the age of the children, family structure and educational attainment of the mothers. Information as to whether fathers lived with their kids was also obtained via using questionnaires. This was done by asking fathers with whom their children lived with. The responses were recorded as 1 for children living with their biological fathers and 0 for children living without their biological fathers. At schools, a child behavior checklist standardized test was used. The checklist was completed by teachers. A child behavior checklist normally contains 120 items and the respondents usually assign a 0, 1 and 2 score on behavior in question. 0 indicates absence of the said behavior, 1 denotes presence of a behavior sometimes, and 2 indicates the constant presence of the behavior in question. The nature of the home environment was also determined using interviews that were held with the parents of the participating children and information obtained from interviews was further interpreted using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment tool. The variable of interest in this study was the cognitive and behavioral functioning of children which was assessed as well as the fathers’ presence in their lives. In this case, the dependent variable is the children’s cognitive and behavioral function which depends on whether or not the father is actively playing a positive role in the life of the children. This, therefore, means that the latter is the independent variable since you cannot have a dependent variable without an independent variable.
The researchers found out that there is a positive correlation between the fathers’ presence in their children’s early lives and cognitive and behavioral functions of these children. Children who had their fathers with them early in their lives had higher IQs compared to their counterparts who didn’t.
There is always a raging debate as to who is more critical to a child, the mother or the father. Majority of the people are usually in the mother’s camp. This article reveals that the father plays an equally important role in the general well-being of his children. It shows how by being actively present or absent, a father psychologically influences his children and how the environment surrounding someone affects his psychological abilities.
Reference
Pougnet, E., Serbin, L. A., Stack, D. M., " Schwartzman, A. E. (2011). Fathers' influence on children's cognitive and behavioural functioning: A longitudinal study of Canadian families. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 43(3), 173.
