Turkish fathers' involvement in childrearing: Its predictors and impact on children's socio-emotional development

The family's impact, especially parental roles, is undeniable in a child's developmental trajectory. However, research regarding the role of fathering still fell behind compared to impact of mothering. Thus, this study aimed to identify predictors of father involvement in childrearing, through aspects of father's self-efficacy, perceived maternal gatekeeping, paternal parenting style, and interpersonal emotion regulation within the Turkish population. The research also explores the predictive role of father involvement and its potential predictors' influence on children's social competence, internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Data was collected through demographic form, Father Involvement Scale (FIS), Maternal Gatekeeping Scale (MGS), Parenting Sense of Competence Scale - Father Form, Parents Attitude Scale (PAS), Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ), Social Competency and Behavior Assessment-30 (SCBA). The study sample included 192 fathers with a mean age of 38.03 (SD = 5.01), who have children aged between 3-6 (M = 4.41, SD= 1.06). Several hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine which variables better explain the father involvement and children's developmental outcomes. The results revealed that aside from father's interpersonal emotion regulation, all variables were statistically significant predictors of father involvement in childrearing. Particularly, father's self-efficacy emerged as the most salient factor among these. According to the findings, children's social competence was influenced by multiple factors including father involvement, father's self-efficacy, perceived maternal gatekeeping, paternal parenting style, and interpersonal emotion regulation. Internalizing behaviors of children were predicted by father involvement, perceived maternal gatekeeping behaviors and parental attitudes. For the externalizing behaviors, the only significant predictor was parental attitude. Findings can provide knowledge for preventive and interventional studies aimed at enhancing father involvement in childrearing and fostering child well-being.