W HAT ’ S D AD G OT TO D O W ITH I T ? The Importance of Father Involvement and Equal Shared Parenting in Long-Term Adult Child Outcomes Seth J. Schwartz, Ph.D., University of Miami Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D., Florida International University

OVERVIEW OF THIS WORKSHOP There are 3 overarching themes guiding this workshop: 1. Fathers are critically important both for children and for society. 2. Father involvement is crucial for facilitating positive life outcomes, and for avoiding negative life outcomes, in children. 3. In divorcing families, equal shared parenting is the optimal post-divorce family structure to facilitate father involvement.

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATHERS IN CHILDREN’S LIVES In 2006, the U.S. Office for Child Abuse and Neglect published a manual entitled: The Importance of Fathers in the Healthy Development of Children This manual is available at od.cfm od.cfm

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATHERS IN CHILDREN’S LIVES Some excerpts from this manual include: “The involvement of a father in the life of a family is … associated with lower levels of child neglect, even in families that may be facing other factors, such as unemployment and poverty … Such involvement reduces the parenting and housework load a mother has to bear and increases the overall parental investments in family life, thereby minimizing the chances that either parent will neglect to care for or to supervise their children” (page 17).

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATHERS IN CHILDREN’S LIVES Some excerpts from this manual include: “ Children who live in father-absent homes often face higher risks of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect than children who live with their fathers … a 1997 study indicated that 27.4 children per 1,000 were maltreated in single-parent families, compared to 15.5 per 1,000 in two- parent families ” (p. 17).

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATHERS IN CHILDREN’S LIVES Both mothers and fathers are important in a number of ways: Facilitating healthy attachments in young children; Supervising homework; Monitoring children’s social activities; Protecting children from harm; Providing effective discipline; Mentoring and serving as role models for children;

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATHERS IN CHILDREN’S LIVES Research has found that involved fathering makes it more likely that children will evidence a range of positive life outcomes: Better grades in primary and secondary school; Higher self-esteem and life satisfaction; Self-control and emotion regulation; Volunteering and civic engagement; Higher educational attainment. Positive mental health;

THE IMPORTANCE OF FATHERS IN CHILDREN’S LIVES Research has found that involved fathering makes it less likely that children will evidence personally and socially destructive outcomes in the long term: Arrest or incarceration; Sexual activity prior to age 15; Drug and alcohol abuse; Casual sexual intercourse; Drunk driving or riding in the car with a drunk driver; Unemployment or underemployment; Having children out of wedlock;

PARENTS NEED TO BE PHYSICALLY PRESENT!! This suggests that parents must be physically present to carry out the full range of parenting roles. In turn, this means that visitation does not work if the goal is to give children the parenting that they need. Equal shared parenting is much more likely to approximate the intact married family, and to facilitate sufficient involvement from both parents. The intact married family may be viewed as the “gold standard” for producing positive developmental outcomes.

VISITATION AND THE FATHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP Visitation represents “truth in advertising” – the non- custodial parent (usually the father) becomes a visitor in his child’s life, rather than an actively involved parent. Visitation-based custody arrangements place the custodial parent (usually the mother) in the role of gatekeeper. The primary reason that divorced fathers have given for not being involved with their children is not wanting to deal with the children’s mother. In many cases, post-divorce custody arrangements marginalize fathers from their children’s lives and can sever the father-child relationship.

RESEARCH ON CONSEQUENCES OF VISITATION Compared with individuals from intact families, those from divorced families have reported: Less involvement from their fathers, especially in areas such as mentoring, protecting children from harm, and moral development; Wanting more involvement from their fathers than they received; In another study, 70% of adult children from divorced families said they would have wanted equal shared parenting.

TROUBLED RUMINATIONS ABOUT PARENTS In our work, we have introduced the concept of “troubled ruminations about parents.” In our 4-item scale, troubled ruminations were measured as: (1) There have been times when I wondered if my father (mother) even loved me. (2) How satisfied were you with your relationship with your father/mother? (Reverse scored) (3) My father (mother) caused most of the pain in my family. (4) I wish my father (mother) had spent more time with me when I was younger.

TROUBLED RUMINATIONS ABOUT PARENTS

CONSEQUENCES TROUBLED RUMINATIONS Consequences of troubled ruminations include: Lowered self-esteem; Lowered purpose in life; Higher anxiety and depression; Higher romantic relationship problems. Lowered satisfaction with friendships;

WHY OUT-OF-STATE MOVES ARE BAD FOR CHILDREN Although visitation arrangements are harmful to children, out-of-state moves are even more harmful to the child’s relationship with the parent who is left behind. Braver and colleagues 1 found that, among young adults from divorced families, those who reported that one parent had moved out of state (with or without the child) were less well adjusted – and reported poorer physical health – compared to those whose parents both stayed in the same area. 1 Braver, S. L., Ellman, I. M.,&Fabricius, W. V. (2003). Relocation of children after divorce and children’s best interests: New evidence and legal considerations. Journal of Family Psychology, 17,

WHY OUT-OF-STATE MOVES ARE BAD FOR CHILDREN When a parent is separated from her/his children by long physical distances, in-person visits are often limited to summers, holidays, and spring break. It is extremely difficult to carry out essential parenting functions – and maintain parental involvement – with such limited physical contact.

TWO TAKE-HOME MESSAGES FROM THIS WORKSHOP The bottom line is that, the further one moves from equal shared parenting, more difficult it is for both parents to remain positively involved in their children’s lives. And in turn, the lower the involvement from one or both parents, the more negative the child’s developmental outcomes are likely to be – including troubled ruminations about the nonresident parent as well as a number of health problems and risky behaviors.