Parenting alliance as a predictor of father involvement: An exploratory study

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship between perceptions of the parenting alliance, marital quality, and the amount of involvement fathers have in raising their young children. Subjects were 89 predominately White, two-parent families with preschool aged children. Self-report and interview data were collected to measure each parent's participation in three categories of parental involvement (interaction, accessibility, and responsibility), as well as perceptions of the parenting alliance and marital quality. Multiple regression procedures suggested that fathers'perceptions of spouses' confidence in their own parenting, as well as mother's emotional appraisal of their partners' parenting and their shared parenting philosophy were significant predictors of father involvement in child rearing activities. Results are discussed in terms of future research on paternal involvement, as well as for the development of intervention programs designed to facilitate increased levels of father involvement in child rearing.