Father Involvement and Adolescent Adjustment: Longitudinal Findings from Add Health

Abstract

Based on two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, evidence from 2,387 adolescents tested the hypothesis that mothers and fathers in two-parent families make unique, additive contributions to the delinquency, depressive symptoms, and alcohol use behaviors of their children. Cross-sectional and longitudinal structural equation models were used to explain variance in problematic outcomes. Before controlling for baseline scores, the cross-sectional and longitudinal results supported the conclusion that mother and father involvement explained unique variance in children’s adjustment. For delinquency and alcohol behaviors, the associations were attenuated considerably when Wave 1 behaviors were held constant. For depressive symptoms, only father involvement was a practically significant predictor. Results are discussed in light of methodological considerations pertaining to investigations of parent involvement during adolescence.

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