A follow-up study was conducted in 1981 of 56 of the 59 middle-class, two parent families who had participated in a 1977 study of paternal involvement with preschoolers. It was found, as hypothesized in terms of role theory, that families in which fathers had been the principal caregiver showed the least sta bility in childcare arrangements. The 1977 antecedents of subsequent father in volvement differed by sex of child. For families with daughters, the mother's negative views of her own father's availability were associated with her spouse's involvement in childrearing in 1981, as they were in 1977. For families with sons, however, paternal variables, such as his negative views of his own father, were linked to father involvement in 1981, although they were not associated 4 years earlier. The change was interpreted in terms of the emerging salience of sons for fathers as boys pass the preschool age and enter the age of reason.
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