A MetaA Meta Analysis on Father Involvement andAnalysis on Father Involvement andA MetaA Meta--Analysis on Father Involvement and Analysis on Father Involvement and Early Childhood SocialEarly Childhood Social--Emotional DevelopmentEmotional Development

Robby HarrisDepartment of Applied PsychologyDepartment of Applied Psychology

New York University

A k l d tA k l d tAcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

Many thanks to Dr. Christy McWayne, Dr. Rodrigo Campos, and the entire McWayne Research Lab

Thanks to Dr. Jason Downer, University of Virginia

Development in Early Childhood andDevelopment in Early Childhood andDevelopment in Early Childhood and Development in Early Childhood and SocialSocial--Emotional AbilitiesEmotional Abilities

Transition to formal school environment Leave home for extended time, possibly for the first time Much less individual attention Extensive peer interaction

School readiness is a measure of a child’s likelihood to School readiness is a measure of a child s likelihood to succeed in this new setting Cognitive ability

Reading skills Language development Motor/physical development Reading skills

Math skills Motor/physical development Social-emotional abilities

Importance of developing social-emotional abilities to be successful in the transition (Raver & Zigler, 1997)

Importance of Parent InvolvementImportance of Parent InvolvementImportance of Parent InvolvementImportance of Parent Involvement

Parent involvement facilitates this transition Parent involvement facilitates this transition Academic achievement (Flouri & Buchanan, 2004) Social-emotional competence (Overbeek et al., 2007)p ( , )

Who is included in this research?M h i l d d f h Mothers are included, fathers are not.

What about the dads? Mothers are more likely to be the child’s primary caregiver. Mothers are more likely to be the child s primary caregiver.

Fathers are important.p

F th I l t i E l Childh dF th I l t i E l Childh dFather Involvement in Early ChildhoodFather Involvement in Early Childhood

Fathers help their preschool children develop: self-esteem

social competence social competence empathetic skills emotion regulation positive self-concept

Unique contributions, as distinct from mothers Unique contributions, as distinct from mothers

Discrepancies in the literature on how father involvement helps children develop these abilities

Influences on Father Involvement andInfluences on Father Involvement andInfluences on Father Involvement and Influences on Father Involvement and SocialSocial--Emotional DevelopmentEmotional Development

YES NO

Father involvement, regardless of SES

The influence of father involvement

YES NO

SES regardless of SES, helps children to develop the same social emotional

father involvement on developing social-emotional abilities in children

SES

Race/Ethnicity social-emotional abilities.

abilities in children differs according to the SES of the f the

Race/Ethnicity

Residential Status father.Residential Status

Addressing Conflicting FindingsAddressing Conflicting Findingsg g gg g g

Conducting a meta-analysis helps us to make sense of the literature. A meta-analysis examines every study that has been

conducted on a particular topic to assess the relationship between variables.

An index of the strength of the relationship, called an effect size, is calculated for each study.

Data are integrated to obtain a general estimate of theData are integrated to obtain a general estimate of the strength of the relationship between variables (Leary, 2008).

A meta-analysis is a study of studies.

Inclusion of moderating variables: SES Race/Ethnicity Father Residential Status

Research QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch QuestionsResearch Questions

What is the relationship between father involvement and hild ’ i l ti l biliti i l hildh d?children’s social-emotional abilities in early childhood?

Does the relationship vary as a function of SES, / th i it f th id ti l t t ?race/ethnicity, or father residential status?

Social-Emotional Outcomes

Father Involvement

OutcomesSES

Race/Ethnicity/ y

Residential Status

MethodsMethods 3,775 titles collected.

Data collectionArticles of basic relevance to father involvement or school

di Keywords

e.g., father, early childhood, father involvement, preschool Sample size for this project

13 ti l

readiness, 2,750 articles remain.

Databases e.g., PsychINFO, ERIC, IBBS

Inclusion criteria

13 articles 73 effect sizes 817 total participants

Articles fit into specific inclusion criteria,

125 articles remain.

Relevance (FI or SR) Early childhood (ages 3-8) Published in years 1998-2008

p p

Relevance to early childhood school readiness outcomes,

Empirical (data collection) Quantitative Outcomes of FI, not determinants

30 articles remain.

Relevance to social-emotionalRelevance to social-emotional development,

13 articles remain.

S l Ch t i tiS l Ch t i tiSample CharacteristicsSample Characteristics

Dimensions of Father Involvement Dimensions of Father Involvement Active Father Involvement

Engagement/activity Communication Attachment Caregiving

Passive Father Involvement Presence Financial assistance

Dimensions of Social-Emotional Outcomes Positive: social skills emotion regulation Positive: social skills, emotion regulation Negative: behavior problems

Example of Included StudyExample of Included Study

Father Involvement Social-EmotionalFather Involvement Measures

Social-Emotional Measures

Activities with Your Child Temperament Assessment pBattery

Family Involvement Penn Interactive Peer Play ScaleFamily Involvement Questionnaire

Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale

D hi Q ti i E ti R l ti Ch kli tDemographic Questionnaire Emotion Regulation Checklist

9 total effect sizes from this study

(Downer & Mendez, 2005)

73 total effect sizes to be included in this meta-analysis

D t A l iD t A l iData AnalysisData Analysis

Calculated effect sizes within each study Calculated effect sizes within each study

Calculated mean effect sizes across each dimension of FI and S/E outcomes Random-effects model: we assume that included studies do not

embody “identical” true effect sizes (Borenstein, 2009).h d h l d d More weight was given to studies that included more variance

and larger sample sizes

Tests for heterogeneity and publication bias

Effects of moderating variables Effects of moderating variables

Summary of Effect Size ResultsSummary of Effect Size ResultsSummary of Effect Size ResultsSummary of Effect Size Results

Father Involvement

Active Involvement

Passive Involvement

Summary MeasuresOutcome

Summary Effect Size# of effect sizes

p-valuePositive

.22310 001

N/AN/AN/Ap value

Summary Effect Size# of effect sizes

lNegative

-.13320 069

-.14100 089

0.001 N/A

p-value 0.069 0.089

There was a significant effect between active fatherThere was a significant effect between active father involvement and positive social-emotional outcomes.

Active Father Involvement and Active Father Involvement and ct e at e o e e t a dct e at e o e e t a dPositive OutcomesPositive Outcomes

Correlation and 95% CICorrelation and 95% CISignificant summary

ffMean effectsize for each

study included

effect size of .22

study included

Summary effect size for

ll t di-1.00 -0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00-1.00 -0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00all studiesIndicative of no effect

Tests for Heterogeneity & Publication BiasTests for Heterogeneity & Publication BiasTests for Heterogeneity & Publication BiasTests for Heterogeneity & Publication Bias

Heterogeneity: how much of the variation is real? Heterogeneity: how much of the variation is real? Q statistic = 32.55, p-value = 0.002

Because the Q statistic was significant, that means there was h t it i th b d ff theterogeneity in the observed effects.

I2 = 60% (of the observed variation was real) There was enough variation to warrant moderation analyses. There was enough variation to warrant moderation analyses.

Publication Bias: are the studies included in this analysis representative of all of the studies executed y pon this topic or merely of those being published? There was no evidence of publication bias.

Moderating VariablesModerating Variablesgg

Is the moderator significant in

Moderators Outcome

significant in explaining any

variability?

Low Positive No

SES

LowMid/High

Positive No

LowMid/High

Negative

R / Minority Negative

No

NoRace/ Ethnicity

MinorityNon-minority

Negative

Residential Nonresidential Negative

No

NoResidential Status

NonresidentialResidential

Negative No

Findings & DiscussionFindings & Discussiongg

There was a significant positive effect between active father involvement and the development of youngfather involvement and the development of young children’s positive social-emotional abilities. There were significant trends between father involvement g

and children’s social-emotional problems.

Neither SES, race/ethnicity, or residential status served as significant moderators of this relationshipserved as significant moderators of this relationship. The relationship between father involvement and children’s

social-emotional outcomes may be the same across all levels of the moderators.

However, caution should be used in interpreting these results because of the great deal of data missing from theresults because of the great deal of data missing from the moderator variable analyses.

Future DirectionsFuture Directions

Directionality of resultsDoes father involvement affect child outcomes does child Does father involvement affect child outcomes, does child behavior affect father involvement, or is it transactional?

Longitudinal data on father involvement and child outcomes will help to address these questions.

Missing data from moderator variable analysesi d f ll i It is necessary to study context more purposefully in

relation to father involvement and child outcomes.

Measurements of father involvement Measurements of father involvement Need for a more explicit conception of father involvement More measures that directly sample fathers

School readiness meta-analysis

Dads Make A DifferenceDads Make A Difference

Thank You!Thank You!