Parents –fathers as well as mothers – vary not only in the quality of their parenting but in their degree of involvement with their children. Father involvement is positively associated with children’s peer relationships (Burns & Dunlop, 1998), and psychosocial adjustment (Flouri & Buchanan, 2002), as well as social, emotional, and cognitive development (Cabrera et al., 2000; Pleck, 2010). In a recent systematic review of 24 longitudinal studies involving 22,300 children, Sarkadi, Kristiansson, Oberklaid, and Bremberg (2008) found that nearly all studies reported a positive effect of paternal influence on children’s psychosocial adjustment.
