This study highlights the importance of parenting quality and father involvement for healthy adolescent adjustment in different types of families. Although step and intact families vary in the quality of their parenting, the links between quality of parenting and adolescent outcomes are similar across family structure and ethnicity. These findings move us beyond the previous focus on white intact middle class families and also demonstrate the applicability of core findings to diverse family situations. In short, our findings confirm that fathering matters regardless of family type or ethnic background. Moreover, fathers make unique contributions to adolescent adjustment above and beyond mothers’ parenting.
