Theorizing the father–child relationship: mechanisms and developmental outcomes

“The role of the father as a playmate continues to receive emphasis in recent research (Paquette, 2004; Roggman, Boyce, Cook, Christiansen, & Jones, 2004).”

“Perhaps father-child relationships are more susceptible to the declines in shared activities (e.g., “rough and tumble play”) over middle childhood (Paquette, 2004), whereas mothers might continue to be involved in their children’s lives in ways (e.g., disclosure) that decline more slowly than…”

“Fathers often interact differently with boys than with girls (Lindsey & Mize, 2001; Rogers, Buchanan, & Winchell, 2003), and it may be reasonable to hypothesize that fathers may play more instrumental roles with boys and more expressive roles with girls (Paquette, 2004).”

“…play an important role in children’s need to be calmed and secured, the father-child activation relationship plays an important role in children’s exploration of the outside world by satisfying children’s need to be stimulated, to overcome limits, and to learn to take chances (Paquette 2004).”

“Theorists point out that employing a maternal framework of involvement to understand paternal behaviors may fit as a general theory of parental involvement but misses the unique ways in which fathers interact and contribute to child development (Paquette, 2004).”

“Paternal experiences may have more important implications for the family because fathers tend to be more involved in American culture than mothers (Kim, Gonzales, Stroh, & Wang, 2006) and are generally more responsible for socializing children into the outside world (Paquette, 2004).”

“The reason for this difference between parents is currently unknown; however, it may be related to gender differences in parental influence on the development of a child’s coping strategies: Fathers are more likely to promote active, autonomous, and curious attitudes in children through encouraging their children to b…”

“encouragement of risk-taking, exploration, and involvement in physical play support toddlers’ and preschoolers’ growing autonomy and affect management (Grossmann et al., 2008; Paquette, 2004; Paquette & Bigras, 2010).”

“Recently, this play style has been theorized and described as an activation relationship, which promotes children’s development and contributes to emotional bonding between fathers and children (see Paquette, 2004).”

“Behaviour Research and Therapy 109 (2018) 18–28”

“According to the father-child activation relationship theory, compared to mothers, fathers are more likely to encourage their children to take initiative and to be braver in unfamiliar situations, fostering children’s exploration and openness to new experiences (Paquette, 2004).”

“…may be more affected by these difficulties because they may spend more time with their children than men or feel a greater sense of responsibility for the well-being of their children compared to fathers due to gendered parenting roles and expectations (Gaviria & Rondon, 2010; Paquette, 2004).”

“Indeed, building on the differences observed between mother-child and father-child interactions, some authors consider that fathers play an important but different role from mothers in child development mainly in the development of exploration and autonomy (Bacro 2012; Paquette 2004).”

“Being a playmate is an important role for fathers, especially in contexts that involve risk or uncertainty for the child (Fletcher et al., 2013; Grossmann et al., 2008; Paquette, 2004).”

“Paquette (2004) proposed that an emotional bond and interactions between father and child, referred to as the father-child relationship, plays an important role in facilitating children’s openness to the world and helps them to develop a sense of self and have positive relationships with others…”

“Paquette (2004) asserts that this physical activity provides children opportunities for learning the communicative value of affective displays in self and others that are particularly relevant to the development of peer competence.”

“, 1984) and emotional regulation (Cabrera et al., 2007; Paquette, 2004), the latter of which is likely a key component in complying to parental requests.”

“Both the activation relationship (Paquette, 2004c) and CPB (Majdandžić et al., 2016) include roughand-tumble play (RTP) in their conceptualizations.”

“A relatively new theoretical and methodological approach involves comparing dual-parent families based on the degree of differentiation between parents’ functions (see Le Camus, 2000; Newland, Coyl-Shepherd, & Paquette, 2012; Paquette, 2004).”

“That is, because fathers tend to engage with their children in different ways than mothers, sensitivity may not be the primary way in which fathers’ characteristics are transmitted to their children (Paquette, 2004).”

“Although some scholars argue and show that certain roles might still be most prominent amongst solely mothers or fathers—for mothers the role of warm and nurturing caregiver, and for fathers the role of disciplinarian (Goldscheider & Popenoe, 1997) or rough-and-tumble playmate (Paquette, 2004)—the roles of fathers (an…”

“According to the activation relationship theory, children are classified as activated (explore environment appropriately, and obey limits set by the father for their protection), under activated (fearful to explore, cautious and obedient), or overactivated (showing no hesitation or fear in exploration, even in the pre…”

“This argument, which other researchers (e.g., K. Grossmann et al., 2002; Paquette, 2004; Volling & Belsky, 1992) have also raised, would account for findings of a number of studies that failed to find links between the father–child strange situation attachment pattern and later child adjustment (e.”

“A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript A uthor M anuscript component (Paquette, 2004).”

“Such findings have led a number of researchers to argue, that fathers might exhibit unique parenting behaviors that are relevant to identify and address alongside more traditional parenting constructs [27, 28].”

“In typical development, boys tend to choose their fathers as a playmate over their mothers (Paquette, 2004) and fathers have been shown to influence the development of future social relationships (McElwain and Volling, 2004; Volling et al.”

“While some researchers have proposed fathers’ play with children as important for further consideration (Grossmann et al., 2002; Kazura, 2000; Paquette, 2004), others have highlighted the role of affection in attachment relationships (Bretherton, Lambert, & Golby, 2005).”

“Some scholars state that mothers and fathers are generally assumed to differ in their input and contributions to their child’s development (Paquette, 2004).”

“The activation relationship theory resulted from the need to develop a better understanding of father–child attachment (Paquette, 2004a, 2004b).”

“The ideas of Grossmann et al. (2002) and Paquette (2004), coupledwith the intriguing findings of Hazen et al. (2010), suggest examination of paternal stimulation and father-infant attachment within the context of sensitive and intrusive parenting behavior.”

“Fathers assume the task of ‘opening the child to the outside world’ by ‘inciting children to take initiative in unfamiliar situations, explore, take chances, overcome obstacles, be braver in the presence of strangers and stand up for themselves’ (Paquette, 2004, p. 199).”

“Paquette and Bigras [18] have shown that the threefold attachment typology (ABC) using the SS and the activation typology using the RS are orthogonal and evaluate different constructs.”

“…fathers will use games and set challenges to encourage children to face dangers, overcome difficulties, and promote children’s social adaptability (Paquette, 2004), which may serve as an effective indicator of adolescents’ psychological elasticity (Xiaoyan et al., 2011); mothers, however, tend…”

“This interpretation is also in line with the idea of the father as a person who is in between the familiar and safe mother and the novel and potentially unsafe stranger (Bögels & Phares, 2008; Paquette, 2004).”

“Although our results are somewhat contradictory to Paquette’s (2004a) theory pointing to the primary role of activation and destabilization of the child in fostering father–child attachment, we do believe that the present findings remain complementary to the results obtained using the RS.”

“According to “father-child activation” theory, active play with fathers fosters more control and risk-taking in toddlers (Paquette, 2004; Paquette & Dumont, 2013).”

“Pursuant to this supposition, Paquette (2004) has demonstrated that father play with infants and toddlers is typically characterized by regular patterns of increasing emotional arousal followed by decreasing arousal.”

“…incentivizing their child to be independent and adventurous and encouraging children’s behavioral coping based on bravery and risk-taking behaviors (Paquette 2004; Verhoeven et al. 2012), while mothers are more involved in providing emotional support, personal safety, and care (McBride and Mills…”

“Theoretical advances (e.g., Paquette, 2004) further highlight the potentially complementary roles of mothers and fathers in children’s development, with high father engagement and strong father-child relationships posited as especially important for fostering greater self-regulation among children.”

“Moreover, the literature already affirms that fathers play a particularly important role in the child’s development, especially in terms of children’s openness to the world (Cabrera, Volling, & Barr, 2018; Paquette, 2004).”

“…often similar, broadly speaking, mothers have been found to spend a greater proportion of time engaged in caregiving than fathers, whereas fathers have engaged in more play and recreation with children and tend to excite them and encourage them to take risks (Lewis and Lamb 2003; Paquette 2004).”

“Given that fathers also develop attachment and caregiving skills (Paquette 2004; Cabrera 2020), other neurobiological mechanisms, and not only pregnancyrelated brain structure alterations, are likely responsible for the transition to effective parenting.”

“Recent research has found that mothers and fathers may have very different roles to play in caring for their children (Grossmann et al, 2002 ; Paquette, 2004 ).”

“Limited social and emotional support can add more stress to a father’s life, which is associatedwith an increase in psychological disorders (Paquette, 2004).”

“Possibly, this reflects a distinct change of importance of the father as parent, especially concerning the support of exploration (Bretherton 2010; Paquette 2004).”

“Whereas fathers are prone to support their children in a challenging way, emphasizing autonomy, independency and exploration in their children, mothers tend to be more care-oriented and comforting, emphasizing the attachment pole of the attachment-exploration balance (Bacro and Florin 2009; Grossmann et al. 2002; Noom…”

“…& Goldberg, 1984; Lamb & Oppenheim, 1989; Lamb & Billings, 1997; Lewis & Takahashi, 2005; Martin, Clements, & Crnic, 2002; Mendonça, 2005; Paquette, 2004; Parke, 2002, 2004; Roggman, Boyce, Cook, Christianses, & Jones, 2004; Tamis-LeMonda & Cabrera, 2002; de Falco et al., 2008; de Falco,…”

“Positive and consistent father involvement has a positive influence on child well-being and can significantly influence the cognitive development of their children (King, Harris, & Heard, 2004; King & Sobolewski, 2006; Paquette, 2004).”

“For instance, some authors suggest that fathers are more likely to support children’s exploration through play, providing them with challenge and encouraging openness to the outside world, whereas mothers would be more likely to take on the role of emotional support in distressing situations, thus providing emotional…”

“Sociological research has described the father-child bond as an “activation relationship” that is developed through co–physical activity and stimulating, vigorous, and unpredictable physical play.(23,24) In an interesting qualitative study, independent groups of fathers and adult daughters both identified joint partic…”

“Fathers may also provide the necessary scaffolding and discipline needed to inhibit aggressive responding (Paquette, 2004), particularly in response to sibling quarrels (Volling & Belsky, 1992).”

“The former, spearheaded by developmental psychologists, investigates the quantity and quality of father–child interactions and the father’s direct and indirect influence on child outcomes (Lamb, 2010; Paquette, 2004).”

“Children prefer to seek affection and warmth from mothers (Paquette, 2004).”

“Fathers like to excite, surprise, and encourage their children to take risks (Grossmann et al., 2002; Paquette, 2004; Roggman, Boyce, & Cook, 2001) whereas mothers are more likely to structure, guide, and teach and are more open to pretend-play situations (e.g., Gleason, 2005; John, Halliburton, &…”

“Studies conducted on father-child interactions have shown that exciting and unpredictable play with their fathers had an important role in introducing young children to the outside world (Grossmann et al., 2002; Paquette, 2004).”

“Findings provide partial support for our hypotheses and align with prior work indicating that mothers and fathers may play divergent roles in the socialization of adolescent autonomy (e.g., Paquette, 2004; Kenny & Gallagher, 2002).”

“…to establish an attachment relationship with their children by engaging in care activities, whereas fathers try to form an activation relationship with their children and thus promote their offspring to conduct physical and socially competitive behaviors (Dumont and Paquette 2013; Paquette 2004).”

“Paquette (2004) distinguished two dimensions of fathering that are specific for the father–child relationship: stimulation, wherein fathers encourage the child’s interaction with the outside world, and discipline, to provide children with limits that protect their safety during that exploration (Paquette 2004).”

“Father’s involvement in physical play encourages obedience and the ability to deal with conflict situations with peers in a socialized manner (Paquette 2004).”

“to regulate their behaviours in arousing and challenging contexts, and thought to improve children’s social abilities (Paquette, 2004).”

“In the parenting of older children, fathers interact in more physically active ways compared with mothers (Paquette, 2004).”

“…positive Black fathering usually involves the examination of parenting processes such as parental involvement, interaction during play, and monitoring (Downer & Mendez, 2005; McHale et al., 2006), features of parenting known to promote attachment security (Grossmann et al., 2002; Paquette, 2004).”

“However, claims that heterosexual fathers make a unique contribution to children’s development (Jeynes, 2016) persist, often attributed to evolved differences between males and females (Paquette, 2004).”

“The role of fathers in children’s injury-risk behaviour has largely been neglected, but recent research suggests that fathers may have a positive impact on their children’s behaviour, particularly in relation to safe exploration (Paquette, 2004).”

“The results of recent research in this domain demonstrate the importance of physical play – more commonly a characteristic of father–child interaction – to the development of an attachment relationship with the father (Grossmann et al., 2002; Paquette, 2004).”

“Highly educated fathers are more likely to maintain a good parent-child relationship, for they are more aware of the problems and adverse effects, and can provide measures to improve the situation [55].”