Fathers and infants

The authors provide a brief overview of historical definitions of father's caregiving role and describe historical themes addressed in studies of the impact of fathers' on their infants and young children. The authors suggest six themes that not only are descriptive of contemporary research with fathers, but also represent an agenda for guiding research and clinical studies of fathers during the opening decade of the 21st century: (1) focus on direct assessment of fathers' parenting behavior, rather than relying on maternal report, (2) focus on the effects of father presence on early child development, rather than the effects of his absence, (3) focus on individual differences among fathers, including within-culture and cross-cultural determinants of fathering and their impact on child outcomes, (4) focus on the father's role in gender socialization, (5) focus on conceptualizing family as more than a dyad, regardless of whether a biological or social father is part of the family unit, and (6) focus on inclusion of fathers in psychotherapeutic interventions involving families with infants and young children.