Fathers Are Vital for Child Development

"Three questions drawn from parental acceptance–rejection theory were addressed: (a) Are children’s perceptions of parental acceptance transnationally associated with specific personality dispositions? (b) Are adults’ remembrances of parental acceptance in childhood transnationally associated with these personality dispositions? and (c) Do relations between parental acceptance and offspring’s personality dispositions vary by gender of parents? All studies used the child and adult versions of the Parental Acceptance–Rejection Questionnaires (PARQ) for Mothers and for Fathers, as well as the child and adult versions of the Personality Assessment Questionnaire (PAQ). Results showed that both maternal and paternal acceptance in childhood correlated significantly in all countries with all seven personality dispositions of adult offspring. Adults’ remembrance of paternal acceptance in childhood correlated significantly with all adult personality dispositions except dependence."

--Abstract by Abdul Khaleque and Ronald P. Rohner of their study, "Transnational Relations Between Perceived Parental Acceptance and Personality Dispositions of Children and Adults -- A Meta-Analytic Review," published in the May, 2012, Personality and Social Psychology Review, available on line at

http://psr.sagepub.com/content/16/2/103.full

The study found that

• Both acceptance by the mother and by the father correlated in all countries with seven measured personality dispositions of adult offspring

• Adult memories of paternal acceptance in childhood had a significant correlation with adult personality dispositions except dependence

In other words, though the bond between mother and child is a powerful and natural event, fathers also matter, sometimes critically. Other studies show that fatherhood matters with respect to curbing impulsiveness and in developing a stick-to-it attitude cfitrical to academic success.