Parental Alliance as a Predictor of Father Involment -- An Exploratory Study

Parenting Alliance as a Predictor of Father Involvement: An Exploratory StudyAuthor(s): Brent A. McBride and Thomas R. RaneSource: Family Relations, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Jul., 1998), pp. 229-236Published by: National Council on Family RelationsNational Council on Family RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/584971Accessed: 09/12/2010 16:42

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Parenting Alliance as a Predictor of Father Involvement: An Exploratory Study* Brent A. McBride** and Thomas R. Rane

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship between perceptions of the parenting alliance, marital quality, and the amount of involvement fathers have in raising their young children. Subjects were 89 predominately White, two- parent families with preschool aged children. Self-report and interview data were collected to measure each parent's participation in three categories of parental involvement (interaction, accessibility, and responsibility), as well as perceptions of the parenting alliance and marital quality. Multiple regression procedures suggested that fathers' perceptions of spouses' confidence in their own parenting, as well as mother's emotional appraisal of their partners' parenting and their shared parenting philosophy were significant predictors offather involvement in child rearing activities. Results are discussed in terms offuture research on paternal involvement, as well as for the development of intervention programs designed to facilitate increased levels offather involvement in child rearing.

I nterest in the roles played by fathers in raising their young children emerged as a hot topic during the mid-1980s, and continues to hold the interest of researchers, practitioners,

and families alike as we pass through the 1990s. Evidence of this strong interest can be seen in the recent wave of books, special issues of scholarly journals, and magazine articles aimed at parents which are devoted to this topic (e.g., Families In Society, Jan. 1993; Griswold, 1993; Hawkins & Dollahite, 1997; Hood, 1993; Journal of Family Issues, Dec. 1993; Lamb, 1997; Snarey, 1993). Much of this work has focused specifically on father involvement in nurturing aspects of child rearing. Marsiglio (1995a) suggests that three factors have contributed to this increased interest in the role of fathers: (a) changes in the demo- graphic profile of modern families; (b) increased maternal employment and its impact on the division of household labor; and (c) increased policy debates over the well-being of children.

Paralleling this increased interest in the roles of fathers has been a shift in societal expectations for fatherhood. The question is no longer one of whether men are capable of providing effective parenting as women historically have done. There is ample evidence suggesting that men can have a positive impact on their children's development when actively engaged in direct child rearing activities (e.g., Almeida & Galambos, 1991; Lamb, 1997; Snarey, 1993; Starrels, 1994; Williams, Radin, & Allegro, 1992). With the potential ability of men to provide competent parenting no longer being the central question in this area, societal expectations have emerged which call for men to assume a more active role in raising their young children (Griswold, 1993; Knijn, in press; LaRossa, 1988; Marsiglio, 1995b; McBride & Mills, 1993; Pleck & Pleck, 1997). LaRossa and his colleagues (LaRossa, Gordon, Wilson, Bavian, & Jaret, 1991) suggest that "conven- tional wisdom has it that America is in the midst of an unprece- dented revolution in men's paternal role expectations-that popular attitudes about what fathers can and-should do are changing in ways not dreamed of before" (p. 994).

Consistent with this shift in societal expectations for fatherhood, fathers are slowly beginning to increase the amount of time they spend caring for their children. For example, in a thorough analysis of previous time use studies, Pleck (1997) identifies measurable increases in fathers' involvement with their children over the last three decades. However, these increases are small, and fathers continue to spend significantly less time than mothers caring for children. This phenomenon then raises an interesting question: what factors are related to increased levels of paternal involvement exhibited by some fathers? The present study ad-

dresses this issue by examining factors which may encourage men to assume a more active role in raising their young children, thus allowing them to live up to changing societal expectations for fatherhood.

Definition of Father Involvement The lack of a clear and consistent definition of father in-

volvement has been a major obstacle to research on the paternal role (Marsiglio, 1995a; Pleck, 1997). This lack of a consensus in the definitions used has become an even greater barrier in light of changing societal expectations for fatherhood (McBride & McBride, 1993). Lamb and his colleagues' (Lamb, Pleck, Charnov, & Levine, 1987) proposed a three-part model of paternal involvement (i.e., interaction, accessibility, and responsibility) and acknowledged the various forms father participation in child rearing may take. Category one of this model (interaction) in- volves the father interacting one-on-one with his child in activities such as playing with them, feeding them and so forth. In category two (accessibility) the father may or may not be directly engaged in interaction but is still available (physically and psychologically) to his child. In category three (responsibility) the father assumes responsibility for the welfare and care of his child (e.g., making child care or baby-sitting arrangements, knowing when the child needs to go to the pediatrician). Being "responsible" doesn't necessarily involve direct interaction with the child; the concern, thought, and contingency planning that comprise paternal responsibility often occur when the father is doing some- thing else. This conceptualization has been influential in recent research on father involvement (e.g., Crouter & Crowley, 1990; McBride & Mills, 1993; McBride & Rane, 1997; Volling & Bel- sky, 1991), and appears to be emerging as the basis for a generally accepted view of the critical dimensions of positive fathering (Pleck, 1997; Radin, 1994). Marsiglio (1995a) also suggests that a multi dimensional view of paternal participation in child rearing

*This research was supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Agricultural Experi- ment Station (project # 60-0329) to the first author. Portions of this data were previously presented at the 1995 Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Indi- anapolis, IN. The authors would like to thank Joe Pleck and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

**Address correspondence to: Brent A. McBride, Department of Human and Com- munity Development, The University of Illinois, 1105 W. Nevada, Urbana, IL 61801.

Key Words: child rearing, father involvement, parenting alliance.

(Family Relations, 1998, 47, 229-236)

1998, Vol. 47, No. 3 229

is needed to advance fatherhood scholarship, and to overcome the limitations of previous definitions used for father involvement. The Lamb et al. (1987) multi dimensional model was used to op- erationalize father involvement for the present study.

Correlates of Father Involvement Belsky's (1984) process model of parenting has been a cen-

tral component of many research efforts aimed at identifying those factors which influence father involvement (Belsky, Young- blade, Rovine, & Volling, 1991; Cowan & Cowan, 1987; Grimm- Thomas & Perry-Jenkins, 1994; McBride & Mills, 1993; Volling & Belsky, 1991). Under this "determinants of parenting" perspective, paternal behaviors are determined by three categories of influences: characteristics of the father (e.g., personality, attitudes toward child rearing), characteristics of the child (e.g., temperament, age, gender), and contextual sources of stress and support (e.g., marital relationship, social support networks, occupa- tional/work experience). This perspective has guided much of the research attempting to identify the determinants of father involvement, and has led investigators to examine the relationship between paternal involvement and such factors as men's attitudes toward the paternal role (Levy-Shiff & Israelashvili, 1988; McBride & Mills, 1993; McBride & Rane, 1997; Perry-Jenkins & Crouter, 1990), children's temperament (Sirignano & Lachman, 1985), age (DeLuccie & Davis, 1991), and gender (Marsiglio, 1991), job related stress factors (Grimm-Thomas & Perry-Jenkins, 1994), and perceptions of marital quality (Belsky et al., 1991; Cowan & Cowan, 1987; Volling & Belsky, 1991).

In presenting his process model, Belsky (1984) emphasized the impact of the marital relationship on parenting, calling it, "the principle support system for parents" (p. 87). This emphasis re- flected a focus on the impact of marital satisfaction and marital interaction on parenting which was prevalent in the literature at the time of the Belsky review. Such an emphasis has remained a focus of the majority of research in this area since the emergence of this seminal paper as well. This overemphasis on the role of marital satisfaction and the exclusion of other potential marital subsystems in research examining support mechanisms for parents has come under scrutiny in recent years (Abidin, 1992; Bel- sky, Crnic, & Gable, 1995; Emery & Tuer, 1993; McBride & Mills, 1993).

Concerns about the utility of using measures of marital quality as predictors of parenting behaviors are especially pertinent in studies which examine father involvement due to discrepancies and inconsistent findings evident in investigations which examine this relationship. Data are available which suggest that marital satisfaction is a significant predictor of father involvement (Feld- man, Nash, & Aschenbrenner, 1983; Levy-Shiff & Israelashvili, 1988; Volling & Belsky, 1991). In contrast, Cowan and Cowan (1987) report that perceptions of marital quality were not a determinant of father involvement in their longitudinal study of the transition to parenthood. Mixed findings on the relationship between marital quality and father involvement are also evident. Crouter, Perry-Jenkins, Huston, and McHale (1987) report that marital negativity was positively related to increased father involvement with school-aged children, while Belsky et al. (1991) report mixed findings for mothers and fathers on the relationship between marital satisfaction and parenting behaviors. These inconsistent findings draw into question the wisdom of using marital satisfaction as a basis for predicting father involvement.

Abidin (1992) has been a vocal critic of the use of marital satisfaction as a predictor of parenting behaviors. He argues that global measures of marital satisfaction or adjustment that are commonly used in family and child development research intro- duces considerable error variance in relation to predicting parenting behaviors. In presenting an alternative to Belsky's (1984) process model of the determinants of parenting, Abidin suggests that more specific measures of those aspects of the marital relationship that bear directly on parenting may be better predictors of such behaviors than the global measures of marital satisfaction commonly used. He contends that an assessment of the parenting alliance acknowledges that both parents can be involved and function well in the parenting role, and yet not be satisfied with their personal relationship with each other. In a similar vein, Bel- sky and his colleagues (Belsky, Cmic, & Gable, 1995) recently suggested that coparenting processes (i.e., parenting alliance) are important in understanding the nature of family relationships, and the marriage, parenting, and child development interface. They also suggest that little is known about the process of coparenting, particularly in maritally intact households. In his work on parent- child interactions during infancy, McHale (1995) also presents data which underscores the importance of conceptualizing coparenting as a construct separable from marital distress. A focus on the parenting alliance aspect of the marital relationship may prove useful in research which attempts to identify predictors of father involvement.

Cohen and Weissman (1984) have defined parenting alliance as the capacity of a parent to acknowledge, respect, and value the parenting roles and tasks of the partner. They suggest this alliance encompasses interactions between parents which pertain to child rearing, with the provision that these behaviors are appropriate to the developmental needs of children. Like Abidin (1992), Cohen and Weissman argue that a parenting alliance is not syn- onymous with a marital alliance, and that an individual can have serious interpersonal difficulty with a partner while maintaining a strong relationship focused on the needs of children. These authors suggest there are four factors which are necessary for a parenting alliance to develop: (a) each of the parents must have an investment in the child; (b) each parent must value the importance of the other parent in fostering the growth and development of the child; (c) each parent must respect and value the judgements of the other parent; and (d) an ongoing means of communication must be established to maintain the alliance around the needs of the child, despite the quality of the interpersonal relationship between the parents.

Development of the parenting alliance construct has largely been based on clinical observations (Emery & Tuer, 1993). Its use in the research literature which examines predictors of parenting behavior has been limited. Floyd and Zmich (1991) found that stronger parenting partnerships (i.e., parenting alliance) were significantly related to increased parental competence of mothers and fathers of mentally retarded children. Similarly, Harper and Irvin (1985) found that compliance with mandated reporting re- quirements by potentially abusive parents is enhanced when the ability of parents to work together (i.e., parenting alliance) is stronger. In their study utilizing behavioral measures of supportive and unsupportive coparenting (i.e., parenting alliance), Belsky and his colleagues found that spouses who differ from each other psychologically (e.g., personality) as opposed to demographically (e.g., age, education) are somewhat more likely to experience unsupportive coparenting (Belsky, Crnic, & Gable, 1995). In his

230 Family Relations

study of parent-child interactions during infancy, McHale (1995) identified a strong link between marital conflict and hostile-com- petitive coparenting, especially for families with boys. Finally, in a study of parents with children suffering routine childhood ill- nesses, Frank and her colleagues (Frank et al., 1991) found that a strong parenting alliance served as a moderator for the effects of childhood illness on fathers' parenting stress. Fathers in this study with a moderate to high parenting alliance experienced greater levels of parenting stress during periods of childhood illness than those fathers with a low parenting alliance. The authors concluded the increased stress for higher parenting alliance fathers was attributable to greater levels of involvement in child rearing activities by these fathers. A similar pattern for mothers was not found.

This limited literature base suggests that a strong parental alliance may play an important role in influencing parenting behaviors of fathers and mothers with special needs or at-risk children. These findings also offer some support for the contention of Abidin (1992), Emery and Tuer (1993), Cohen and Weissman (1984), and others that the parenting alliance construct may be an important predictor of parenting behaviors in families with typically developing children. Although limited, this literature base provides insight as to the effectiveness of using measures of the parenting alliance as a potential predictor/determinant of father involvement as well. The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationships between fathers' and mothers' perceptions of the parenting alliance and the amount of involvement fathers have in raising their young children. A major goal of the study was to examine the utility of the parenting alliance construct as compared to perceptions of marital quality as a predictor of paternal involvement. The following research questions were used to guide data collection: (a) How do mothers and fathers differ in terms of participation in three categories of parental involvement? (b) What is the relationship between perceptions of parental alliance and the amount of involvement fathers have in child rearing activities, and do these perceptions serve as a better predictor of such involvement when compared to perceptions of marital quality?

Methods

Subjects Subjects for this study were 89 predominantly White, middle-

class families from two Midwestern communities. Subject families were recruited through fliers placed in local community agencies, newspapers, day care centers, and grocery stores. Criteria for inclusion in the study consisted of the oldest/target child ranging in age from three to five years, both biological parents living in the home with the target child, and the family being willing to have an assistant visit the home to conduct a 2-hour interview.

Mean ages for the fathers, mothers, and children at the time of data collection were 34.1 years, 32.4 years, and 55.8 months respectively. Forty-nine of the target children were boys and 40 were girls. Thirty-three percent of the participating families had one child, 63% had two children, and 4% had three. Eight percent of the families had combined incomes of less than $15,000, 7% had incomes between $15,000 and $25,000, 27% had incomes between $25,000 and $40,000, and 58%o had incomes greater than $40,000. The median education level was 16 years for fathers and 14 years for mothers. Eighty-seven of the fathers and 68 of the

mothers were employed outside the home, with each group working an average of 42 and 23 hours per week respectively.

Procedures

A combination of self-report and interview data was collected for this study. A series of questionnaires were used to collect information on parental responsibility in addition to perceptions of parental alliance and family demographics. A time diary interview protocol was used to measure interaction and accessibility. An initial telephone screening was conducted with respondents to insure that families met the criteria for inclusion in the study and to explain expectations for participation. Upon agreeing to participate, subjects were scheduled for a home visit by a research assistant. During this visit, (a) the mother was interviewed while the father completed the questionnaires; (b) the father was interviewed while the mother completed the questionnaires; and (c) the mother and father completed a questionnaire task together. The completion of interviews and questionnaires by mothers and fathers was counterbalanced to prevent an order effect. Subjects were unable to hear their partners' responses to the interview questions while they completed the questionnaires.

Measures

Involvement variables. The multi dimensional Lamb (Lamb et al., 1987) model guided the choice for measures of paternal/ parental involvement. The Interaction/Accessibility Time Diary interview protocol (McBride & Mills, 1993) was used to measure interaction and accessibility forms of involvement. Data were collected during these interviews with each parent individually using a forced-recall technique to assess these two forms of involvement. Data were collected for the most recent workday and nonworkday prior to the interview taking place. Prompts and cues used with the forced-recall procedure allowed the parents to describe their waking activities in great detail for the target days. All interviews were audio taped and later analyzed. Data collected were categorized as (a) interaction, (b) accessibility, or (c) no involvement at all. The final interaction score was the total number of minutes the parent interacted with the child on the workday and nonworkday combined. Interaction subscale scores for the workday and nonworkday also were computed. An accessibility total score and subscale scores were computed in a similar fashion. By definition, interaction forms of involvement were coded as accessibility as well (i.e., you must be accessible to your child to interact with them). Pairwise reliabilities were computed on data collected from 20 of the families. Levels of agreement for each of the coding categories ranged from 78 to 93%. For those parents who were not employed outside the home, nonworkday data were collected on days which matched their partners' most recent nonworkdays. This approach was used based on previous research indicating that single earner families adjust their daily routines on days when the employed parent is not at work.

An adapted version of the Parental Responsibility Scale (PRS) developed by McBride and Mills (1993) was used to measure parental responsibility. The PRS lists 14 common child care tasks in which parents of preschoolers typically participate (e.g., supervising the child's personal hygiene, making baby-sitting arrangements, selecting appropriate clothes for the child to wear, etc.). Mothers and fathers completed this instrument together and had to reach a consensus on who had primary responsibility for each task using a 5-point scale ranging from (1) mother almost always to (5) father almost always. Written and verbal instruc-

1998, Vol. 47, No. 3 231

Table 1 Parenting Alliance Inventory Subscales

Subscale Number of Itemsa Alphab Example of Items

Emotional appraisal of spouse's parenting 12 .87/.91 When I see my child's other parent interact with our child, I feel good about it.

Shared philosophy and perceptions of parenting 11 .84/.87 My child's other parent and I agree on what our child should and should not be permitted to do.

Spousal confidence in own parenting 5 .75/.81 My child's other parent believes I am a good parent.

Note. Subscales based on factor analysis of all items in original PAI instrument. aOnly items loading .40 or greater included in subscales. bAlphas fathers/mothers.

tions for this questionnaire stressed the need for parents to reach a consensus before marking each item. Responsibility was defined for the parents as remembering, planning, and scheduling the task. It was assumed that a parent could have responsibility for a task without actually performing it. The possible range of scores was from 14 to 70, with higher scores representing greater paternal participation in this category of involvement. Internal consistency for the PRS was high, with a Cronbach alpha of .86.

Z-scores were computed on the Time Diary interview data and PRS scores. These z-scores were combined to provide a com- posite measure of total mother involvement and total father involvement for subject families, and then used in subsequent analyses.

Parenting alliance. An adapted version of the Parenting Al- liance Inventory (PAI) developed by Abidin and Brunner (1991) was used to assess parents' perceptions of alliance for their shared parental roles. The PAI is a 30-item scale which addresses the four areas identified by Cohen and Weissman (1984) as being necessary for a parenting alliance to form (i.e., [a] each parent has an investment in the child; [b] each parent values the importance of the other parent in fostering the growth and development of the child; [c] each parent respects and values the judgements of the other parent; and [d] an ongoing means of communication is established which maintains the alliance around the needs of the child). Mothers and fathers completed this instrument sepa- rately, and responded to each item along a 5-point scale ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. Three subscales emerged from a principal components factor analysis of items on the PAI (see Table 1): (a) Emotional Appraisal of Spouses Parent- ing; (b) Shared Philosophy and Perceptions of Parenting; and (c) Spousal Confidence in Own Parenting. Only those items which loaded at .40 or greater were included in the final subscales used in later analyses. This strategy resulted in four of the original items being dropped from the subscales used in subsequent analyses, while two of the items loaded onto two subscales. Internal consistency for the three subscales was relatively high, with al-

phas ranging from .75 to .87 for fathers and from .81 to .91 for mothers.

Marital quality. To assess the perceived quality of the marital relationship, parents were asked to complete the Marriage Opin- ion Questionnaire (MOQ). The MOQ (Perry-Jenkins & Crouter, 1990) is a 9-item instrument designed in a semantic differential format. Parents are asked to respond to each pair of adjectives along a 7-point scale to indicate their perceptions of the marriage during the past two months (e.g., miserable vs. enjoyable). Higher total scores for the MOQ are indicative of more positive feelings about the marriage. The MOQ has been found to exhibit high levels of validity and reliability in previous studies, and to be highly correlated with the more commonly used Dyadic Ad- justment Scale (Perry-Jenkins & Crouter, 1990). Internal consistency for the present sample was high, with alphas of .94 and .95 for fathers and mothers respectively.

Results

Research Question I How do mothers and fathers differ in terms of participation

in three categories of parental involvement? Means and standard deviations were computed on each of the involvement variables for mothers and fathers (see Table 2). Based on the data presented in Table 2, fathers spent an average of 1.9 hours per workday and 3.8 hours per nonworkday interacting with their children, while mothers spent an average of 2.9 and 3.9 hours interacting with their children on workdays and nonworkdays respectively (e.g., 119 minutes = 1.9 hours). Fathers were accessible to children an average of 4.4 hours on workdays and 9.3 hours on nonworkdays, while mothers were accessible an average of 7.1 hours on workdays and 10.4 hours on nonworkdays. The mean responsibility score of 32.6 suggests an average response of 2.3 for each of the items on the PRS (2 = mother usually responsible). Paired sample t-tests revealed significant differences in all of the involvement variables except nonworkday interaction, with mothers scoring

Table 2 Mean Involvement Scores for Mothers and Fathers

Variables Fathers M Fathers (SD) Mothers M Mothers (SD) ta

Interaction Total 343.3 (159.6) 407.8 (161.1) -3.21** Workday interaction 116.9 (66.4) 172.7 (95.8) 4.91** Nonworkday interaction 226.4 (124.1) 235.1 (100.5) -0.55

Accessibility Total 822.4 (221.1) 1048.9 (237.5) -6.25*** Workday accessibility 262.3 (121.3) 423.5 (180.2) -6.55*** Nonworkday accessibility 560.2 (173.1) 625.3 (144.7) -2.60*

Responsibilityb 32.6 (5.5) 32.6 (5.5) NA

Note. n = 89. aPaired-samples t-tests, df = 88. bResponsibility measure completed by mothers and fathers jointly. *p<.05. **p<.Ol. ***p<.001.


higher on each. Analysis of variance procedures (not reported in Table 2) revealed no significant differences in mean involvement scores for mothers or fathers based on gender of the target child or the total number of children in the family.

Research Question 2 What is the relationship between perceptions of parenting al-

liance and the amount of involvement fathers have in child rearing activities, and do these perceptions serve as a better predictor of such involvement when compared to perceptions of marital quality? Correlations were computed to determine the relationship between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of parenting alliance (i.e., PAI scores), marital quality (i.e., MOQ scores), and actual levels of paternal involvement (see Table 3). Partial correlations were computed in these analyses controlling for hours of maternal employment due to the skewed distribution on this variable, as well as previous research suggesting a relationship exists between hours of maternal employment and father involvement (Pleck, 1997). When examining perceptions of marital quality, analyses revealed no significant relationships between fathers' MOQ scores and father involvement variables, with r values ranging from .01 to .19. Mothers' MOQ scores were found to be significantly related to total involvement (r = .21, p < .05) and responsibility (r = .22, p < .05) scores. These findings suggest that fathers' perceptions of marital quality were unrelated to their levels of involvement in child rearing activities, while mothers' perceptions of marital quality were somewhat related to responsibility and total involvement levels.

In contrast to the findings with MOQ scores, several significant relationships were revealed between fathers' and mothers' perceptions of the parenting alliance and levels of father involvement (see Table 3). After controlling for hours of maternal employment, significant correlations were revealed between fathers' perceptions of their spouses' confidence in their own parenting and total involvement (r = .37, p < .00 1), responsibility (r = .33, p < .01), non-workday interactions (r = .23, p < .05), and nonworkday accessibility (r = .23, p < .05) scores.

A more striking pattern of relationships was revealed for mothers. Mothers' total PAI scores were significantly related to fathers' total involvement (r = .41, p < .001), and responsibility (r = .42, p < .001) scores. When examining PAI subscales individually, mothers' emotional appraisal of their husbands' parenting

was significantly related to fathers' total involvement (r = .44, p < .001), responsibility (r = .41, p < .001), workday interaction (r = .29, p < .05), non-workday interaction (r = .21, p < .05), workday accessibility (r = .24, p < .05), and non-workday accessibility (r = .27, p < .05) scores. Mothers' perceptions of a shared philosophy and perceptions of parenting with their husbands' were also significantly related to fathers' total involvement (r = .38, p < .001), responsibility (r = .38, p < .001), and workday interactions (r = .31, p < .01) scores. Surprisingly, mothers' perceptions of their spouses confidence in their own parenting was also found to be significantly related to fathers' total involvement (r = .31, p < .01), responsibility (r = .34, p < .01), and workday interaction (r = .28, p < .01), scores. These findings suggest that mothers' and fathers' perceptions of differing aspects of the parenting alliance construct are significantly related to some aspects of men's involvement in child rearing activities.

Parents' perceptions of each of the components of the parenting alliance construct do not occur in isolation (e.g., a parent's emotional appraisal of his or her spouse's parenting is closely related and somewhat dependent on a shared philosophy of parenting). Actual fathering behaviors also do not occur in isolation from these multi-faceted perceptions of a parenting alliance. Two-step hierarchical regressions were conducted to simultane- ously explore the strength of the relationships between perceptions of the different components of a parenting alliance relative to levels of father involvement in child rearing activities. Hours of maternal employment was entered as the first step in each regression to control for the influence of this variable on father involvement. Due to their hypothesized links to father involvement, along with the strength of their correlations with the paternal involvement variables (see Table 3), fathers' perceptions of their spouses' confidence in their own parenting, mothers' emotional appraisal of their husbands' parenting, and mothers' perceptions of a shared philosophy and perceptions of parenting with their husbands' scores were entered as a block in the second step of each equation. Re- sults of the first regression run indicated that fathers' perceptions of their spouses' confidence in their own parenting skills, along with mothers' perceptions of a shared parenting philosophy and emotional appraisal of their husbands' parenting accounted for 22% of the variance in total father involvement beyond that accounted for by hours of maternal employment. In contrast, regression analyses revealed that fathers' MOQ scores accounted for only 1% of the variance in total father involvement beyond that

Table 3 Partial Correlations Between Father Involvement, Parenting Alliance Inventory, and Marriage Opinion Questionnaire a

Total Workday Nonworkday Workday Nonworkday involvement Responsibility interactions interactions accessibility accessibility

Fathers MoQb .12 .08 .18 .01 .19 .01 PAIC Total .12 .08 .19 .06 .13 -.00 Emotional Appraisal of Spouses' Parenting -.06 -.14 .14 .00 .03 -.10 Shared Philosophy and Perceptions of Parenting .08 .10 .14 .02 .10 -.03 Spousal Confidence in Own Parenting .37*** .33** .20 .23* .18 .23*

Mothers MoQb .21* .22* .19 .12 .13 .03 PAIC Total .41*** .42*** .31** .18 .21* .21* Emotional Appraisal of Spouses' Parenting .44*** .41*** .29** .21* .24* .27** Shared Philosophy and Perceptions of Parenting .38*** .38*** .31** .19 .19 .17 Spousal Confidence in Own Parenting .31** .34** .28** .07 .17 .16

Note. n = 89. aPartial correlations controlling for hours of maternal employment. bMOQ = Marriage Opinion Questionnaire CPAI = Parenting Alliance Inventory. *p <.05. **p <.01. ***p <.001.

1998, Vol. 47, No. 3 233

accounted for by hours of maternal employment, while mothers' MOQ scores accounted for only 4% of the variance in total father involvement beyond that explained by hours of maternal employment. This pattern remained when examining the predictive power of these three aspects of the parenting alliance on the other father involvement variables, with R2 values ranging from .05 to .17 (i.e., explained variance beyond that accounted for by hours of maternal employment). In comparison, the R2 values for fathers' MOQ scores as a predictor of the other father involvement variables ranged from .01 to .03, while the R2 values for mothers' MOQ scores ranged from .01 to .04. These findings suggest that these three aspects of the parenting alliance construct may serve as better predictors of father involvement than parents' perceptions of marital quality. Mothers' scores on the spousal confidence in own parenting subscale of the PAI were not entered into the regression analyses for conceptual reasons (i.e., whether a mother perceives her partner has confidence in her own parenting skills is not conceptually linked to what a father does in terms of parenting). In addition, adding this variable to the equations did not statistically increase the amount of variance explained in total father involvement (R2 = .217 with the variable added and R2 - .216 without the variable added).

Discussion

Data was collected for the present study to explore the relationships between fathers' and mothers' perceptions of the parenting alliance and the amount of involvement fathers have in caring for their young children, and to explore the effectiveness of the parenting alliance construct as compared to perceptions of marital quality as a predictor of father involvement. A multi dimensional view of father involvement was used as a means of assessing the critical dimensions that comprise fathering behaviors, and also to address some of the shortcomings in the literature on fatherhood identified by Marsiglio (1995b), Pleck (1997), Radin (1994), and others.

The levels of parental participation in child rearing activities measured in this study all fall within the ranges of paternal involvement identified by Pleck (1997) in his extensive review of the literature on fatherhood. Consistent with the findings cited in the Pleck review, men in the current study participated significantly less in child rearing activities than their wives. Although their levels of involvement appear to be higher than previous gen- erations of fathers, these significant differences indicate that fathers may not be living up to increased societal expectations for active paternal involvement and equitable coparenting outlined by Griswold (1993), LaRossa (1988), Marsiglio (1995b), Pleck and Pleck (1997), and others. This phenomenon underscores the importance of exploring potential antecedents and/or barriers to active paternal involvement as researchers and educators attempt to identify and develop mechanisms designed to help families better meet changing societal expectations for fatherhood.

In examining the relationship between perceptions of parental alliance and the amount of involvement fathers have in child rearing activities, the results provide empirical support for the contention of Abidin (1992), Emery and Tuer (1993), Cohen and Weissman (1984), and others that parents' assessme9ts of their parenting alliance may serve as important predictors of paternal involvement. This is consistent with Belsky's (1984) emphasis on the marital relationship as a principle support system for parents in their parenting role. However, the present findings

indicate that assessments of the parenting alliance are much stronger predictors of father involvement than are parents' global ratings of their marital satisfaction. One possible explanation for these findings is methodological (e.g., results may be due to differences between the variance in the measures). Examination of the means and standard deviations on these measures indicates this was not the case1. These results extend past research on how marital relations affect parenting by shifting attention away from marital satisfaction as the primary dimension of the marital relationship related to father involvement. Such findings underscore the importance of examining the parental alliance as a distinctive and important feature of the relationships that husbands and wives will have with one another. These findings also lend support for Abidin's (1992) contention that both parents can be involved and function well in the parenting role, and yet not be satisfied with their personal relationship with each other.

Moving beyond this general conclusion, the results from the analyses of the PAI subscales are strongly suggestive of maternal gate keeping as a significant factor in regulating the amount of involvement these fathers had in direct child care and responsibility for their preschool aged children. Ihinger-Tallman, Pasley, and Buehler (1995) suggested that mothers in divorced families often serve as gatekeepers to father-child relationships (see also Ahrons, 1983; Arendell, 1992; Dudley, 1991). Recently, DeLuccie (1995) presented evidence that mothers may act as gatekeepers in two parent co-residential families as well. The current data provide support for DeLuccie's findings. For example, fathers who felt that their wives had greater confidence in their parenting abilities were significantly more involved with and responsible for their children. This suggests that these fathers are sensitive to their spouses' assessments of them as parents, and that they take cues from their spouses' assessments about how and how much to be involved. This interpretation is bolstered by the finding that fathers whose wives gave a more positive emotional appraisal of their parenting were also more involved and more responsible. Finally, fathers whose wives perceived a greater sense of shared philosophy and perceptions of parenting with them also interacted more with and assumed more responsibility for their young children. This finding indicates that the less agreement between parents about parenting, the more mothers prevailed, and con- versely the less involved fathers were.

Implications

Due to the correlational nature of the data reported here, no definitive causal statements can be made concerning the relationships between fathers' and mothers' assessments of the parenting alliance and father involvement. For example, it could be argued that the more involved a father is with his children, the more likely he would be to perceive that his spouse had confidence in his parenting abilities. It could also be argued that the more involved a father is, the more likely his spouse would be to experience positive emotions about his interactions and to have a greater sense of a shared parenting philosophy with him. However, conceptually these arguments seem much less compelling and meaningful than to posit that parents' perceptions of these components of the parenting alliance exert influence on the amount of fathers' involvement. Ultimately, longitudinal studies are needed to resolve this concern.

Caution must also be used in generalizing results from the present study to other populations. Subjects for this study were


from predominantly White, middle-class, two-parent families with preschool aged children. The relationships between parental alliance and father involvement may differ in other ecological contexts (e.g., low income families, minority families, families with older children, divorced/noncustodial fathers, dual earner vs. single earner families). Future research will be needed to explore potential variations in these relationships in different family types and situations.

Finally, caution must also be used when examining research which calls for increased levels of father involvement. There are many situations where greater involvement is neither develop- mentally facilitative nor desirable. While greater involvement may be beneficial to children or mothers or fathers, it is not always the case that greater involvement will always lead to desirable out- comes. As Pleck (1997) argues, fatherhood research needs to move away from a focus on involvement per se, to a focus on positive paternal involvement that is beneficial for all concerned.

Notwithstanding these cautions, the present findings have important implications for the development of parent education and support programs aimed at increasing father involvement in two parent families. During the past 10 to 15 years several different parent training models targeted specifically at fathers have been developed (e.g., Levine, Murphy & Wilson, 1993; May, 1991; McBride & McBride, 1993; Palm & Johnson, 1992). These and many similar programs typically provide services to father only groups or to father/child play groups in which men are encouraged to explore new ways of interacting with their children, with the ultimate goal of increasing such interaction. The present data suggest that such efforts may fall short of addressing important factors which encourage and/or constrain increased father involvement. Specifically, given the significant impact of two elements of wives' perceived parenting alliance on father involvement, it seems critical to design parenting programs aimed at increasing father involvement in two parent families to include mothers as well. A major focus of these mixed-gender programs should be on helping fathers and mothers develop more open com- munications around parenting issues, and to help them develop a set of mutually agreed upon values and beliefs to guide their parenting. Findings from the current study suggest that in these efforts many mothers may need to be helped to see and be willing to ac- cept a broader range of behaviors relating to basic parenting tasks and responsibilities performed by fathers. On the other hand, many fathers may need to be encouraged to be more assertive in the parenting domain, and to overcome a possible tendency to use their spouses' resistance to their involvement in various aspects of parenting as an excuse to disengage.

Two other important implications for the creation of mixed- gender parenting programs designed to encourage and/or facilitate increased levels of father involvement can be drawn from the current findings. Results indicated significant relationships existed between mothers' emotional appraisal of their spouses' parenting and fathers' perceptions of their spouses' confidence in their own parenting with actual levels of father involvement. Based on these findings, one goal of mixed-gender parenting programs should be to focus on increasing mothers' confidence in the parenting skills of their partners. Mixed-gender programs that include both parents along with their children can create opportunities for fathers to demonstrate competence in their parenting skills, while at the same time provide opportunities for mothers to express confidence in their husbands' abilities to parent effectively.

Finally, a mixed-gender approach to such programs can create a forum in which mothers and fathers can begin to address how the parenting labor and work load is distributed in their families. The current data indicated that mothers were significantly more involved in child rearing tasks than fathers. This finding is in contrast to changing societal expectations for increased levels of paternal involvement. A first step in helping men to better meet these changing societal expectations should be in providing a mechanism for exploring how parenting labor is distributed in their homes, and to acknowledge the inequity that exists in many families. By acknowledging that inequities may exist in the distribution of parenting labor in their own homes, couples can then begin to consider the basis for the distribution of the parenting work load, and to explore whether possible changes are warranted and/or needed.

In conclusion, the current study presents encouraging findings regarding the potential of the parenting alliance construct to add to our understanding of the influences on father involvement. These findings highlight the need for continued research in this area. Future research should explore the impact of the parenting alliance on divorced, noncustodial fathers' involvement with their children. Such studies could provide further empirical support for divorce mediation programs, as well as insights into how to better design and implement such programs to ensure continued paternal involvement following divorce. Several other topics will also need to be examined as researchers begin to further explore the utility of the parenting alliance construct as a means for explain- ing/predicting father involvement: the relationship between parental alliance and father involvement in various family types (e.g., single vs. dual earner, low income, minority); antecedents and predictors of a strong parenting alliance; minimal levels of marital quality for a parenting alliance to exist; and behavioral vs. perceptual measures of parenting alliance. Such efforts will yield a stronger empirical base from which more effective parental support programs can be developed and implemented in efforts to help parents adjust to changing societal expectations for fathers.

Endnote 'Data comparing differences between the variance in the measures used are available

from the authors upon request.

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Brent A. McBride is an Associate Professor of Human Develop- ment in the Department of Human and Community Develop- ment at the University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.

Thomas R. Rane is an Assistant Professor of Human Develop- ment and Family Studies in the Department of Human Develop- ment and Family Studies at Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.

Received 8-22-97 Revised & Resubmitted 2-17-98 Accepted 4-30-98


Documents

Parental Alliance as a Predictor of Father Involment -- An Exploratory Study