Father Involvement and Child Development: A Prospective Study of Syrian Refugee Families

Abstract

In refugee contexts, relatively little is known about men’s child- and family-directed behaviours and even less about the impacts of father involvement. We examine father and mother reports of levels of father involvement, and their associations with family functioning and child development during forced displacement. In 2021–22, we prospectively collected data from Syrian refugee families with 4–8 year old children in Jordan, at two time points (father-mother-child triads, n = 160 at T1, n = 105 at T2). Syrian fathers viewed themselves as highly involved with their children, but mothers disagreed: fathers rated themselves as 13% more involved with their children than mothers reported them to be. Levels of father involvement were largely unrelated to child outcomes. However, spousal disagreement about father involvement was negatively associated with relationship quality, mother mental health, and child social emotional learning (SEL). In the most discordant families, child SEL was more than a standard deviation (43%) below levels observed in the most concordant families. This study builds the evidence base for the impacts of father involvement in refugee families and deepens understanding of father-mother reporting discordance. In terms of impacts, there is an important distinction between levels of father involvement and levels of father-mother agreement about father involvement. Helping parents negotiate caregiving interactions and responsive parenting may benefit child mental health and social emotional learning.