The role of the father in a family and for his children has varied greatly throughout history. However, scientific research into fatherhood began relatively late at the end of the 1960s and early 1970s, with a strong focus on the impact of the father on child development. This book focuses on the role of the father in the contemporary two-parent heterosexual family. Of eight longitudinal studies from several Western countries, six focus on the socialization outcomes of the children, and two concentrate on parental satisfaction. Although the father is in focus, family dynamics cannot be conclusively described without a look at the mother and parental interaction. Therefore, all of the studies examine mothers and their role in the family system. Thus, the book gives a contemporary insight into the father and his role in changing family dynamics. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of Developmental Psychology.
About the Author: Dorothea E. Dette-Hagenmeyer is a Research Associate in the Department of Psychology at the Ludwigsburg University of Education, Germany. She earned her Ph.D. from the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. She conducted research into family (parenting, co-parenting, coping, close relationships), gender roles, work-life-balance, and evidence-based parenting programs and has a teaching record in research methods, developmental, social and positive psychology.
Andrea B. Erzinger achieved a Master's Degree in Education, Private Law and Political Science at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and is currently a research assistant at the University of Teacher Education (PHSG), St. Gallen, Switzerland. Her research interests are social and emotional development over the life course, familial intergenerational relationships, school-family-interaction and development of competencies.
Barbara Reichle is Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at Ludwigsburg University of Education, Germany. She completed a Doctoral degree in Psychology from Trier University, Germany. Her research focuses on the socio-emotional development of children within families and schools, parenting, intimate relationships, the transition to parenthood, and justice in the family. She is co-author of two evidence-based evaluated prevention programs (attachment and marital satisfaction for young parents, prosocial behaviour in elementary school children).
