title: Fathers' sensitive parenting and the development of early executive functioning.
abstract: Using data from a diverse sample of 620 families residing in rural, predominately low-income communities, this study examined longitudinal links between fathers' sensitive parenting in infancy and toddlerhood and children's early executive functioning, as well as the contribution of maternal sensitive parenting. After accounting for the quality of concurrent and prior parental care, children's early cognitive ability, and other child and family factors, fathers' and mothers' sensitive and supportive parenting during play at 24 months predicted children's executive functioning at 3 years of age. In contrast, paternal parenting quality during play at 7 months did not make an independent contribution above that of maternal care, but the links between maternal sensitive and supportive parenting and executive functioning seemed to operate in similar ways during infancy and toddlerhood. These findings add to prior work on early experience and children's executive functioning, suggesting that both fathers and mothers play a distinct and complementary role in the development of these self-regulatory skills.
authors.affiliation: Center for Developmental Science, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Nissa R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Towe-Goodman
authors.affiliation: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Willoughby
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Psychology, New York University.
authors.forename: Clancy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Hanna C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: W Roger
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Mills-Koonce
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors.forename: Martha J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cox
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D056344:Executive Function; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology; D009657:North Carolina; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D010414:Pennsylvania; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology; D011203:Poverty; D012424:Rural Population