Original ArticlesInfluence of Fathers' Early Parenting on the Development of Children Born Very Preterm and Full Term
Section snippets
Methods
Participants were part of the broader Victorian Infant Brain Study 2 cohort, a prospective longitudinal cohort of 149 VPT children born at <30 weeks of gestation (143 survivors) and a comparison group of 151 children born full-term (≥37 weeks of gestation or weighing ≥2500 g) recruited at birth from the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia between January 2011 and May 2014.22 Children with congenital abnormalities known to affect neurodevelopment or from non-English speaking households
Results
Characteristics of study participants and nonparticipants are presented in Table I. Fathers who completed the father-child interaction were slightly less likely to have children of higher medical risk (37% vs 50%, respectively) and to be of a higher social risk (43% vs 52% within the VPT group and 18% vs 29% within the full-term group, respectively) than those who did not complete the father-child interaction. There were no significant differences on child developmental outcomes for fathers who
Discussion
The current study found that fathers of 12-month-old VPT and full-term children exhibited similar parenting behaviors. Furthermore, fathers' parenting did not vary according to the family's social risk, or the child's medical risk. In contrast, fathers' parenting behaviors were associated with child sex, with fathers tending to be more sensitive, more structuring, less intrusive, and less hostile with daughters compared with sons. We also found that higher levels of fathers' sensitivity and
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2023, Personality and Individual DifferencesCitation Excerpt :High-quality home environment may buffer the adverse effect of preterm birth on cognition. For example, studies reported that preterm children in favorable early-life home environment displayed improved cognitive function (McMahon et al., 2021; McMahon et al., 2019; Neel et al., 2018; Treyvaud et al., 2009; Treyvaud et al., 2012; Vanes et al., 2021), and targeted interventions for optimizing home environment increased cognitive function among preterm children (Flierman et al., 2016; Landry et al., 2003; Msall, 2019). However, it still remains unclear whether the effect of early-life home environment on cognitive function among preterm children is similar or different from that among full-term children.
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2022, Journal of PediatricsCitation Excerpt :We collected data from mothers only. Limited prior research has demonstrated that fathers also report elevated stress during infant NICU stay,6,76 and the important role of father–child interactions for child neurodevelopment.77 Moreover, this sample is primarily White, highly educated, and living with a partner.
Parenting and Neurobehavioral Outcomes in Children Born Moderate-to-Late Preterm and at Term
2022, Journal of PediatricsCitation Excerpt :This study solely focused on mothers’ parenting behaviors. We have previously highlighted the importance of fathers’ parenting for child neurobehavioral outcomes within the very preterm population,41 and future research would benefit from the inclusion of fathers of children born MLP. Future research should also examine factors that may shape the parenting environments of children born MLP.
Supported by National Health and Medical Research Council (Center for Research Excellence in Newborn Medicine 1060733; project grants 1024516, 1028822; Career Development Fellowship 1108714 [to A.S.]; Senior Research Fellowship 1081288 [to P.A.]; Career Development Fellowship 1141354 [to J.C.]). Murdoch Children's Research Institute is supported by Victorian Government's Operational Infrastructure Support Program. Funders had no involvements in study design; collection, analysis or interpretation of data; writing this article; or the decision to submit the article for publication. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.