Fathers’ sensitive guidance moderates the association between coparenting and behavioral regulation in preschoolers

The purpose of this study was to determine the links between paternal sensitive guidance, coparenting, and child behavioral regulation. It also aimed to assess whether paternal sensitive behaviors moderate the putative relationship between cooperative coparenting and child regulatory abilities. The sample comprised 70 preschoolers and their fathers. Behavioral regulation was assessed using the Head–Toes– Knees–Shoulders task. For the assessment of paternal sensitive guidance, dyads were videotaped during a picture-book reading task. Fathers reported coparenting cooperation. Results revealed that coparenting predicted behavioral regulation, even after accounting for verbal ability and parental education. No significant links emerged between fathers’ sensitive guidance and regulatory skills. However, the interaction of coparenting and paternal sensitive behaviors predicted behavioral regulation: a lower score on cooperative coparenting was linked to more regulatory difficulties, when coupled with lower levels of paternal sensitive guidance. Intervention programs, designed to promote child self-regulation, should be focused on strategies aimed to improve both the cooperation between parents and the quality of individual parenting. Efforts should be made to include fathers.
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for
the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This
study was conducted within the Psychology Research Centre
(PSI/01662), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese
Foundation for Science and Technology (PTDC/PSI-EDD/114527/
2009; also grant SFRH/BPD/100994/2014 assigned to the first
author), and by the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science,
Technology and Higher Education through national funds, and cofinanced by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653).