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Paternal Self-efficacy, Fathering, and Children’s Behavioral Problems in Korea

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Abstract

Objectives

With the introduction of co-parenting, Korean society has begun demanding that fathers share child-rearing responsibilities. In the present study, we examined the association between fathers’ parenting self-efficacy and children’s behavioral problems via fathers’ parenting behavior, after controlling for mothers’ parenting self-efficacy, to clearly identify the importance of fathers in child rearing.

Method

We analyzed data from 1,463 children and their fathers, which were available from the 2014 Panel Study on Korean Children, by employing structural equation modeling.

Results

The results were as follows. First, the results revealed that there was a significant association between fathers with parenting self-efficacy and both warm and positive controlling parental behaviors. Second, warm parental behavior was significantly associated with both internalizing and externalizing problems, while fathers’ positive controlling behavior was not linked to children’s behavioral problems. Third, fathers’ parenting self-efficacy had significant indirect effects on both internalizing and externalizing problems via warm parental behavior.

Conclusions

These findings imply the importance of the role of fathers in the family, father–child relationships for child development, and fathers’ parenting self-efficacy in child rearing.

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Data Availability

All data are available at the PSKC, which has been collected by the KICCE since 2008. The PSKC is an annually resurveyed study to examine characteristics of children, households with children, and childcare policies using a multi-stage stratified sample.

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Author Contributions

S.Y.S. designed and executed the study, conducted the literature review, and wrote the Introduction and Discussion. S.A.L. conducted data analyses, collaborated on study design, and wrote the Methods and Results. All authors have read the final manuscript and approve of publication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sookmyung Women’s University, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sook Young Shim

  2. Department of Education, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do, Republic of Korea

    Sun Ah Lim

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  1. Sook Young Shim
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Correspondence to Sun Ah Lim.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The study protocol was approved by the IRB of the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education (KICCE) (approval no. 2015-03). All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Shim, S.Y., Lim, S.A. Paternal Self-efficacy, Fathering, and Children’s Behavioral Problems in Korea. J Child Fam Stud 28, 851–859 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-01310-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-018-01310-7

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