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Fathers' work experiences, the father‐child relationship and children's behaviour
Author(s) -
Barling Julian
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
journal of organizational behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.938
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1099-1379
pISSN - 0894-3796
DOI - 10.1002/job.4030070108
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , work (physics) , quality (philosophy) , social psychology , mechanical engineering , philosophy , epistemology , engineering
The effects of fathers' subjective work experiences on their children's behaviour have been largely neglected, despite increasing recognition accorded to the fathers' role in all aspects of child development. The present study redresses this issue by assessing whether (a) fathers' work experiences are related to children's behaviour, (b) the father‐child relationship moderates the effects of fathers' work experiences on children's behaviour, and (c) specific child behaviours are associated with paternal work experiences. One hundred and forty two fathers ( M age = 39.55 years) and their eldest child ( M age = 9.2 years; 66 boys, 76 girls) participated. Moderated multiple regressions demonstrated that fathers' job satisfaction was related to specific child behaviours, viz. conduct problems and hyperactivity. More importantly, the father‐child relationship moderated both these relationships: Where fathers were dissatisfied with their jobs, conduct problems and hyperactivity were significantly greater when the father‐child relationship was of a higher quality. Implications for studying the effects of both mothers' and fathers' work experiences on their children's behaviour are drawn.