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A child's relationship with his or her nonresident father has been found to be related to that child's development in important ways. However, validated measures of the relationship between nonresident fathers and their children are rare, particularly for low-income nonresident fathers. To provide guidance for researchers and practitioners evaluating nonresident fatherhood programs, this study uses a sample of 420 primarily low-income nonresident fathers to examine the reliability, convergent validity, and predictive validity of measures of father-child closeness and conflict contained in the Child-Parent Relationship Scale-Short Form (CPRS-SF). Validity was examined across 3 child age groups: preschool, middle childhood, and adolescence. The CPRS-SF closeness scale demonstrated measurement equivalence across time (conflict did not) and had excellent reliability and validity. Compared to the closeness scale, the CPRS-SF conflict scale was related to fewer validity items but still showed both convergent and predictive validity, including predicting child behavior problems (which the closeness scale did not). Both the closeness and conflict scales are recommended for use with low-income nonresident fathers. Age differences in validity findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Prior research has linked marital conflict to children's internalizing/externalizing disorders, insecure attachment, and poor emotional regulation (e.g., Cummings & Davies, 2010; Cummings, Iannotti, & Zahn-Waxler, 1985). Although investigators have examined the impact of marital discord on older children (e.g., Crockenberg & Langrock, 2001), few have explored direct links in infancy (e.g., Cowan & Cowan, 1999). This study extends earlier work by examining linkages between marital functioning (conflict and harmony) and infants' cardiac vagal tone and developmental status across 2 time points using a cross-lag approach. Differential findings were found for boys and girls, with concurrent linkages between marital love and vagal tone at 6 months for boys and girls but only for boys at 12 months. In addition, marital conflict at 6 months predicted lower cardiac vagal tone in girls at 12 months but not boys. Finally, infants' developmental status at 6 months was found to predict marital conflict at 12 months. Higher scores on the Psychomotor Development Index (PDI) predicted greater marital conflict whereas higher scores on the Mental Development Index (MDI) predicted lower conflict. These findings are discussed in the context of the emotional security hypothesis and the spillover framework as well as differential susceptibilities to early developmental contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record

Father involvement research has typically not recognized that reports of involvement contain at least two components: 1 reflecting a view of father involvement that is broadly recognized in the family, and another reflecting each reporter's unique perceptions. Using a longitudinal sample of 302 families, this study provides a first examination of shared and unique views of father involvement (engagement and warmth) from the perspectives of fathers, children, and mothers. This study also identifies influences on these shared and unique perspectives. Father involvement reports were obtained when the child was 12 and 14 years old. Mother reports overlapped more with the shared view than father or child reports. This suggests the mother's view may be more in line with broadly recognized father involvement. Regarding antecedents, for fathers' unique view, a compensatory model partially explains results; that is, negative aspects of family life were positively associated with fathers' unique view. Children's unique view of engagement may partially reflect a sentiment override with father antisocial behaviors being predictive. Mothers' unique view of engagement was predicted by father and mother work hours and her unique view of warmth was predicted by depression and maternal gatekeeping. Taken, together finding suggests a far more nuanced view of father involvement should be considered.