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Motivation, Marital Quality, Maternal Gatekeeping, Breadwinning, And Father Identity: Models Of Biological Fathers’ And Stepfathers’ Involvement In Childcare, Jessica E. Ladage

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Compared to biological fathers, there is far less knowledge about stepfathers in reference to their involvement in childcare. As stepfathers continue to increase in number in the United States, it is important to understand the factors that influence a stepfather to be more or less involved in the care of their stepchildren. Few studies have examined both biological fathers and stepfathers together on multiple sets of parenting variables. Thus, the current study aims to compare biological fathers and stepfathers on a model of paternal involvement.

Participants were 306 biological fathers and 69 stepfathers. In order to participate, fathers had to …