Paternal care during the first three years of age of their children: a longitudinal study

This study investigated aspects of father involvement based on a socio-cultural approach. Seven families and their firstborn children at ages of five, twenty and thirty-six months took part in the study. The mothers answered the instrument Paternal Style and the fathers were interviewed. The aim of this work was to investigate the paternal and maternal satisfaction level of fathers’ involvement with their children and to identify in which aspects the paternal participation is more or less frequent. The results indicate that these parents deviate from the characteristics of traditional fatherhood. A tendency of father involvement in the daily activities of their children was observed, both in moments of leisure and in moments of taking care of their kids, and an increase in this participation as the children got older. Keywords: parenthood; paternal participation; parental style.