ציפיות, שאיפות ומעורבות של אבות בטיפול בילד בתוך המשפחה השלמה

In this study, fathers in 60 intact Israeli families were asked to rate their level of involvement in child-rearing. An attempt was made to examine the following research questions: a) The relationship between fathers' involvement in childrearing and that of their own fathers; b) The differences between fathers' involvement and that of their fathers; c) The fathers' satisfaction with their involvement in childrearing and their satisfaction with their fathers' involvement; d) The relationship between the fathers' involvement and their expectations and aspirations regarding their children's social maturity, independence and cognitive development; e) The relationship between fathers' expectations and aspirations and their children's locus of control, sense of empathy, sex role orientation, and the child's perception of his father as more dominant and nurturing and less punitive. The findings suggest that fathers highly involved in childcare were modeling their own fathers, and held high aspirations and expectations for their children's cognitive development, independence and social maturity. In general, children of such fathers had a more developed sense of empathy and a tendency to have a "male" sex orientation and a higher level of internal locus of control. They also perceived their fathers as more dominant and nurturing, and as less punitive.