Paternal involvement and child temperament: Systematic review of literature

Abstract

This study aims to present a systematic review of the literature on paternal involvement and child temperament, between the years of 2006 and 2017. A search was carried out in the following databases: LILACS, PePSIC, SciELO, Web of Science and PsycINFO (APA), through the descriptors father and temperament and their respective terms in Portuguese and Spanish. Nineteen articles were examined whose focus of investigation was the relationship between the involvement of the father and the temperament of the child. The results were divided into two categories: parenthood, evaluation and influence on child's temperament and fatherhood and child temperament. It was verified that the subject has been insufficiently researched in Brazil, in comparison with other countries. From the studies analyzed, it can be inferred that the father has a direct influence on all phases of child development and on the child temperament, especially regarding socialization and mood regulation. Therefore, it is necessary to expand researches with this focus in order to favor and stimulate the elaboration of public policies and to enable new ways to foster paternal involvement in the children's lives, considering the variables that interfere in this phenomenon, such as the temperament of the child.