The role of fathers in children's emotion regulation development: A systematic review

Abstract

This systematic review summarizes the results of 43 studies that explored the potential role of fathers in emotion regulation (ER) development in children. Following a tripartite model, this review investigates the paternal modelling of ER strategies, emotion-related paternal parenting practices, father–child emotional climate, and fathers' characteristics, by identifying 16 specific themes of paternal factors that could play a role in the child's ER development. Results show that while a large number of studies investigated father–child emotional climate and fathers' characteristics and their association with children's ER, the effects of paternal modelling and the father's emotion-related parenting practices on children's ER are still understudied. This review reveals that several factors—fathers' modelling of ER strategies; positive reactions and support in responding to their child's expression of emotions; better quality of the father–child relationship; higher father–child attachment security; and positive parenting in terms of sensitivity, engagement, and expressiveness—had significant associations with children's higher ER skills. Conversely, fathers' psychopathology and harsh parenting were associated with poorer ER skills in children. Highlights: This study summarized existing literature that explored the association between paternal factors and ER in children. The review showed some evidence supporting the paternal role in children's ER development. Fathers' role in the development of child's ER is most prominent in infancy and toddlerhood. Most paternal factors significantly associated with a child's ER reflected previous findings examining maternal factors.