Inventory of Father Involvement and Fathers’ Perceptions of Family Life

Abstract Cross-cultural comparisons of father involvement and related issues are still scarce, as are consolidated measures for its assessment. We examined relationships among father involvement and family-related variables, in Brazil, and then compared these results with findings from other countries. In total, 200 fathers with children aged 5 to 10 completed the Brazilian version of the Inventory of Father Involvement (IFI-BR), and measures of stress, marital satisfaction, parent-child relationship, children’s social skills and their behavior problems. Correlations among these variables were between .32 and .58, providing new evidence of validity for the IFI-BR. When comparing Brazilian results with correlations observed in other countries, the majority did not differ in magnitude, indicating that father involvement systematically influences the fathers’ well-being, family relationships, and their children’s socioemotional development, in different countries. In addition to the psychometric evidence for the IFI-BR, these results also indicate the potential for using the IFI in different cultures.

摘要 目前针对父亲参与及其相关议题的跨文化比较研究仍较为稀缺，且其标准化评估工具亦为数不多。本研究针对巴西人群中父亲参与与家庭相关变量间的关联展开分析，并将所得结果与其他国家的相关研究发现进行对比。总计200名子女年龄介于5至10岁的父亲完成了巴西版《父亲参与量表》（Inventory of Father Involvement, IFI-BR）的作答，同时完成了压力、婚姻满意度、亲子关系、儿童社交技能及行为问题相关量表的评定。各变量间的相关系数介于0.32至0.58之间，为IFI-BR的效度验证提供了新的实证依据。将巴西样本的相关分析结果与其他国家的观测相关系数进行对比后发现，绝大多数相关系数的幅度并无显著差异，这表明在不同国家中，父亲参与均会系统性地影响父亲自身的幸福感、家庭关系以及子女的社会情感发展。除为IFI-BR提供心理测量学实证证据外，本研究结果同时表明，《父亲参与量表》（Inventory of Father Involvement, IFI）具备在不同文化语境中推广应用的潜力。