The purpose of this research was to examine the role of fathers’ sensitivity and marital satisfaction in developing children’s externalizing problem behavior and to gain more understanding into...Show moreThe purpose of this research was to examine the role of fathers’ sensitivity and marital satisfaction in developing children’s externalizing problem behavior and to gain more understanding into this relationships by investigating the possible mediation of fathers sensitivity. Previous research has shown that children develop less externalizing problem behavior when their fathers are more sensitive towards them and when their fathers are satisfied with their marital relationship. Including fathers in the current research is unique because of the limited availability of research about the role of fathers in children’s development. The data for this study is collected by home visits and questionnaires from one hundred fathers and their two oldest children aged between three and six years old. To be included in this study fathers needed to be born in the Netherlands and speaking the Dutch language fluently. The results revealed that fathers’ higher marital satisfaction is related to less externalizing problem behavior, but only for the second child. The marital satisfaction and sensitivity of the fathers were not related. The fathers’ sensitivity was also unrelated to the externalizing problem behavior of both children. There was no mediation of sensitivity between the marital satisfaction of fathers and the externalizing problem behavior of both children. It is important to improve such research and study the interaction of fathers with their children. Because more knowledge about the influence of fathers’ marital satisfaction on the interaction with the child could help to reveal more information about parental traits that fathers possess that could influence children’s overall development. We suggest that follow-up studies including fathers from different social classes and ethnicities could shed more light on the influence of fathers’ sensitivity and marital satisfaction on the development of externalizing problem behavior in children.Show less
