The Relationship between Father Involvement with Growth and Social-Emotional Development in Preschool Children

Background: Growth and social-emotional development in preschool children must have cared for parents. Although evidence exists of the association between them, especially mothers’ involvement, only a few studies have examined fathers’ involvement in parenting.

Method: This research uses Cross sectional study design. It has 106 pairs of fathers and preschool age children selected using consecutive sampling technique. Those fathers complete the questionnaire on father’s involvement in parenting and questionnaire on Age Stages Questionnaire Social Emotional (ASQ-SE) based on their child’s age. Furthermore, the Z-score is calculated based on the child’s Body Weight/Body Height index to assess their growth. The data are analyzed using chi-square test at significance level of p<0.05.

Result: Father’s involvement in parenting is relatively good at 51.9%. In terms of child growth based on the calculation of Z-score from Body Weight/Body Height index, 77.4% of the children are found to have normal growth. Most of the children have the risk of experiencing socio-emotional issues at 58.5%. In terms of the association between father’s involvement in parenting and preschool children’s growth,a value of p>0.05 is obtained, and in terms of the association between father’s involvement in parenting and socioemotional development of preschool children,a value of p<0.05 is obtained.

Conclusion: This research finds that father’s involvement in parenting is not associated with preschool age children’s growth,yet it has a significant association with preschool age children’s socio-emotional development.