Abstract
The present study assessed longitudinal relations between paternal supportive parenting in infancy (12 months) and toddlerhood (36 months) and children’s observed self-regulation skills at preschool age (48 months) in a large sample of Norwegian families (N = 771; 48% girls, 52% boys, 28% experienced some socioeconomic risk). After accounting for child sex, socioeconomic risk (6 and 12 months), and observed maternal supportive parenting (24 moths), structural equation modeling revealed that observed paternal supportive parenting with children at 36, but not 12, months was independently associated with a latent factor representing children’s observed self-regulation skills at 48 months. Further, a significant indirect pathway emerged such that paternal supportive parenting at 12 months was associated with children’s self-regulation skills at 48 months, via paternal supportive parenting at 36 months. Results are discussed with implications for supporting paternal caregiving during infancy to promote children’s emerging self-regulation skills.