Factors Predicting Father Involvement in Postnatal Period

Abstract

Father involvement is very important for the physical and mental health of the parents and child after birth. The purpose of this predictive correlational research design was to explore factors that predicting father involvement during the postnatal period. The subjects were selected following the inclusion criteria and consisted of 200 expectant fathers who took their child to the outpatient pediatrics department or took their wives to the outpatient obstetrics and gynecology department at Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital from October to December 2015. The research tools were the personality questionnaire, the Father Involvement During Postpartum Period Questionnaire developed by Supakorn Chaina and Nantaporn Sansiriphun based on the father involvement concept by Lamb (2000) and literature reviewed, the Suanprung Stress Test-20 developed by Mahatnirunkul, Pumpaisalchai & Tapanya (1997) and the Father Social Support Questionnaire developed by Supakorn Chaina and Nantaporn Sansiriphun based on the social support concept by House (1981) and literature reviewed. Descriptive statistics, Pearson's product moment correlation, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient and Linear Regression with Dummy Variables were used to analyze the data.

Results of the study revealed that:

1. There was a negative correlation between stress and father involvement during the postnatal period (r= -.263, p< .01);
2. Social support, education and income were positively correlated with father involvement during the postnatal period (r= .231, .170, .202 respectively; p< .01);
3. There was a positive correlation between age and father involvement during the postpartum period (r=.120, p<.05);
4. The social support network of the father together with family’s income can predict father involvement during the postnatal period 10.8% (p < .001);