Effects of father participation in child rearing: twenty-year follow-up

Follow-up data were obtained on the young adult children of fathers of intact, white, middle-class families who had been closely involved in early child rearing. The extent to which their locus of control, expectations about gender roles in career and family contexts, and academic competence differed from those of peers reared in more traditional families was examined. Greater paternal involvement was found to contribute to a more internal locus of control, particularly in sons.