The Dual Impacts of Fathers' Beliefs on Children's Social Adjustment: Serial Mediation Models Connecting Father...

Fathers are globally recognized as influential figures in children's development, yet the specific mechanisms linking paternal beliefs to preschoolers' social adjustment remain insufficiently explored. This study examined the sequential mediation effects of father involvement and the father-child relationship on the link between paternal progressive beliefs and children's social adjustment (indexed by social competence and problem behaviors). A stratified random sample of 1862 Chinese mother-father dyads (3724 individual participants) was recruited. Structural equation modeling showed that the following: (1) Fathers' progressive beliefs had a direct positive association with children's social competence, and a small but significant direct positive link to children's anger-aggression behaviors; (2) The associations between the fathers' beliefs and children's social adjustment were indirectly explained by a sequential mediation process: beliefs were associated with greater father involvement, which, in turn, connected to fostered closeness or increased father-child conflict, ultimately leading to more positive adjustments through closeness, or to more negative adjustments via conflict. This study also uncovered discrepancies between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of the fathering process. Notably, due to the lack of parallel measures of maternal constructs, these findings reflect paternal contributions within the family system rather than unique effects. These findings were discussed within the transitional context of culturally specific Chinese fathering. This study extends the traditional "parenting beliefs-practices-outcomes" framework to include the parent-child relationship, highlighting the importance of targeting fathers' effective relationship-building practices in family programs.