Fathers' Involvement and Children's Delay of Gratification:the Moderating Role of Gender

The study investigated the association between fathers' involvement with children's delay of gratification under the condition of mothers' involvement and children's age to be controlled,as well as the moderating role of gender between them. 92 healthy children aged between 35 to 74 months were measured with waiting paradigm for delay of gratification. Their parents were measured with Father Involvement Questionnaire and Mother involvement Questionnaire for father's involvement and mother's involvement respectively. The results showed that:( 1) three aspects of fathers ' involvement —— interaction,accessibility and responsibility —— significantly predicted children's delay of gratification;( 2) gender played a moderating role between fathers' involvement and children' s delay of gratification in that for boys,fathers' interaction and responsibility significantly predicted the delay of gratification,whereas for girls,no moderating effect was observed.