ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the importance of fathers in children's lives. It presents a conceptual analysis of the potential contributions that fathers, as well as mothers, make to their children's development, attainment, and well-being. The chapter review recent studies to assess the degree of empirical support for the existence of father effects. It focuses on two aspects of social capital: the co-parental relationship and the parent-child relationship. Researchers rarely consider the possibility that genetic factors might account for observed associations between paternal variables and child outcomes. The chapter suggests that parental personality traits are transmitted to children at least partly through childrearing practices, and not entirely through genetic inheritance. It demonstrates the necessity of controlling for mothers' characteristics when estimating father effects. Fathers' and mothers' educations have independent estimated effects on children's educations. Paternal support seems to have modest beneficial consequences for offspring, as reflected in lowered psychological distress.
