This chapter discusses with a historical perspective on men's familial roles to provide a background for the contemporary research. It discusses men's marital relationships as well as their relations with their children and also analyses men's decisions to become parents and the effects of fathers on children's lives. Gottman's analyses provide a detailed portrait of marital interactions and reveal that husbands' willingness to accept their wives' influence is perhaps the key component to reducing marital conflict. Generally, men's emotional expressiveness fosters positive familial outcomes, specifically, a happy, stable marriage and well-adjusted offspring. Variability among men makes possible Gottman's conclusions that some men can accept influence whereas others cannot and that men's behaviors are better predictors of effective family functioning than women's behaviours. The term human capital refers to skills, traits, and knowledge possessed by parents that facilitate achievement. As with human capital, Paul Amato hypothesizes that fathers' economic capital their income level is associated with their children's development.