Paternal Involvement and Attention Sharing in Interactions of Premature and Full-Term Infants with Fathers: A Brief Report

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze possible links between paternal involvement and children’s competence in coordinated joint attention (CJA) in preterm versus full-term 12-month-old babies. Paternal involvement was measured through the amount of time fathers allocated to different activities with their infants, whereas children’s capacity for CJA was inferred on the basis of episodes of joint attention (EJA), empirically derived from father-infant interactions. Fifty-nine father-infant dyads participated in the study. Fatherinfant interactions in free-play situations, diaries of infant activities, and semi-structured family interviews were analyzed. Episodes of joint attention were more frequent in interactions of fathers with full-term babies in comparison to extremely premature babies, and in the case of preterm infants, in dyads with highly involved fathers as compared to those with a relatively low level of involvement.

Keywords

• paternal involvement
• joint attention
• prematurity
• father-infant interaction