MEASUREMENT PROPERTIES OF FATHER INVOLVEMENT CONSTRUCTS

描述（由申请人提供）：父权建构在不同人群中的测量特性在父权研究中被忽视了。这个项目的目标是在父亲和孩子的三个调查中检查父亲参与结构的心理测量特性，作为一个正在进行的非同寻常的项目的一部分，发展一个父亲调查（DADS）。测量是基于Lamb等人（1985,1987）和Palkovitz（1997）的概念框架，涵盖了参与、可及性和责任的结构。拟议的研究将评估每项调查内部和之间的情况：(1)缺失数据的程度和对措施的不回应；(2)父亲涉入量表的信度；(3)父亲涉入构念的效度；(4)与其他调查估计提供父亲参与建构的基准估计。弱测量将是那些具有大量缺失信息、低可靠性（对于量表）、与可比样本中的测量不合理和不实质性差异的测量，以及那些与现有文献和理论基础上的社会和经济因素不相关的测量。对三个调查的可比措施的检查可能表明，一些结构主要适用于一个或另一个群体，例如已婚或未婚父亲，并且可以保证开发针对这些群体的措施或扩大当前措施以更好地反映子群体差异。这项研究将提供一套父亲参与的措施，这些措施已经在不同的人群中进行了测试，并且是可靠的，有效的，已知与儿童的结果有关，并且可以被研究人员广泛使用，以了解父亲参与对儿童福祉和发展的重要性。将使用三个数据来源，每个数据来源都提供了父亲参与的独特视角：早期儿童纵向研究出生队列（ECLS-B），早期开端评估研究（EHS）和脆弱家庭和儿童福祉研究（脆弱家庭）。拥有可靠的、内部一致的、有效的父亲参与测量方法，对于分析这些数据库、设计新测量方法和开发新的调查（如国家儿童研究（NCS））的研究人员来说是有用的。这项研究将通过确定高质量的父亲措施和增加对父亲如何影响儿童发展的科学理解，使更广泛的研究界受益。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The measurement properties of fatherhood constructs across varied populations have been neglected in fatherhood research. The goal of this project is to examine the psychometric properties of father involvement constructs in three surveys of fathers and children as part of an extraordinary ongoing project, the Developing a Daddy Survey (DADS). Measures are based on the Lamb et al., (1985, 1987) and Palkovitz (1997) conceptual frameworks that cover the constructs of engagement, accessibility, and responsibility. The proposed study will assess within and across each survey: (1) The levels of missing data and non-response on measures; (2) the reliability of father involvement scales; (3) the validity of father involvement constructs; and (4) provide benchmark estimates of father involvement constructs with other survey estimates. Weak measures will be those with substantial missing information, low reliability (for scales), those that differ unreasonably and unsubstantially from measures in comparable samples, and those that do not correlate with social and economic factors on the basis of available literature and theory. An examination of comparable measures across the three surveys may indicate that some constructs are primarily useful in one or another group, e.g. married or unmarried fathers, and could warrant the development of measures specific to these groups or the broadening of current measures to better reflect sub-group differences. The study will provide a set of father involvement measures that have been tested among varied populations, and that are reliable, valid, known to be associated with child outcomes, and which can be widely used by researchers to understand the importance of father involvement to child well-being and development. Three sources of data will be used, each of which provides a unique perspective on father involvement: The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), the Early Head Start Evaluation Study (EHS), and the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (Fragile Families). Having reliable, internally consistent, valid measures of father involvement will be useful to researchers who will analyze these databases, who design new measures, and who are developing new surveys such as the National Child Study (NCS). This research will benefit the wider research community by identifying high quality fatherhood measures and adding to the scientific understanding of how fathers influence the development of children.