Parenting Style and the Active Involvement of Fathers in Child-Rearing

The active involvement of fathers in child-rearing affects the child’s overall growth and development, and the parenting style impacts the direction of the influence on individual aspects of a child’s life. In order to achieve gender equality in society, it is necessary to raise public awareness of the importance of a father’s gender role, a desirable parenting style, and his inclusion in all aspects of family life. The aim of the research is to determine the level of father involvement in child-rearing, as well as the dominant parenting style based on the children’s assessment. A total of 290 pupils from 10 elementary schools in Osijek-Baranja County participated in this research, all of whom were in grades 5-8. Sociodemographic data, the 2018 parent involvement questionnaire URU18, and the parenting behavior questionnaire 29 URP29 were used. The results are in line with research conducted so far, and they indicate the importance of a father’s education and a supportive parenting style aiming at his involvement in housework and child care. Father’s education significantly presupposes his involvement in housework, taking care of school-related duties and obligations, and participation in leisure activities. A supportive parenting style is a significant positive predictor of all forms of father involvement, i.e., housework, school-related duties and obligations, activities, child care, and counseling. The results of this research indicate the importance of raising parental awareness of the importance of the supportive parenting style and the fathers’ involvement in child-rearing.


Introduction
A review of the literature has shown that fathers have slightly increased their contribution to housework in recent years and that father involvement is dependent on predictors such as women's and men's employment, earnings, and gender ideology. 1 Fathers take on more child care responsibilities as their wives contribute more to family income. Compared to mothers, fathers are also far less likely to either drop out of the labor force entirely or make any alteration in the number of hours they are employed in the face of increased child care demands. 2 Gaunt 3 states that mothers and fathers often choose how much time they dedicate to their work and how much to child care, and these choices are not always made situationally. These choices may reflect the importance they attribute to values of achievement, conservation, or openness to change. In this way, fathers' and mothers' work and child care arrangements are guided by their value priorities. Sánchez-Mira and Muntanyola Saura 4 believe that there is a significantly higher number of parental activities aimed at caring for children and that equality in the parental division of labor has a positive effect on children's later participation in household tasks. 5 In Sweden, gender roles are less differentiated than in the U.S. Children are perceived as more equal to adults and allowed more independence, and families are less inclusive 6 . Research results in Turkey suggest that fathers involved in their children's lives are more competent and have higher marital satisfaction. 7 Research in Australia shows that egalitarian gender-role attitudes among adolescents are associated with better outcomes of some dimensions of adolescent mental health, suggesting that establishing egalitarian gender attitudes in adolescence could help impart mental health benefits among this population group. 8 In the Netherlands, the gender ideology of fathers is linked to the likelihood of the mother leaving the labor market, which also has a negative effect on children in more traditional families. 9 Care International Balkans 10 published a study on the status of fathers in the Balkans, where they state both international and national documents which promote active paternity. The authors particularly emphasize implementing the 2011 United Nations recommendations referring to education policies that should be designed to encourage fathers both to be involved in kindergartens and schools and to engage in the learning process and care for children. 11 Fathers' selfassessment in Northwestern Croatia established great involvement of fathers in the functional, emotional, and cognitive domain of child care. 12 The results showed that the father's positive perception of family functioning and higher satisfaction with family life are associated with more prosocial behavior and greater participation in family life among adolescents. The father's positive family experience contributes to a higher level of adolescent participation in family life, which then contributes to the more prosocial behavior of adolescents. 13 The results show that male involvement in child care is more related to personal views on fatherhood and its time availability than the balance of power between partners. 14 From the moment of conception, fathers become as important as mothers and play the role of a father, husband, patron, teacher, guardian, foster, and moral model, and their management of each role can affect a child's cognitive, emotional, and social development. The parenting style will also have an impact on a child's development. Parenting styles are most often divided into authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and indifferent. 15 Scientifics 16 identified three global dimensions of parenting styles: parenting support, restrictive control, and permissiveness, and this classification is the starting point in this paper. According to their characteristics, parenting support and restrictive control correspond to authoritative and authoritarian parenting styles, respectively. Authoritative parenting is characterized by a high level of control and a high level of affection, whereas authoritarian parenting is an approach to childrearing that combines a high level of control and a low level of affection. On the other hand, permissive parenting can be defined with a low level of control and a high level of affection. Finally, indifferent parenting includes a low level of both control and affection. Maleš,Milanović,and Stričević 17 consider authoritative parents (i.e., parenting support) to be warm, sticking to the rules, and accepting children as they are, thus having the best child-rearing style. Authoritarian parents (i.e., restrictive control) are cold, reserved, and must have control over a child's behavior, while permissive parents do not control a child's behavior, give in to their demands, and have no great expectations. The most positive outcomes in adolescents stem from an authoritative parenting style 18 . Zrilić 19 states that the authoritarian parenting style results in a pronounced school phobia and difficulties in social interaction with peers, which may, in turn, be the reason for poor school performance. By contrast, there is a positive correlation between a democratic style of education and school performance and social adjustment. Girls do better than boys at school and assess the quality of family interaction better, while boys estimate their parents' child-rearing style as more authoritarian and say that their parents physically punish them more often. Children whose parents use a democratic style of parenting adapt better to the classroom, encourage trust and sincerity, communicate better, build more humane relationships, and create a positive and motivating family atmosphere. Sremić and Rijavec 20 found that all dimensions of parenting behavior are significantly associated with the overall performance at school. Variables of both the mother's and father's parenting behavior are significant for the overall performance and performance in the Croatian language. In contrast, the father's parenting behavior is more significant for mathematics performance, especially his involvement and autonomy support. According to Eggebeen and Knoester,21 fathers living with underage children get a real fatherhood experience and fulfillment. Flouri and Buchanan 22 carried out a systematic observation of 17,000 adult children in England and found out that father involvement in child-rearing attaches great importance to the involvement and emotional closeness of fathers with children because closeness in early childhood affects adolescence, and later on their adaptation to adulthood and adjustment in their own marriage. Children who had positive experiences and lived with fathers in their childhood have properly developed, whereas children who became adults with lower socioeconomic status have often demonstrated behavioral disorders. Research has shown that children whose parents demonstrate great emotional closeness develop great socio-emotional competence and cognitive skills, while children whose parents are less emotionally sensitive and meet their children's needs less demonstrate a lower level of socio-emotional adaptability. Parents who exert too much control over their children and just give orders cause a child to become more withdrawn, while parents who make few demands on their children and do not give any instructions cause aggressive child behavior. According to Santrock, 23 fathers contribute most through play and have a major influence on adopting gender roles through quality relationships, especially between fathers and boys.
Research results 24 show that although there are small differences in achieving parenting goals (love and security, child development, parental image, and child acceptance) based on demographic characteristics, parents are largely motivated by similar goals when caring for their children. Research results 25 show that determined a connection between parental care and control with the development of behavioral disorders in adolescents in the U.S. such that high levels of parental care and control proved to be associated with lower chances of developing behavioral disorders among adolescents. In the study by Sabattini and Leaper,26 the authoritative style of the father is more likely among persons from egalitarian households. It is characterized by high emotional acceptance and high behavioral control, while traditional families live in households where the father's parenting style is predominantly indifferent and characterized by low emotional acceptance and low behavioral control, which is also considered the most undesirable parenting style. If the goal of child-rearing is to raise confident children, children who have selfcontrol, and children who are curious and content, then parenting behavior and their child-rearing methods should change from authoritarian to democratic, and from repressive to permissive. Parents who fail to define and set clear boundaries of acceptable behavior are more likely to raise children with a low level of selfesteem. Parents who reject children, who are not close with their children, and are more autocratic will more frequently raise children that will more likely develop the inferiority complex. 27 Humphreys 28 states the importance of a positive model of parenting and a democratic style of education for self-motivated children, who will, just like their parents, grow and develop in the democratic spirit. By means of their own positive examples, parents guide children to imitate positive parenting activities, such as a love of learning, interest in attending training courses, and lifelong learning activities. They undergo assessment and examinations without anxiety and stress, read and tell stories frequently, create positive associations with school and learning, praise, encourage, do not mix effort with success, and are patient. They are also involved and show interest in the child's education and development, help children to carry out their tasks independently, solve problems themselves and overcome their frustration, show children how to manage their time effectively, teach them how to study efficiently, develop a positive attitude towards homework and know their own capabilities and limits. By entering adolescence, young people have a need for autonomy (to control themselves), which involves making more independent decisions rather than accepting decisions made or advice given by parents. However, it has been shown that the qualities of fathers appreciated by Croatian adolescents are as follows: understanding, trust, fairness, and determination, 29 which can be connected with supportive parenting style.
Parenting goals and values directly determine the parenting style and thus affect specific parental activities and procedures related to the child's needs 30 . Research on the relationship between the parenting style and the involvement in housework and child care shows that fathers who are more actively involved are more likely to demonstrate an authoritative parenting style as such style is characterized not only by making demands on a child (according to the child's age) but also by parental care, thus taking more responsibility for care and activities with children. 31 The degree of paternal involvement in children's education is influenced by psychological factors (motivation, self-confidence, and skills), the child's characteristics (gender and temperament), social support, and the influence of the culture they live in 32 . A contemporary father is expected to be a provider, social protector, and fullfledged parent capable of performing all parental functions. Parents should jointly 27 Maleš, D., Milanović, M., Stričević, I. (2003), 37. take part in emotional and social aspects of the child's development regardless of age, gender, and problems that arise, and the father's presence and involvement enhance a child's mental health and intellectual progress as well as its emotional and social development. During middle childhood, fathers significantly affect the child's school performance. 33

Research goal and hypotheses
The aim of this research is to determine the relation between father involvement in child-rearing and the dominant parenting style based on the children's assessment. The specific objectives are to examine the possibility of predicting father involvement in child care and housework based on the level of his education, child gender and age, and the parenting style. In accordance with the given goals, the following hypotheses have been set: H1: a) A higher level of a father's education is expected to be a positive predictor of child care and housework involvement.
b) Gender is expected to be a significant predictor. Fathers will be more involved in activities with boys than with girls. c) Age is expected to be a negative predictor of involvement in child care and housework.
H2: The authoritative parenting style is expected to be a positive predictor of father involvement in child care and housework, while the authoritarian and permissiveness parenting styles are expected to be negative predictors of the involvement in housework and child care.

Methods Participants
A stratified sample of participants who took part in the study consisted of 290 pupils from 10 elementary schools from Osijek-Baranja County (5 rural schools (i.e., 45.5%) and 5 urban schools (i.e., 54.5%)). Out of the total number of participants, 51.4% were female and 48.6% male. Their ages range from 10 to 15 years (M = 12.48).

Instruments
The general data questionnaire consisted of questions that collected data on gender, age, grade, school attendance, household composition, place of residence, number of siblings, and parental education and employment status.
The 2018 parental involvement questionnaire -URU18 was designed for the purpose of this research, and it examined different everyday paternal behaviors. It consists of 18 items that cover household care (to what extent they took care of the clothes, to what extent they cooked, etc.), child's school-related responsibilities (to what extent they attended PTA, etc.), time spent with the child (to what extent they spend quality time with their child (walking, going to the cinema, cycling, etc.)), and caring for the child and giving advice when the child has a problem (Notices when you have a problem). The participants used a five-point Likert-type scale (ranging between 1, meaning "not at all applies to my father", and 5, meaning "completely applies to my father"). The total score is obtained based on the arithmetic means of all particles and is theoretically measured from 1 to 5 to answer the extent to which they believed each claim related to their father. Since the questionnaire was constructed for research purposes, factor analysis was conducted. The test measuring sampling adequacy (the KMO test) shows a value of 0.86, which indicates that the sample is adequate. Principal component analysis with direct oblimin rotation resulted in a four-factor structure ( Table 1): household care, support in school-related activities, spending time with the child, and child care and giving advice when the child has a problem. The overall result on each scale is obtained by average values of all questions; the minimum and the maximum possible total score can be 1 and 5, respectively. A higher score implies greater parental involvement. Reliability coefficients (Cronbach's alpha) were: child care and giving advice when the child has a problem -α = .82 (Factor 1), household care -α = .78 (Factor 2), help with school-related duties and obligations -α = .79 (Factor 3), and spending time with the child -α = .70. The parenting behavior questionnaire 29 -URP29 34 consists of 29 questions grouped into seven theoretically assumed subscales or seven aspects of parenting behavior (Warmth, Autonomy, Parenting Knowledge, Inductive Resonance, Punishment, and Intrusiveness) that are clustered into three global dimensions (Parenting Support, Restrictive Control, and Permissiveness), i.e., three parenting styles. The child's task was to evaluate to what degree parenting behavior is characteristic of her/his father on a scale of 4 degrees (1 -not at all accurate; 4 -completely accurate). The results on subscales are formed as averages on the related questions. Hence, a higher score on the subscale corresponds to the dominant parenting style. Reliability coefficients (Cronbach's alpha) were: Permissiveness -α = .78, Parenting Support -α = .0.91, and Restrictive Control -α = .82.

Procedure
The research was conducted in elementary schools in April and May 2018 (2017-2018 school year). A total of 10 elementary schools were included. First, cooperation was discussed with school principals and pedagogues of each school. At a brief meeting, it was clarified that research within the DOKKICA project entitled "Dad is important, too" would be conducted among the pupils about their father involvement in childrearing. Ten students of the Faculty of Education, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, helped collect parental consent for child participation in the research. Pupils for whom consent was obtained were asked to complete questionnaires. It took about 30 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Pupils who were unable to attend the meeting were given the questionnaire by their pedagogues, who gave them the instructions and asked them to fill out the questionnaire later. Upon completion, the questionnaire was returned to pedagogues who forwarded them to the researcher. The research was anonymous, but it was emphasized that individual survey responses are strictly confidential, will be known to the researcher only, and used for scientific purposes. The study data will be reported only in aggregate and presented in the paper. It was thoroughly explained what the survey involved. The pupils also knew that their participation was completely voluntary, that they were free to withdraw from the survey at any time and ask about anything left unclear. All schools contacted originally agreed to cooperate and filled out the questionnaires on time. After the data were collected from all schools, they were prepared and processed.

Results and discussion
Before data processing, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was performed to determine a deviation of the distributions obtained in the research from the normal distribution and to justify the use of parametric procedures. The K-S test showed that the distributions of all variables deviate significantly from the normal distribution, and the asymmetry and curvature indices were checked. Skewness indices range from -1.32 to 0.47, while kurtosis indexes range from -1.28 to 2.20. Kline 35 states that the distribution can be considered normal if the absolute values of the asymmetry index are less than 3 and the curvature index is less than 8. Since all values are within this range, the precondition on the normality of a distribution is met to perform parametric analysis.   Table 3 shows intercorrelations among the variables used in the study. The connection between the supportive parenting style and father involvement is especially emphasized; fathers who use a supportive parenting style are more involved in housework and child care. To address the research problems, four regression variables were implemented. Prior to performing regression analysis, the multicollinearity of variables was examined. The data obtained indicate that the values of the variance increase factor (VIF) range between 1.01 and 2.64, which indicates that there is no multicollinearity. The value of the Durbin-Watson test is between 1.79 and 1.93, which shows the independence of residuals. We can conclude that the preconditions for conducting regression analysis have been met. Hierarchical regression analysis results show that 25% of the variance of father involvement in household care, 23% of involvement in school-related duties and obligations, 46% of involvement in time spent with a child, and 61% of the variance of child care and problem-solving were explained. The age of the child, the father's education, and the supportive parenting style are significant predictors of involvement in household care. The child's age is a negative predictor, which means that the older the child, the less the father is involved in household care. Father's education and the supportive style are positive predictors, so the higher the level of the father's education, the more supportive the parenting style and the more he participates in household care. School-related duties and obligations are significantly predicted by the father's education, i.e., the higher level of education, the more he is involved in schoolrelated duties and obligations, but that predictor is not significant in the second step. The only significant predictor in the second step is a supportive parenting style, i.e., the more he uses a supportive parenting style, the more he helps with school-related duties and obligations. Mediation was also checked by Hayes' process (Effect = .11. z = 2.72, p ˂ .05). This is full mediation, so the father's education has an effect on school-related responsibilities through a supportive parenting style, that is, the more educated the father is, the more he uses a supportive parenting style, which results in greater care in relation to school-related responsibilities. Parental involvement in a child's activities (time spent with a child) can be significantly predicted by father's education and a supportive parenting style such that fathers with a higher level of education and those who use a supportive parenting style more frequently are also much more involved in children's activities. Significant negative predictors of child care and problem-solving involvement are gender and age of the child, i.e., as children get older, father involvement in child care and problem-solving decreases, and father involvement in this type of care is assessed more frequently by boys than by girls. In this case, fathers who use a supportive parenting style more frequently are more involved in child care and problem-solving.

Discussion
Based on the analysis of various research studies (Hochschild, 1989, Kamenov, Jelić, Tadinac and Hromatko, 2007, Seccombe, 1986), Kamenov and Jugović 36 emphasize that modern fathers are expected to take over and redistribute the traditional "motherly affairs", but also to express warmth and emotion, protection, care and interest in child's health, progress and success in school, and social competence 37 . In this research, father's education proved to be a significant positive predictor of involvement in housework, school-related duties and responsibilities, and leisure activities, which can be explained by the fact that fathers with a higher level of education have more information about their child's development needs and feel safer and more motivated to be involved in child care. Also, as expected, it was confirmed that fathers are more involved in caring for boys and advising them if they have any problems.
Age was a negative predictor of solving problems and household care. Given that the children who participated in our research are between ages 10 and 15, children aged 10 to 13 will probably need more fashion advice, dieting tips, and advice when it comes to problem-solving than children aged 14 or 15. These children will 36 Kamenov, Željka and Jugović, Ivana (2011) rather make their own decisions or seek peer advice than ask their father for advice (compared to younger children). Also, the older the children, the more likely they are to be involved in housework themselves, thus reducing father involvement.
The subject of many research studies in the last twenty years has been the influence of parenting styles on child development and behavior. They show that the relationship between parents and children is of crucial importance for the successful socialization of the child and the development of a healthy person. Research results 38 showed that the authoritative style is the most prominent style in Osijek's kindergartens, which is consistent with the results obtained in this study. This style is very beneficial for a child's growth because the authoritative parenting style promotes the child's independence, responsibility, and creativity. Such parents, together with children, set and explain the limits. In this research, the supportive style proved to be an extremely strong predictor of all forms of father involvement (housework, schoolrelated duties and obligations, activities, care, and giving advice), confirming the hypothesis set in this research. This parenting style is characterized by making demands on the child (according to the age of the child), but also parental care, thus resulting in more responsibility in terms of care and activities with children 39 . We presumed that restrictive control and permissiveness would be negative predictors of father involvement, which was not confirmed. This can be explained by the fact that parents place high demands on the child on the restrictive control scale, but they are characterized by the lack of affection, while the concessive style is reversed, so these parenting styles did not show significant predictors (both positive and negative). We can conclude that both dimensions are important (a high level of control and a high level of affection) for involvement in housework and child care. Also, the supportive style has proven to be a mediator between a father's education and involvement in school-related duties and obligations. Thus, parents with a higher level of education (probably because they are informed better) use the supportive parenting style leading to greater involvement in the child's school-related duties and obligations.
In general, the results obtained lead to the conclusion that the supportive parenting style is strongly related to the father involvement in household care and child care, resulting in a number of positive outcomes. There is a positive influence on the fulfillment of the father's role in marriage, the cognitive and socio-emotional achievements of the child, the emotional well-being of fathers, and the father's approach to the child through play. This, in turn, has a positive result on a child's achievement, creativity, adaptation, satisfaction, and self-control. 40 The results of this research are in line with research studies conducted so far, 41 and indicate the importance of a father's education for his involvement in housework and child care. Assuming that parents are more educated and more informed about the child's development needs, the results suggest the need to inform parents about the child's development needs, which could contribute to greater motivation in engaging in activities and care for the child. Also, the supportive parenting style proved to be an extremely strong predictor of father involvement. Since a number of studies have been cited in this text that are in favor of the supportive parenting style and father involvement, we can conclude that it would be advisable to educate fathers about the importance of controlling child behavior, as well as providing a high level of affection. Such a parenting style should also lead to greater father involvement in housework and child care, which, according to research conducted so far, should lead to a number of positive outcomes, such as greater achievement, satisfaction, creativity, and adjustment of the child.
This research has its limitations. The research was conducted among elementary school pupils in Osijek-Baranja County, so it would be good to extend the sample to the whole Republic of Croatia. The measuring instruments were the self-assessment questionnaires, so the limitations are related to the use of such instruments, such as the ability of children to assess parental behavior and the problem of a reference point. It is possible that children are subjective in assessing their parents' behavior, that is, that they see them in a more positive light than is objectively the case. Only children's assessments were used here, but in future research, it would be good to include parent self-assessments and/or assessments of one parent for the other.

Conclusions
As a place of human development and formation, the family has the strongest influence on a child's development. A healthy family is characterized by healthy marital relationships, mutual acceptance, contentment, harmonious family relationships, and meta-communication between family members. Parents as emotionally intelligent models provide an atmosphere in which a child feels the parent's ability to master emotional experiences and reactions and thus creates a cycle of healthy attachment that will also affect relationships outside the family. Harmonized and balanced family coexistence, mutual love, trust, and distribution of errands have a positive influence on the formation of a child's personality. Modern families require greater father involvement in child-rearing and a more authoritative style of child-rearing. Father's active involvement in child-rearing and the style of child-rearing, just like mother's involvement, directly affect physical, intellectual, working, voluntary, and moral child-rearing.
According to the attitudes of 290 pupils from Osijek-Baranja County, research results referring to father involvement in child-rearing show that the father's education and parenting style are positive predictors of the father involvement in child-rearing. The supportive parenting style proved to be a strong predictor of all forms of father involvement (housework and child care). Therefore, it is necessary to raise parental awareness of the proper and most desirable authoritative style of child-rearing (i.e., parenting support), which will result in greater father involvement in a child's life.