... more involved with their children contribute much to their children's intellectual, social, and emotional development (Engle & Breaux, 1998). For example, the quality of the interaction between the child and the father has been found to be a better predictor of children's cognitive development than the overall amount of time spent with the child. Other studies have suggested that the father's contribution does not effect a child's development it is the fact there is an absence of one parent rather then the absence of the father. Cabrera et al. (2000) identified four trends influencing father involvement in family life, however I will only discuss the three trends. The first trend is women's increased labour force. Sixty percent of married women work after having children thus increasing childcare. Consequently men and women avoid sole income and the idea that the man is the breadwinner is diluted as women are striving to provide ...

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