Fathers' Anger and Their Sons' Socioemotional and Academic Outcomes with Implications for Forgiveness

Abstract

It has been empirically supported that father involvement has positive influences on child outcomes, but depending on the ways through which fathers engage with their children, negative child outcomes can ensue as well. The goal of the study was to examine which specific areas of child outcomes would be influenced by fathers' state and trait anger and total anger expression (anger expressed minus controlled) and to explore the potential of fathers' forgiveness in ameliorating child outcomes. Eighty-two couples with sons between 9-11 years of age from a national sample responded to an online survey where mothers filled out an instrument on their sons' socioemotional and academic outcomes and gave demographic information about their sons' fathers and subsequently, fathers filled out instruments on their anger and forgiveness. Results showed that fathers' state and trait anger and total anger expression were positively associated with their sons' emotional sensitivity/anxiety and fathers' state anger and total anger expression were positively associated with their sons' negative peer relationships. While there was a positive relationship between sons' socioemotional and academic outcomes, there was no relationship between father outcomes and sons' academic outcomes. Lastly, a negative correlation between fathers' anger and forgiveness was found as expected, but no relationship between fathers' forgiveness and child outcomes was found. The potential effects of reducing father's anger on child outcomes as well as limitations of the study and future directions are discussed.