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There is considerable variability in developmental outcomes of children whose mothers experience depression. Few longitudinal studies have examined contributions of paternal involvement in the association between maternal postnatal depression (PND) and offspring development. We examined pathways from maternal PND at 8 weeks (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; total score) to offspring emotional and behavioral development at 7 years (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; total score) through behavioral, affective, and cognitive dimensions of paternal involvement in a U.K.-based birth cohort (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children; n = 3,434). Analyses were adjusted for baseline confounders and paternal PND (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale; total score) as an intermediate confounder. Maternal PND was strongly associated with offspring development, but this association was not mediated by the combination of all indirect pathways through various dimensions of paternal involvement. Only father--child conflict emerged as a risk factor for adverse offspring development and as a mediator in the association between maternal PND and offspring development (albeit the effect size was small). If found causal, interventions that reduce father-child conflict may reduce the risk of adverse development in offspring of mothers with PND.

Parenting seems to be continually in the spotlight for political and social commentators. Meanwhile academic and practitioner work on children and child welfare explores how parents can best deliver for children as what parents do is seen as the route to a happy and successful childhood and future adulthood. This theoretical paper argues that a focus on outcomes for children has led to the role of parents being overstated and its significance mischaracterized. The paper contends that good parenting should not be judged in terms of child outcomes either in the present or future and, therefore, that focusing all attention on which aspects of children's wellbeing should be prioritized is misguided. Instead, it proposes that good parenting is better understood as a form of relationship centred around the concepts of intimacy, care, and equality; and unpacks some of the implications of this shift in approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adds to an increasing body of social science literature, which engages with the research practice of "co‐production." It aims to make a distinctive contribution by suggesting that what is produced under this process should be given greater attention. Previous literature has focused on the "co" (cooperative) element: debating whether and under what conditions wider participation between academic and non‐academic actors can be genuinely emancipatory, and the degree to which more radical research approaches centred on empowering marginalised groups have been usurped through management discourses of participatory governance. Drawing on a case study of a pilot project that developed support resources for new fathers under the auspices of a co‐production research design, the paper highlights the dynamics and limitations of the process, but additionally and distinctively suggests an important way in which the success of co‐production can be judged that includes practical and tangible outputs beyond academic knowledge and takes objects and materiality seriously as a dimension of co‐production in an academic setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly reported that fathers in Britain work longer hours than non-fathers. This statistic is frequently used as supporting evidence for the argument that the role of fathers within families remains primarily concerned with financial provisioning. In this paper it is shown, through regression models, that once other factors are taken into account the significance of fatherhood in relation to hours of paid work disappears. This highlights fatherhood as a period in the life course which often coincides with longer working hours but challenges the assumption of a causal relationship.