Citation

DeGarmo DS. Child Dev. 2010; 81(2): 503-516.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01410.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

To better understand quantity and quality of divorced father contact, a weighted county sample of 230 divorced fathers with a child aged 4–11 years was employed to test whether fathers’ antisocial personality (ASP) moderated effects of monthly contact with children in predicting children’s observed noncompliance. Eighteen‐month latent growth models obtained significant individual differences in levels of noncompliance and growth rates. ASP significantly moderated beneficial impact of fathers’ monthly contact. Fathers’ observed parenting practices significantly predicted noncompliance levels but not growth. Parenting did not account for the effect of Contact × ASP, suggesting both environmental and potentially genetic influences on child adjustment. Findings were robust across boys and girls and age levels. Implications for preventive intervention are discussed.