While considerable attention has been paid to the role of fathers in normal child development, when it comes to identifying parental influences on a child's psychological maladjustment, the focus of most modern psychological thinking is radically skewed toward the mothering side of the family equation. Why does the father's role in his child's emotional and behavioral problems receive such scant attention?

And why do mothers have to bear such an unfair share of the responsibility for children's emotional and behavioral problems? These questions point to mysteries whose roots must surely run deep in our paternalistic Western traditions.

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This book was written in an effort to help broaden the parental focus of the contemporary discourse on developmental psychopathology. To that end, it provides a comprehensive review of the current theory, research, and clinical issues related to the role of fathers in developmental psychopathology, and takes a multidisciplinary approach, answering crucial questions such as: Who are today's fathers? What is known about fathers and psychological maladjustment in children?

How should research into the area best proceed?

The first book to offer an in-depth, scholarly treatment of the contributions fathers make to their children's emotional and behavioral problems, Fathers and Developmental Psychopathology is a valuable resource for clinical psychologists - especially clinical child psychologists and specialists in developmental, abnormal, and family psychology - child and family therapists, and ultimately all mental health practitioners who may be called upon to treat psychologically disturbed children.