To investigate the influence of father involvement in parenting on the peer interaction competence of children aged 3-6 years, this study employed a mixed-methods design combining questionnaire surveys with semi-structured interviews. Forty fathers of preschool children from three public kindergartens in Hangzhou participated in the research. Quantitative data were collected using the Father Parenting Involvement Questionnaire and the Preschool Children’s Peer Interaction Competence Questionnaire. These were supplemented by semi-structured interviews with fathers to gather qualitative data. The results indicate that father involvement in urban public kindergartens is generally at an upper-middle level. This involvement is characterized by the highest scores in the responsibility dimension, moderate scores in interaction, and the lowest scores in accessibility. Specifically, emotional accessibility represents the primary weakness in paternal parenting involvement. The peer interaction competence of preschool children is generally well developed, with prosocial behavior scoring the highest and social initiative scoring relatively low. Significant differences were observed across grades: Children in the middle class demonstrated significantly higher peer interaction competence than those in the junior and senior classes. A significant positive correlation was found between father involvement in parenting and children’s peer interaction competence, with the accessibility dimension showing the strongest predictive power. Based on these findings, the study proposes targeted educational recommendations at three levels: the individual father, the family system, and kindergarten-home co-education.
References
[1] Liang, C., Bi, X. (2025) Paternal involvement and peer competence in young children: the mediating role of playfulness. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1477432.
[2] Ren, L., Zhang, X. (2018) Paternal parenting, child temperament, and problem behaviour: an investigation among young Hong Kong children. Infant and Child Development, 27(2), e2065.
[3] Liu, Y., Haslam, D. M., Dittman, C. K., Guo, M., Morawska, A. (2022) Predicting Chinese father involvement: parental role beliefs, fathering self-efficacy and maternal gatekeeping. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1066876.
[4] Lamb, M. E. (2000) The history of research on father involvement: an overview. Marriage & Family Review, 29(2-3), 23-42.
[5] Rudolph, K. D. (2021) Understanding peer relationships during childhood and adolescence through the lens of social motivation. Advances in Motivation Science, 8, 105-151.
[6] Volling, B. L., Cabrera, N. J. (2025) Loving, laughing, and learning: How father-child relationships contribute to children’s development in early childhood. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 7.
[7] Paquette, D., StGeorge, J., Bigras, M., Sarmiento, J. (2023) Predicting children’s social adaptation and academic achievement from father-child preschool rough-and-tumble-play and father involvement in child schooling. Current Psychology, 42(34), 30422-30435.
[8] Atkinson, J. (2022) Involved fatherhood and the workplace context: a new theoretical approach. Gender, Work & Organization, 29(3), 845-862.
[9] Çetingöz, D., DÜZYOL TÜRK, E. N. D. A. M., Aral, N. (2026) Examination of interactive peer play behaviors of children aged 48-72 months with father involvement. Egitim ve Bilim, 51(225), 1-18.
[10] Liu, Y., Dittman, C. K., Guo, M., Morawska, A., Haslam, D. (2021) Influence of father involvement, fathering practices and father-child relationships on children in mainland China. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 30(8), 1858-1870.
[11] Stout, W., Karahuta, E., Laible, D., Brandone, A. C. (2021) A longitudinal study of the differential social‐cognitive foundations of early prosocial behaviors. Infancy, 26(2), 271-290.
[12] Xiao, S. X., Hashi, E. C., Korous, K. M., Eisenberg, N. (2019) Gender differences across multiple types of prosocial behavior in adolescence: a meta-analysis of the prosocial tendency measure-revised (PTM-R). Journal of Adolescence, 77(1), 41-58.
[13] Yue, Y., Zhu, X., Zhang, Y., Ren, W. (2022) Development and validation of Chinese parental involvement and support scale for preschool children. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 792910.
[14] Diniz, E., Monteiro, L., Veríssimo, M. (2023) Work gains and strains on father involvement: the mediating role of parenting styles. Children, 10(8), 1357.
[15] Voyer-Perron, P., Matte-Gagné, C., Levesque, C. (2024) Factors associated with father involvement during infancy: a multifactorial and multidimensional approach. Parenting, 24(2-3), 78-105.
Share and Cite
Lin, S., Gong, M., Hu, X. (2026) A Study on the Influence of Father Involvement in Parenting on Young Children’s Peer Interaction Ability. Global Education Bulletin, 3(5), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.71052/grb2025/AXNK2171