The Relationship Between Parenting Attitudes and Participation of Fathers of Children With Developmental Disabilities.

Köroğlu et al. (2026) asked 214 Turkish fathers of preschoolers with developmental delays to fill out two forms. One form measured how democratic or authoritarian they felt toward their child. The other form asked how often they joined daily care, play, and therapy tasks.

The team then looked for links between each father's style and his real-world involvement. Child gender and exact diagnosis did not change the results.

Fathers who scored high on democratic attitudes also reported doing more for their kids. Authoritarian attitudes gave a much weaker boost to involvement.

In plain words, dads who listen and explain stay more active in their children's lives than dads who mainly give orders.

Saré et al. (2020) surveyed U.S. fathers of school-age children with autism and saw the same gap: dads join speech therapy less than moms. Yusuf’s work extends this by showing the gap starts earlier and is tied to attitude, not just opportunity.

Mammarella et al. (2022) found fathers of autistic children feel and report stress differently from mothers. Pair this with Yusuf’s result and you get a fuller picture: attitude drives involvement, but stress filters how fathers talk about it.

Mansell et al. (2002) showed that a mother’s optimism predicts positive parenting. Yusuf mirrors the pattern in fathers: an internal belief—democratic style—predicts hands-on care. Together the papers say parent coaching should target mindset, whether mom or dad.

If democratic attitudes lift father participation, you can coach for them. Add short role-play or discussion on sharing choices, giving explanations, and asking for the child’s ideas. Track whether dads start attending more sessions or completing home programs. Five minutes on attitude may buy you hours of extra help.