Father closeness: Its effect on married men's sexual behaviors, marital and family satisfaction

Research on father involvement and father closeness reveals fathers' contributions to positive child and adult outcomes. Father closeness is a mediator of the impact of father involvement and a contributor to unique positive outcomes. Less is known about the effects of father closeness in adult men. This study examines the effect father closeness has on adult married men's non-marital sexual behaviors (e.g., sexual fantasy, masturbation, viewing pornography) as well as marital and family satisfaction. Participants include 993 predominantly Protestant Evangelical Christian men who voluntarily completed the National Survey of Men. Using five father closeness levels ranging from very low closeness to very high closeness, a series of one-way analyses of variance were conducted using the dependent variables: Sexual Behaviors and Fantasies, Marital Satisfaction, and Family Satisfaction. Results indicate that men reporting higher levels of father closeness engage in significantly fewer non-marital sexual behaviors and have significantly higher levels of marital and family satisfaction than men reporting lower levels of father closeness. This bolsters the assertion that fathers are unique contributors to the development of their children and encourages fathers to invest in the emotional quality of their relationships with their sons.