| Abstract | The current study had three research aims: 1) Examine the nature of praise (type and frequency) used by fathers during a task with their child. 2) Determine the association between paternal praise and child motivation. 3) Examine possible associations between father praise and factors such as father involvement, parenting, mental health and socioeconomic status. The sample population consisted of 55 families with preschool age children. Results revealed no significant difference between frequency of praise between parents. Similarly, type of praise used by fathers and mother was similar, only significantly differing for generic praise. The association between parent praise and motivation for both parents was significantly, positive correlated for non-generic, ambiguous and total praise, such that as praises increased, total time motivated also increased. Generic praise did not have this effect. Lastly, praise was not related to any father characteristics examined. Future direction should aim to obtain a more diverse sample population or employ an experimental design to better explore effects of generic praise. |
