Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the fathering practice on children's sociality. The subjects of this research are 569 (grade 6) students who are from 4 elementary schools, and 511 (grade 3) students who are from 4 other middle schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. The data was collected using two kinds of questionnaires: Canfield's (1995) Fathering Practice Scale and Urn Guy-Sung's (1999) Children's Sociality Scale. The data was analyzed by frequency, mean, standard deviation, percentage, Cronbach's alpha, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffe's post hoc test, and hierarchical regression. The major results of this research are summarized as follows: First, there were differences in children's sociality according to children's and fathers' perceptions of the fathering practices. I classified 1080 students into 4 groups by mean${\pm}$1/2standard deviation of the children's and fathers' perceptions of the fathering practices. The results showed that children's sociality tends to be higher when the children's perceptions of the fathering practice are at a high level (Group 1 and Group 2), compared to when the fathers' perceptions of the fathering practice are at a high level (Group 3 and Group 4). Second, hierarchical regression was divided into two models so as to know how the effects were different from the children's and fathers' perceptions of the fathering practice on children's sociality. In the first model, only the fathers' variables were inputted and fathers' perceptions on fathering practice has significant effects on children's sociality. In the second model, both the children and fathers' variables were inputted into analysis. The fathers' perceptions of the fathering practice were not influenced, but children's perceptions of the fathering practice had great effects on children's sociality. Third, as the result of hierarchical regression with age, mid-childhood has significant effects on children's perceptions of the fathering practice on children's sociality. In addition, early adolescence is an important variable in the effects of the fathers' perceptions of the fathering practice on children's sociality. As a result the fathers' perceptions of the fathering practice are important and influential variables on children's sociality. In the result of this study fathering practice is necessary in children's development.