Fathers & Families FAQ

What does participation involve?
Fathers who join the study will fill out a brief (less than 30 minutes) online questionnaire each year for 3 to 4 years. This questionnaire is in addition to the regular GUTS questionnaires.

Participating fathers will also ask the co-parent of their child (if they have a co-parent) to participate in the study and complete questionnaires.

Why do children need to be between 1-6 years old for the fathers to be eligible?
Lifestyle behaviors (diet, physical activity, sleep, media use) are established during early childhood; after that, they are difficult to change. Children who are 1-6 years old at the start of the study will be 4-10 years old at the conclusion of the study. Following these children will permit the study to examine child-parent relationships through their early childhood transition.

Fathers and their families will be enrolled over a 2-year period (2021 and 2022). If your child is younger than 1 year old in 2021, your family may be eligible in 2022.

Why do fathers in the study need to live in the same household as their child?
Research shows that fathers who live with their children (referred to as residential fathers) play a different role in their child’s development than fathers who do not live with their children. For that reason, this study focuses on residential fathers. We recognize that there are many blended families where children may live in more than 1 household. Therefore, for this study, eligible fathers include men who live with their child who is between 1-6 years old at least 50% of the time (this can be each week or over a longer period).

Will my child need to do anything?
Not directly. While we will ask you to provide information on your child’s health behaviors and growth, the research team will not interact directly with your child or ask him or her to do anything.

Will I be compensated?
Yes, you and your co-parent will each receive a $10 gift card each year that you complete the survey.