Journal of Family Issues 2014, Vol 35(2) 223–253 © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0192513X12462566 jfi.sagepub.com 462566JFI 35 2 10.1177/0192513X12462566 Journal of Family IssuesMilkie and Denny © The Author(s) 2011 Reprints and permission: http://www. sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav 1 University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA Corresponding Author: Melissa A. Milkie, Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, 2112 Art-Sociology Building, College Park, MD 20742, USA Email: mmilkie@umd.edu Changes in the Cultural Model of Father Involvement: Descriptions of Benefits to Fathers, Children, and Mothers in Parents’ Magazine, 1926-2006 Melissa A. Milkie 1 and Kathleen E. Denny 1 Abstract Cultural models are shared frameworks that people use to make sense of the world. The cultural model of father involvement (a) specifies ideal roles fathers should play, (b) provides evaluations of involvement, and (c) describes the benefits of fathers’ interactions with offspring for family members. Dis- course about benefits of father involvement remains underexamined em- pirically but is vital to study because it may motivate and/or justify fathering actions.We perform content analysis on the 575 Parents’ Magazine articles on fathering (1926-2006) to describe articulated benefits of father involvement. About half of articles state rewards for fathers, with a shift from enjoyment to fulfillment. Fifty-eight percent of articles state benefits to children, with a dramatic decline from 79% in the 1920s to 30% in the 2000s, and a relative shift in focus from character development to achievement. Nineteen percent of articles mention benefits to mothers; these discussions are sometimes cautious or conditional. Article at UNIV TORONTO on June 16, 2016 jfi.sagepub.com Downloaded from