The Flow Study will examine family dynamics in response to a task being disrupted under time pressure. This task can be used as a standardized laboratory task to enable the study of stressful daily events such as the time pressure in the morning routine to ?get out the door.? The unique aspects of this study are:
1. The extent to which a consumer product can contribute to or detract from the ?flow? of family processes/interactions studied in the context of a controlled home environment to allow for precise examination of signals from physiological sensors, self-report and observation.
2. The inclusion of fathers/co-parents in the research.
Family dynamics are shifting. Fathers are far more involved in family processes. See https://men-care.org/
According to a PEW research study 2015:
a. Fathers see parenting as central to their identity
b. Fathers are much more involved in child care than they were 50 years ago
c. Work-family balance is a challenge for many working fathers
d. It?s becoming less common for fathers to be their family?s sole “breadwinner”