Family Gerontology, Fatherhood, and Masculinity: Enduring Impacts of Fathers and Adult Children

Despite the intertwined nature of aging, fatherhood, and masculinities, research rarely integrates these perspectives to understand fathers' relationships with their adult children. This review brings these disciplines together, encompassing 15 years of scholarship (2009–2023) in family gerontology and examining articles on fathering adult children (n = 4 articles) and articles that included mothers and fathers to extrapolate the findings for fathers (n = 66 articles). Fathering content was coalesced into the following categories: (a) fathering satisfaction and relationship quality, (b) fathering involvement, (c) fathering and health, and (d) fathering in adverse family conditions. Together, these categories illuminated how fathering continues as a dynamic practice across adulthood, how masculinities shape paternal engagement and vulnerability, and how fathers' later-life relationships with children contribute to broader understandings of aging families. This scoping review highlights gaps, identifies emerging directions, and clarifies the need for more theorizing and research at the intersections of family gerontology, fathering, and masculinities.