This study focuses on the impact of various aspects of work, especially unemployment, on the amount and quality of paternal involvement with preschool or kindergarten children and examines how attributions about the cause of unemployment might influence father-child interaction. Findings indicate that children of employed families obtain significantly higher Peabody Picture Vocabulary percentile scores than children of unemployed fathers. Of 20 children retained in kindergarten, 25 percent were from homes with jobless fathers. Indications were found that blue-collar men who have been unemployed for some time play a larger role in childrearing than employed men in the same social class. Further, the fathers appeared to like the experience, even those experiencing conflicts with the youngsters. All the mothers and all the fathers attributed their family's difficulty to external conditions, not to the men's poor attitudes, lack of effort in finding a job, or poor job performance. In contrast, data from the Great Depression suggest that difficulties in family relations often ensued from the wife's belief that it was her husband's fault that he was unemployed. There was no such indication of blame in this sample. Tentative suggestions for mental health interventions are discussed. (RH)