He has done his Ph.D., 1988, Early Childhood Education, University of Maryland at College Park, M.A., 1984, Elementary & Early Childhood Education, Ball State University, B.S., 1982, Elementary Education, Ball State University. He is one of the leading researchers in the area of father involvement in families of children with disabilities. His cutting-edge research provides critical insight on how to better support fathers struggling within this challenging parenting context, as well as early intervention personnel working with these families. Additionally, he studies the role of child care contexts in influencing children’s obesity and inappropriate weight gain during the early childhood years.

The primary focus of Dr. McBride’s research program has been on the antecedents and consequences of father involvement. This work has focused on fathers/father figures of children with and without disabilities, and has included both basic and applied components. The basic focus of this research has been on developing a better understanding of the multiple dimensions of men’s parenting roles, and the unique and overlapping impact that paternal involvement has on child and family outcomes. The applied focus of this research has been in evaluating the impact of parent education and support programs designed specifically for fathers that are aimed at increasing the amount and types of childrearing activities men participate in during the early childhood years, as well as to improve the quality of father-child interactions. In recent years Dr. McBride has been co-directing with Dr. Rosa Santos a research project focused on examining the longitudinal impact of men’s early parenting behaviors on developmental and school readiness outcomes of children with disabilities. In addition to his research on fatherhood, for the past several years Dr. McBride has drawn on his expertise in child development and emphasis on translational research in early childhood settings in serving as one of the senior investigators on the STRONG Kids project, an interdisciplinary team of nine investigators from across the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign campus that is conducting longitudinal research to explore how genetic, family, community, child care and cultural factors impact inappropriate weight gain and obesity during the early childhood years. A focus of his work with the STRONG Kids team has been on exploring the role of child care contexts in influencing obesity and inappropriate weight gain during the early childhood years.