Paternal Involvement and Its Long-term Effects on Sons’ Stress Regulation System

• In Event: Parenting Across Continents: Linkages, Pathways and Trajectories

Abstract

Introduction: Fathers’ involvement with childrearing is significantly associated with children’s positive mental, cognitive, social, and physical outcomes (Allen & Daly, 2007; Sarkadi et al., 2008). However, many studies focused on childhood or adolescent outcomes at a behavioral level and long-term effects of father involvement on offspring’s adjustment extended into adulthood remain largely underexplored. Additionally, little is known about whether and the extent to which early father involvement affect offspring’s physiological functioning such as the stress regulation system that is thought to have significant implications for individuals’ cognitive, behavior, mental, and physical outcomes (Adam et al., 2017). To fill this gap, the present study examined the extent to which the quantity and the quality of father involvement at age 9-11 years influenced sons’ stress regulation system (i.e., diurnal patterns of cortisol) in their late 30s directly and indirectly through substance use across 20s.

Methods: This study included men in the Oregon Youth Study and their fathers (N = 206). The quantity of fathers’ involvement in childhood was represented by shared activities between fathers and sons, using the Family Activity List (Patterson, 1982). The quality of fathers’ involvement was measured by fathers’ positive behaviors toward sons and the relationship quality between fathers and sons, using the coders’ ratings from the videotaped Family Interaction Task (OSLC, 1984). Men’s substance use during the men’s twenties was assessed using three indicators; (a) the average number of times the men used marijuana, cocaine/crack, hallucinogens, and inhalants; (b) the average volume the men consumed three types of alcohol (i.e., beer, wine, and hard liquor); and (c) the average number of times the men used tobacco in the last year. Salivary cortisol samples were collected four times per day across four consecutive days (i.e., upon awakening, 30 minutes post awakening, in the mid to late afternoon, and at bedtime) using passive drool. Men’s diurnal cortisol patterns in adulthood was first analyzed using latent growth modeling while controlling for covariates (the presence of any deviation from the instruction for salivary cortisol collections, cortisol collection day (weekend vs. weekdays), and sleep time), and factor scores for the intercept and the slope were obtained. Then, the proposed model including the intercept and slope factor scores from the first step of analysis and control variables was examined using path modeling. All analyses were performed using Mplus 8.

Results: Findings indicated that the quantity of fathers’ involvement with sons in childhood significantly increased cortisol level upon awakening and led to a greater reduction in cortisol across the day, suggesting a well-regulated diurnal cortisol pattern in adulthood. The quantity of father involvement significantly reduced the amount of sons’ tobacco use across the 20s, which was associated with a greater reduction in diurnal cortisol pattern, although the mediating path was not significant. The present study provided empirical evidence demonstrating long-term physiological and behavioral consequences of father involvement in childhood, using a prospective study that spanned almost 30 years. These findings highlight potency of father involvement as a crucial early caregiving environment for sons’ neurobiological functioning.

Authors

• Jieun Choi, Yonsei University
  Presenting Author

• Hyoun K. Kim, Yonsei University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Deborah M Capaldi, Oregon Social Learning Center
  Non-Presenting Author

• James Josh Snodgrass, University of Oregon
  Non-Presenting Author