Father Involvement Moderates Associations Between OXTR Methylation and Alcohol Use in Unmarried, African American Men

• In Event: Fathering and Father-Child Relationships

Abstract

Background

Unmarried, African American men in low SES environments face numerous contextual stressors that can affect their underlying biology and substance use in early emerging adulthood (e.g., Stock et al., 2011). During this period many of these men also make the transition to parenthood, and their ability to remain involved in children’s lives is linked to an array of beneficial developmental outcomes for children (e.g., Jones & Mosher, 2013). However, the extent to which father involvement with one’s young child might serve as a protective factor for the healthy development of low SES, African American fathers themselves has not been considered. This study tested the hypothesis that the risks conferred by an epigenetic marker of adverse environmental experiences (methylation of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene; OXTRm) for alcohol use in emerging adulthood might be mitigated by men’s greater involvement in parenting of their young children.

Method

192 unmarried, African American fathers (ages 19-22) in a rural area of the southern United States participated in 2 waves of a longitudinal study approximately 18 months apart. Fathers completed surveys assessing frequency of alcohol use at both waves. Father involvement at baseline was assessed using a scale adapted from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (Carlson & McLanahan, 2010) that asked about fathers’ participation in caregiving activities and provision of financial support for their young children. An index of OXTRm across 13 consecutive CpG sites on the OXTR gene was created from saliva samples collected at baseline.

Results

Results of regression analyses indicated that neither OXTRm nor father involvement predicted alcohol use directly, but the interaction between them was significant (β = -.21, p < .01). This interaction term suggests that father involvement moderated the link between OXTRm and alcohol use at Wave 2 even controlling for alcohol use at the initial timepoint (see Figure 1). Specifically, methylation of the OXTR gene was significantly related to increased alcohol use over time only when fathers were relatively less involved with their children (β = .23, p = .02). In contrast, OXTRm was unrelated to alcohol use among fathers who reported moderate or high levels of involvement with their children. Regions of significance indicated that the association between OXTRm and alcohol became non-significant for fathers at or above the 25th percentile of involvement.

Discussion

Methylation of the OXTR gene is a common epigenetic marker of adverse social environments that has been linked to increased substance use in young, African American men (Kogan et al., 2018). Findings from the current study suggest that early involvement in fathering may help to buffer the impact of OXTRm on men’s alcohol use. Consistent with existing evidence that fathering can have benefits for men in low-risk environments (e.g., Bartlett, 2004), findings suggest that fathering may also have protective health consequences for men whose social and biological circumstances place them at increased risk for problematic alcohol use. Implications for preventive interventions targeting father-child relationships, men’s health, and substance use among unmarried, African American families are discussed.

Authors

• Geoffrey L. Brown, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Steven M. Kogan, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author

• Junhan Cho, University of Southern California
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alp Aytuglu, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author