Fathering Roles and the Associations Between Paternal Stress, Discipline, and Children's Behavior Problems

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Abstract

Introduction: According to Identity Theory, individuals’ identities, and the roles associated with those identities, guide their behaviors. For instance, fathers’ perceptions of importance and acceptance of their identities as fathers is associated with increased paternal involvement (Adamsons & Pasley 2016; Goldberg, 2015). However, few studies have examined how father identity, and the roles associated with that identity, influence fathers’ use of discipline strategies with their children, which have been demonstrated to both affect and be affected by paternal stress and children’s behavioral problems (Anthony et al., 2005; Verhoeven et al., 2010). Thus, the current study aims to examine 1) how the roles with which fathers identify affect paternal stress, paternal punishment, and child behavior problems, and 2) whether paternal use of discipline, stress, and child behavior problems affect each other unidirectionally or bidirectionally between ages 3 and 5 among fathers who identified with different roles.

Method: Participants were 1139 residential fathers from the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study (Reichman et al., 2001). Around the time of the focal child’s birth, fathers were asked to identify which fathering role (i.e., providing financial support, teaching the child about life, providing direct care, or showing love/affection) was most important to them. Children’s behavioral problems (internalizing and externalizing) and paternal discipline use (physical punishment, psychological aggression, and non-violent discipline) were measured through primary caregiver reports on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1992) and Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus et al., 1998). Paternal stress was measured through father’s self-report of four items derived from the Parenting Stress Index (Abidin, 1995). Structural equation modeling was used to test auto-regressive, cross-lagged models.

Results: The only differences found between fathers who identified with different roles indicated fathers who identified with providing financial support reported using significantly more physical punishment than fathers who identified with teaching children about life at age 3, B = 1.07, p = .03. Paternal stress at age 3 was only associated with an increase in use of psychological aggression from at age 5, B = .25, p = .01, for fathers who identified with providing financial support. Use of more psychological aggression age 3 was only associated with more externalizing behaviors at age 5, B = .23, p = .04, for fathers who identified with providing direct care. Bidirectional effects were only identified for fathers who identified with showing love and affection. Specifically, more physical punishment use at age 3 associated with more externalizing problems at age 5, B = .13, p = .008, and more child externalizing problems at age 3 associated with more physical punishment use at age 5, B = .12, p = .006.

Discussion: Although the direct impact the roles fathers identify with was limited, these findings suggest father identities impact the associations between paternal stress, discipline strategies, and children behavior problems. Consequently, programs aiming to promote positive parenting practices and foster healthy father-child relationships should address paternal stress, discipline strategies, and difficult child behavior in the context of fathers’ role identity.

Authors

• Xavier Elzie, San Diego State University
  Presenting Author

• Miguel Villodas, San Diego State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jackelyne Garcia, San Diego State University
  Non-Presenting Author