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Stressors and adolescent adjustment in U.S. Mexican families: The mitigating role of father involvement

Wed, April 7, 11:45am to 12:45pm EDT (11:45am to 12:45pm EDT), Virtual

Abstract

STUDY AIM: Latino families experience disproportionate exposure to environmental stressors—including economic hardship, daily hassles, and major stressful events—that predict child adjustment problems (Gonzales et al., 2011; Roosa et al., 2010). Family structure is one parental resource that may foster child well-being (Cabrera & Bradley, 2002; see Figure 1). Not only do marriage and cohabitation foster children’s economic well-being (Manning & Brown, 2006), but research suggests that children in low-conflict two-parent households tend to have fewer cognitive, behavioral, socioemotional, and academic difficulties compared to their peers in single-parent households (Amato, 2005; Carlson & Corcoran, 2001; Huang, Kim, Sherraden, & Clancy, 2017; McLanahan, Tach, & Schneider, 2013). This is promising news for Latino families. Most Latino fathers are married or cohabiting, stably employed, and live with their children (Karberg, Guzman, Cook, Scott, & Cabrera, 2017). Still, little is known about the role of father involvement, defined as time spent in shared activities with children, on adolescent adjustment in the context of adversity among Latino families.
To address this gap, this study will explore whether father involvement directly buffers youth from adjustment related difficulties—i.e., higher internalizing and externalizing problems—typically associated with exposure to environmental stressors in U.S. Mexican families. Prior studies suggest that parents differentially socialize children in early to middle adolescence such that mother-daughter and father-son relationships are more strongly linked to adolescents’ adjustment than mother-son and father-daughter relationships (Delgado et al., 2013; Updegraff et al., 2009). As such, we will test whether the buffering effect is stronger for sons and for daughters. Finally, because child development is dynamic and reflects transactions with multiple people, we will also test if father involvement indirectly influences adolescent adjustment via pathways through mothering (i.e., maternal depression). We hypothesize that:
• Higher levels of environmental stressors (i.e., economic hardship, daily hassles, and major stressful events) in 5th grade will predict greater adjustment problems (measured via internalizing and externalizing symptoms) in 7th grade;
• Higher levels of father involvement in 5th grade will buffer the association between family stressors in 5th grade and 7th grade adjustment;
• The buffering effect of father involvement on adolescent adjustment will be stronger for sons than for daughters; and
• Higher levels of father involvement in 5th grade will be associated with fewer adjustment problems in 7th grade via decreased maternal depression.
METHODS: Data come from the first two waves (5th and 7th grades) of a longitudinal study investigating culture, context, and Mexican origin youth and their families (Roosa et al., 2008). The analytic sample is 427 families with biological and residential fathers (n=212 daughters, and n=215 sons).
ANALYSIS PLAN: A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses will be computed to test the 5th grade predictors (family stressors and father involvement) on 7th grade outcomes (internalizing and externalizing symptoms) by gender, controlling for baseline scores of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. We will test the mothering mediation pathway using Baron and Kenny (1986) regression models. Preliminary intercorrelations and descriptive statistics are presented in Table 1.

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