Health Problems Mediate Associations between Low SES African American Fathers’ Socio-Ecological Risk and Parental Engagement

• In Event: Parental mental health

Abstract

Despite facing a unique set of socio-ecological challenges, many African American fathers in low SES environments are highly involved in their children’s lives (e.g., Cabrera et al., 2008; Jones & Mosher, 2013; Toth & Xu, 1999). Studies have documented the substantial contributions of these fathers’ engagement to young children’s socio-emotional and cognitive development (Cooper et al., 2021; Downer & Mendez, 2005). Nonetheless, the mechanisms linking social-ecological challenges (e.g., community problems, economic hardship, harsh parenting in the family of origin, racial discrimination) to paternal engagement are not well known. One potential mediator of these associations may be physical and behavioral health problems (e.g., sleep problems and depression), which may emerge as a function of socio-ecological stress (Bamishigbin et al., 2017; Gee & Payne-Sturges, 2004; Kingsbury et al., 2013) and could negatively impact young fathers’ ability to engage with their children (Baker, 2014). Therefore, the current study extends previous research on father involvement by examining the mediating role of health problems in the link from socio-ecological risk to parental engagement among low SES, African American fathers.

Method
207 young, African American fathers (Mage = 20 at baseline) from resource-poor and rural communities in Georgia participated in this longitudinal study. Participants reported on a variety of socio-ecological risk factors, health problems, and parental engagement every 18 months across three time points. Socio-ecological risk factors were assessed using the following surveys in the first wave of data collection: community problems (Community Social Disorder, Sampson et al., 1997), economic hardship (Economic Distress Inventory, Dunst & Leet, 1987), parental criticism (Network Relationship Inventory, Furman & Buhrmester, 1985), and racial discrimination (Racist Hassles Questionnaire, Harrell, 2000). Three dimensions of health problems were assessed at the second wave of data collection: general physical health (SF-36: General Health; Ware & Sherbourne, 1992), sleep problems (MOS Sleep Scale; Hays & Stewart, 1992), and depression (CES-Depression Scale; Williams et al., 2007). Father engagement was assessed at the third wave of data collection using a 6-item measure adapted from the Fragile Family Study (Carlson et al., 2004).

Results
Latent variables for both socio-ecological risk and health problems were created using observed assessments of all measures within each category. Results from structural equation modeling indicated a significant indirect association, 95% CI [-.367, -.018], between fathers' experience of socio-ecological challenges and paternal engagement via their health problems. Despite the insignificant direct path from socio-ecological challenges to parental engagement (β=.02, p=.89), fathers who reported high socio-ecological challenges displayed more health-related problems after one and half years (β=.45, p<.01), which in turn predicted low levels of parental engagement approximately eight years later (β= -.29, p< .05). Figure 1 shows the structural model and all standardized path estimates.

Conclusions
Findings highlight the adverse impact of various dimensions of socio-ecological hardship on young, African American men’s multiple health-related problems that may subsequently disrupt their parental engagement. These findings potentially inform the development of evidence-based programs and policies targeting paternal engagement and child outcomes in challenging contextual circumstances.

Authors

• Alp Aytuglu, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Geoffrey L. Brown, University of Georgia

• Clare R. Thomas, University of Georgia

• Cullin Howard, University of Georgia

• Steven M. Kogan, University of Georgia