Understanding the Early Effects of Stress on Father Involvement in Residential and Non-Residential Fathers

• In Event: Preconception and Prenatal Pathways to Child Biobehavioral Outcomes

Abstract

Introduction: Over the past 20 years, both residential and non-residential fathers have taken an increasingly greater role in their children’s lives (National Responsible Father’s Clearinghouse, 2018). Recent work has shown that fathers contribute to children’s emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development, independently from mothers (e.g., Rolle et al., 2019). Yet research has continued to focus primarily on factors that predict mother involvement throughout youth development (Tamis-LeMonda, & Cabrera, 2013). Early father involvement, which may involve physical presence as well as emotional/financial support, predicts future involvement in children’s lives (McBride et al., 2009) as well positive outcomes for children, mothers, and fathers (e.g., Bamishigbin et al., 2020; Twamley et al., 2013). The current study examined the environmental and psychological factors that affect father involvement in early infancy and to understand whether these factors differ for residential versus non-residential fathers. Hypotheses: We predicted that both environmental stress and psychological stress would relate to less father involvement (father confidence, tangible support, time spent with infant). Tests of differences between residential and non-residential fathers were considered exploratory. Study Population: 1,214 fathers (residential n = 1,032; non-residential n = 176) participated in the study when their child was approximately 1 month old. Most fathers were Black (43%) followed by White (26%) and Latino (27%) and were recruited from a mix of urban and suburban sites around the country. Methods: During a home visit, fathers answered questions about negative life events in the past year, financial well-being and food insecurity, and perceived stress since the baby was born. They also reported on three aspects of father involvement: confidence in caring for the baby, amount of time spent, and tangible support they were able to provide. Analyses, controlling for father income, education, and residency status (when applicable), included all stress variables in the model to determine independent contributions to father involvement. Effects were examined for the full sample, as well as separately for residential and non-residential fathers. Results: For the full sample, father perceived stress significantly related to all aspects of father involvement, over and above other stress variables. Financial stress independently related to tangible support and time spent with infant, while negative life events did not significantly relate to any father involvement outcomes. There were interesting interactions between financial stress and the other stress variables, such that financial stress only affected father involvement when the other stressors were low. Patterns differed between residential and non-residential fathers: financial stress had larger negative effects on involvement for residential fathers. Higher perceived stress related to less confidence in both groups, but also adversely affected time spent with infant only in non-residential fathers. Conclusion: Results suggest that chronic environmental stressors as well as the ability to cope with them may have greater impacts on early father involvement than major life events that may be more acute. Implications for increasing father involvement for both residential and non-residential fathers will be discussed, knowing that early intervention, preconception or prenatally, can portend positive outcomes for both the fathers and their children in the future.

Author

• Nicole Mahrer, University of La Verne
  Presenting Author