Fathering in a Diverse, Cultural Divide: Understanding How Discrimination Influences Latino Immigrant Fathers' Parenting Role

• In Event: Latin@ Families, Parent Engagement, and Sacrificios

Abstract

This study focuses on the meaning Latino fathers attribute to experiences with racial tensions and institutional barriers, and how fathers socialize their children to cope with these experiences. Given the relatively uncharted research territory on immigrant fathers, this study employs a basic interpretivist qualitative study design and uses qualitative principles of a grounded theory approach to analyze the data. Six fathers, who self- identified as Latino, and as first generation immigrants, completed in-depth qualitative interviews. The ages of the fathers ranged from 25 to 43 years (M = 37). Findings shed light on the paternal strengths, cultural complexities, and social contexts experienced by Latino fathers in the U.S., as well as the socialization of Latino fathers across two cultural divides.

Author

• Cindy Ola, University of Washington - Seattle