Pathways from Economic Distress to Paternal Engagement Among Unmarried, Black Fathers of Infants

• In Event: Fathering, Mothering, and Family Dynamics in Low-Income Families

Abstract

Fathers’ engagement with infants is related to beneficial cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes across childhood (e.g., Cano et al., 2020; Sarkadi et al., 2008). Despite being unfairly stigmatized and stereotyped, unmarried, Black fathers are often highly involved in their children’s lives (e.g., Jones & Mosher, 2013) and make substantial contributions to the health and well-being of young children (Tyrell & Masten, 2022). Disproportionate rates of generational poverty and economic distress faced by unmarried, Black fathers in the rural Southern United States, however, can make consistent involvement with infants challenging. Nonetheless, the mechanisms linking economic distress to paternal engagement -- and the protective factors that may buffer against the deleterious effects of economic distress – are not well-understood. Guided by ecological and family systems theoretical perspectives and informed by extant empirical literature on the importance of paternal self-efficacy (e.g., Chung et al., 2021) and the coparenting partnership for Black fathers (e.g., McHale et al., 2022), the present study examined a) the mediating role of paternal self-efficacy in the link from economic distress to paternal engagement with infants, and b) whether this pathway was moderated by coparenting support. A sample of unmarried, Black fathers (N = 164) from resource-poor communities in rural Georgia participated when children were approximately 4 months old. Economic distress was assessed with the Economic Distress Inventory (Dunst & Lee, 1987). Paternal engagement and supportive coparenting were assessed using the Fatherhood Research and Practice Network Paternal Engagement and Coparenting Relationship Scales (Dyer et al., 2015). Paternal self-efficacy was measured using an adapted version of the Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale (Teti & Gelfand, 1991). Path analyses tested a moderated mediational model linking economic distress to paternal engagement. Standardized path estimates are presented graphically in Figure 1. All analyses controlled for relevant covariates (not pictured), including paternal age, education, number of children, and couple relationship status. Significant direct associations between paternal self-efficacy and both economic distress and paternal engagement were found. A significant indirect effect indicated that self-efficacy mediated the link between economic distress and engagement, β = -.11, 95% CI [-.20, -.05]. Tests of conditional indirect effects revealed that the path from self-efficacy to engagement was moderated by supportive coparenting. Particularly, low parenting self-efficacy was related to less paternal engagement at lower levels of supportive coparenting β = -.16, 95% CI [-.34, -.07]. When supportive coparenting was high, the association between self-efficacy and engagement was non-significant, β = -.06, 95% CI [-.14, .04] (see Figure 2). Findings highlight fathers’ lack of belief in their own parenting ability as a key factor linking economic-related stress to reduced involvement with their young infants. However, a supportive partnership with the child’s mother (regardless of their relationship status) may play a buffering role by allowing men to maintain engagement with their children even when parenting confidence is low or still emerging. Future work should consider self-efficacy and coparenting relationships as promising targets of intervention with unmarried, Black fathers that may promote resilient fathering and subsequent healthy development in socio-economically disadvantaged environments.

Authors

• Geoffrey L. Brown, University of Georgia
  Presenting Author

• Alp Aytuglu, University of Georgia

• Clare R. Thomas, University of Georgia

• Cullin Howard, University of Georgia

• Jonique Freeman, University of Georgia