126
The Social and Behavioral Importance of African American Fathers: Enhancing the Prosperity of Vulnerable Youth and Families
Fathering is important to youth well-being, distinct from mothering, multifaceted, and culturally constructed. Cultural variations in fathering call for investigations of subgroups of fathers. One group of interest is African American fathers, many of whom are involved with their children, regardless of their relationship status with their child’s mother. However, much is unknown and misunderstood about the impact of fathers on youth and families including those in which informal kinship caregivers are serving as custodial parents, as well as fathers’ perspectives about the parenting supports needed to effectively engage in fathering. Therefore, using data drawn from both qualitative and quantitative studies, the purpose of this symposium is to contribute to the sparse scholarly literature regarding African American fathering by broadening our understanding of African American fathers’ impact on families and African American fathers’ perspectives of their parenting needs.
Method
Paper One utilized cross-sectional survey data from 660 African American youth from public housing developments in three large U.S. cities. Analyses included a latent profile analysis (to identify latent classes of fathers), a one-way ANOVA (to assess mean differences across father types) and a discriminant analysis (to assess whether youth in each latent class could be successfully classified based on their externalized behaviors). Paper Two employed focus groups with 15 low-income, expecting and new African American fathers who participated in a couple’s relationship strengthening program. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis with a question-by-question approach. Paper Three utilized longitudinal data from 185 African American informal kinship caregivers in a large Midwestern city. A population averaged GEE approach was used to model the average response for observations across all subjects. Paper Four utilized a qualitative analysis informed by grounded theory to analyze data from a convenience sample of 30 African American fathers of at-risk youth in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Results
Paper One highlights findings on the relationship between fathers’ monitoring behaviors (i.e., supervision and support) and their adolescents’ marijuana, tobacco and alcohol use; involvement in delinquent behavior; and affiliation with deviant peers. Paper Two analyses the chronic economic hardships experienced by low-income African American fathers. Specifically they explore the impact of income insecurity, perceived income and employment barriers, and ideas on possible remedies. Paper Three explored the relationship between the level of African American fathers’ parental involvement and caregiver parenting stress of informal kinship caregivers. Finally, Paper Four explored African American fathers’ perceptions of the need for and challenges associated with father-focused prevention interventions as well as their perspectives about the potential content and logistics of such interventions.
Implications
Data from African American fathers’ perspectives and data exploring the impact of African American fathers on youth in public housing as well as on informal kinship caregivers are only scarcely available. Collectively, these papers advance the scientific knowledge base on family relationships across race, context and relational statuses, and provide a basis for the development of innovative interventions for African American youth, fathers, and families. Implications for social work intervention, policy, and practice are discussed.