Fatherhood and Stress: An Examination of the Relationship between Financial, Psychological, and Racial Stress and Fathers' Parenting Self Efficacy and Behavior

Background and Purpose

Previous research has established a clear link between mothers’ stress and the quality of their parenting. In fact, there is some consensus in the literature that mothers who report high levels of stress are at an increased risk for negative and harsh parenting. Despite the rhetoric supporting the proliferation of fatherhood programs, less is known about the relationship between stress and fathers’ parenting.  To fill this gap, this study analyzed survey data from 267 men from a mid-sized urban city participating in a federally funded responsible fatherhood program. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between fathers’ report financial stress, psychological stress, and racial stress and their reports of parenting self-efficacy and behavior.

Methods

Data were collected using a survey questionnaire design. The sample included 267 non-resident fathers participating in a federally funded fatherhood program. On average, the fathers were 35.6 years old and had 2.7 children.  Fifty-five percent of the men identified as white and 39% identified as black with the remaining 6 percent being comprised of participants identifying as Hispanic or other. Forty percent of the participants reported not being employed and 26 percent reported incomes of less than $500 per month. Beyond the demographic variables, measures also included measures of financial stress, the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (psychological stress), the Racism and Life Experience Scales (racial stress), the Parenting Ladder (parenting efficacy) and the Index of Father Involvement (parenting behavior).

Results

Preliminary analyses indicate that African American fathers reported significantly more financial and racial stress than their white counterparts. Results of structural equation modeling indicate that the proposed stress model fit the data well. Moreover, financial stress and racial stress had a direct inverse effect on both parenting self-efficacy and parenting behavior.

Conclusions and Implications

This study’s findings contribute to knowledge on factors shaping fathers and their involvement with their children, an important topic with a burgeoning literature. Data analysis indicates that fathers’ parenting self-efficacy is directly and inversely associated with financial stress and racial stress.  That fathers’ experience with racial and financial stress is related to their confidence to be able to handle the rigors of parenting is important in light of the implementation literature suggesting that practitioners need to assess for clients’ readiness for change. Also, financial stress and racial stress also had a direct and inverse effect on fathers’ parenting behavior. This finding also has the capacity to inform the field because it suggests that not only do fathers (particularly low-income fathers) need employment and job training opportunities, but they may also need access to greater access to mental health professionals  and social support networks to help them process, manage, and cope with the deleteriously negative impact of microaggressions, invalidations, and being pushed to the pushed to the margins of society.