Exploring the Effects of Racial Discrimination on the Mental Health and Parenting Satisfaction of African American Fathers: A Mixed Methods Study

Purpose: This study explored the effects of racial discrimination on the mental health and parenting satisfaction of African American fathers. Objectives: 1) To gain an understanding of how racial discrimination affects African American fathers’ mental health. 2) To explore how African American fathers cope and discuss racial discrimination. 3) To discuss implications on policy, laws, the academy, and clinical practice that will mediate the effects of racial discrimination on African American fathers. Methods: This sequential explanatory study used secondary data and qualitative interviews. The study's first phase was determining if racial discrimination affects mental health (N=146). Multivariate multiple regression analysis (MRA) was run on both quantitative questions in phase I. In the study's second phase, qualitative interview methods were employed with a subsample (N= 15) of participants. The second phase explored how fathers experienced racial discrimination, how they talked about it with their children, and if someone talked to them about racial discrimination when they were a child. Results: The results indicated that racial discrimination is significantly related to perceived stress and depression while controlling for education level and income. Research question two yielded no relationship between mental health and parenting satisfaction on whether mental health mediates the relationship between racial discrimination and parenting satisfaction. Sobel tests were conducted but did not yield statistically significant mediation effects for either perceived stress or depression. Thematic analysis revealed five themes: experiences of racial discrimination in various life domains; impacts on parenting discussions about race; experiences of racism influencing outlooks; impacts on family dynamics, relationships, and social interactions; and emotional responses to racism leading to seeking control over self/environment. Conclusions: This study sheds light on how experiencing racism influences racial socialization – implications on legacy vs. literacy. Organizations and universities should prioritize implementing diversity and inclusion training programs and theories/frameworks that address racial discrimination and promote cultural sensitivity. Secondly, we should review laws and policies to ensure they are equitable and accessible from discriminatory practices. Lastly, African American men and fathers would benefit from different platforms to talk about the effects of racial discrimination.