The Unintended Positive Consequences of a Fatherhood Intervention on Men's Mental Health

Background and Purpose: Fathers play important roles in the lives of children, with active fathering contributing to secure attachment, and the reduction of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in children. The value and status men place on being a father increases the likelihood of involvement with the child, even when fathers encounter other life stressors. However, when fathers are experiencing their own symptoms of mental distress, they are less likely to effectively parent or co-parent, resulting in strain on family systems. In this university-community partnered evaluation, we explored whether a group-based male led intervention designed to improve father-child and co-parenting relationships had a positive impact on the mental health of fathers.

Methods. This present study uses pre- and post-intervention survey data collected from Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black fathers (N=226) from one community-based organization in Los Angeles, CA. Data are part of a larger evaluation study exploring the impact of the 24/7 Dad® intervention (12 2-hour virtual group sessions) on fathering, father-child engagement and co-parenting relationships. While data analysis was conducted by the University Partner, findings were reviewed by the evaluation team (university and community partner meetings) as well as presented to intervention facilitators to get insights into the findings. Multivariable linear mixed effects regression was used to evaluate the association of time period (pre-intervention vs. post-intervention) on symptoms of depression, anxiety, and hostility (BSI-18), while adjusting for ethnicity, father and child age, childhood adversity experience scores (18 items ACEs+PEARLS), and relationship status.

Results: Mean (SD) age of fathers was 35.9 (9.3) years; average age of the father’s youngest child (on whom they reported) was 2.1 years. Among the 226 fathers, 149 (66%) self-identified as Hispanic and 31% as non-Hispanic Black (31.0%). Level of education varied among fathers with 34.4% reporting no high school diploma; 29.4% reported no current employment (87.6% of whom reported an income of less than $3000 per month. The intervention impacted all domains of mental distress (p=.001). More childhood adversity experiences were associated with more reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and hostility. While there were no differences by father’s ethnicity in reported symptoms of depression, Hispanic men were less likely than non-Hispanic Black men to report symptoms of anxiety or hostility. For hostility, there was an added interaction effect with Hispanic fathers reporting, on average, 27.8% less change (4.3 effect over time) than was reported by non-Hispanic Black fathers (p=0.017).

Conclusions and Implications. The study highlights the unintended positive consequences of a fatherhood intervention on paternal mental health. The findings support the value of group-based interventions where fathers can be heard and hear from others, providing opportunities to connect and grow community. In fact, it is the normalization of fatherhood stressors and strains that can support men in attending to their mental health and create opportunities to explore and resolve these tensions. More work is needed to understand the mechanism by which paternal mental health is positively impacted, even when there is no explicit curriculum highlighting this domain, to strengthen the implementation of father focused interventions.