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Schedule:
Saturday, January 18, 2025
Grand Ballroom C, Level 2 (Sheraton Grand Seattle)
* noted as presenting author
Background and Purpose: Understanding key factors associated with “father involvement” beyond behavior frequencies to include additional dimensions of relationship quality is critical to parent-child development. This study examines how risk (i.e., depression, intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration) and protective (i.e., resilience, social support, feeling valued in community) factors relate to father-child relationship perceptions among low-income fathers.
Methods: Men enrolled in a fatherhood program between September 2021 and April 2023 completed baseline surveys on demographics, father’s childhood, adulthood, environmental experiences, and fatherhood and romantic partnerships dimensions. Fathers residing with or having frequent contact with their children completed the Parent-Child Attitudes Short Form subscales (range 4-20) for conflict (How often do you: wish child was different, feel angry or irritated with child, argue or fight with your child) for child 1 (𝛼 = .85) and child 2 (𝛼 = .66) and closeness (How often do you: feel proud of your child, accept the way he or she is, feel you and your child understand each other) for child 1 (𝛼 = .58) and child 2 (𝛼 = .67). Subscale means were combined across children. Validated scales were used for depressive symptoms (𝛼=.92), resilience (𝛼=.77), and clinical levels of physical and psychological IPV (𝛼=.67) with their most recent partner. Social support and feeling valued in one’s community in the past month were count variables. Relevant assumptions (normality, multicollinearity, and linearity) were met. Ordinary Least Squares multiple regression models using pairwise deletion were computed for “father-child conflict” and “father-child closeness.”
Results: Fathers in this sample (N=95) were predominantly Black (61.1%), low-income (63%), and averaged 38.93(SD=10.92) years old. Fathers reported low levels of conflict (M=4.74, SD=2.30) and higher levels of closeness (M=13.74, SD=1.47). Conflict was significantly correlated with depression (r =.23, p<.05), criminal victimization (r =.29, p<.001), IPV perpetration (r =.35, p< .001), social support (r=.26, p<.05), and feeling valued in community (r =.24, p<.001). Bivariates were examined for other theoretically valid variables (i.e. barriers to child access, parenting discipline style, child age), but were not retained due to non-significance. Closeness was significantly correlated with IPV perpetration (r = -.38, p<.001) and resilience (r =.25, p<.05). Model 1 including ACESs, depression, criminal victimization, IPV perpetration, social support, and feeling valued in community, explained 17% of variance in the parent-child conflict subscale (adjusted R2 =.17, F(6, 44)=2.72, p=.02). No predictors explained significant unique variance in the model. Model 2 (father-child closeness) had two predictors: IPV perpetration and resilience, explaining 15.5% of variance (R2 = .155, F(2, 48) = 5.60, p = .01). IPV perpetration significantly explained unique variance (β = -.36, SE=.07, p=.008).
Conclusion: Explained variance was moderate across models, with past IPV perpetration predicting lower levels of closeness and higher levels of conflict attitudes with their children. Further research and programming focused on fathering among men who have perpetrated IPV may improve the quality of father-child relationships.
Methods: Men enrolled in a fatherhood program between September 2021 and April 2023 completed baseline surveys on demographics, father’s childhood, adulthood, environmental experiences, and fatherhood and romantic partnerships dimensions. Fathers residing with or having frequent contact with their children completed the Parent-Child Attitudes Short Form subscales (range 4-20) for conflict (How often do you: wish child was different, feel angry or irritated with child, argue or fight with your child) for child 1 (𝛼 = .85) and child 2 (𝛼 = .66) and closeness (How often do you: feel proud of your child, accept the way he or she is, feel you and your child understand each other) for child 1 (𝛼 = .58) and child 2 (𝛼 = .67). Subscale means were combined across children. Validated scales were used for depressive symptoms (𝛼=.92), resilience (𝛼=.77), and clinical levels of physical and psychological IPV (𝛼=.67) with their most recent partner. Social support and feeling valued in one’s community in the past month were count variables. Relevant assumptions (normality, multicollinearity, and linearity) were met. Ordinary Least Squares multiple regression models using pairwise deletion were computed for “father-child conflict” and “father-child closeness.”
Results: Fathers in this sample (N=95) were predominantly Black (61.1%), low-income (63%), and averaged 38.93(SD=10.92) years old. Fathers reported low levels of conflict (M=4.74, SD=2.30) and higher levels of closeness (M=13.74, SD=1.47). Conflict was significantly correlated with depression (r =.23, p<.05), criminal victimization (r =.29, p<.001), IPV perpetration (r =.35, p< .001), social support (r=.26, p<.05), and feeling valued in community (r =.24, p<.001). Bivariates were examined for other theoretically valid variables (i.e. barriers to child access, parenting discipline style, child age), but were not retained due to non-significance. Closeness was significantly correlated with IPV perpetration (r = -.38, p<.001) and resilience (r =.25, p<.05). Model 1 including ACESs, depression, criminal victimization, IPV perpetration, social support, and feeling valued in community, explained 17% of variance in the parent-child conflict subscale (adjusted R2 =.17, F(6, 44)=2.72, p=.02). No predictors explained significant unique variance in the model. Model 2 (father-child closeness) had two predictors: IPV perpetration and resilience, explaining 15.5% of variance (R2 = .155, F(2, 48) = 5.60, p = .01). IPV perpetration significantly explained unique variance (β = -.36, SE=.07, p=.008).
Conclusion: Explained variance was moderate across models, with past IPV perpetration predicting lower levels of closeness and higher levels of conflict attitudes with their children. Further research and programming focused on fathering among men who have perpetrated IPV may improve the quality of father-child relationships.