Father Involvement & Child Well-Being in Latino Families

Univ Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

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Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent changes in the demographic composition of families and an increasingly diverse ethnic and cultural population have called for new directions in family research, specifically in the roles fathers play. What we know about fathers is mainly from two-parent families, predominantly white, using a present/absent definition of involvement, and is largely atheoretical. There is little knowledge about how minority fathers are involved with their children, how involvement evolves over time, and how fathers who do not reside with their children remain a part of their lives. There is also little information about middle-class Latinos and how variables of class and ethnicity lead to fathering practices. Studies examining the processes of Latino fatherhood, understanding the antecedents and consequences of their involvement, especially with their young children, and understanding how their cultural/ethnic/minority characteristics shape their behavior are sparse across socioeconomic status and intra-ethnic differences. This proposal includes an integrated set of analyses using data from The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), the first nationally representative sample of children in the U.S. This is also the first birth cohort in the U.S. that will have a nationally representative sample of Latino families. The primary goals of this research are: (1) how do fathers' human capital and contextual characteristics (e.g., acculturation, family support, and quality of mother-father relationship) influence father engagement at 9 and 24 months? (2) What are the joint and unique contributions of fathers' human capital, contextual characteristics and father engagement to child cognition at 9 months? (3) What are the joint and unique contributions of fathers' human capital, contextual characteristics and father engagement at 9 months to child cognition at 24 months? and (4) What are the moderating influences of father's residency, partner quality of relationship and acculturation on father engagement and infants' outcomes. Multiple regression and structural equation path modeling techniques will be employed. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]