Latino Immigrant Differences in Father Involvement with Infants

Abstract

The relationship between Latino fathers' immigrant status and their involvement with their 12-month-old infants was examined using the Fragile Families data set, a longitudinal birth cohort study. We examined differences among 787 immigrant and nonimmigrant Latino fathers along three dimensions of father involvementaccessibility, engagement, and caretaking, as reported by both mothers and fathers. First generation immigrant fathers were more accessible to their infants, but showed lower levels of engagement with and caretaking of their children compared to nonimmigrant fathers, controlling for numerous background factors. Immigrant fathers' lower level of engagement was partially mediated by fathers' traditional attitudes. Findings indicate that there may be some culturally different norms for immigrant fathering. Culturally-relevant measures of fathering should be included in future large-scale studies, including constructs such as familism and acculturation.

Father involvement in Mexican-origin families: Preliminary development of a culturally informed measure.

“…Similar patterns may be observed in infancy; levels of paternal engagement in the current study were highest for active behaviors (taking the baby out and playing with the baby) and lowest for conventional caregiving activities (bathing, diapering). Fathers’ traditional gender role attitudes may also contribute to lower levels of paternal involvement in tasks commonly considered to be “feminine” or completed by mothers (D’Angelo et al, 2012). …”

“…Although the focus on low-income, Mexican origin families was deliberate in order to expand fathering research to an understudied population, results cannot be generalized to other racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic groups. The current study included both Mexico- and United States-born parents and prior research has suggested an effect of immigrant status on fathering (D’Angelo et al, 2012). Additional research is needed to evaluate the extent to which the underlying structure and correlates of fathering differ by country of birth.…”

“…For example, assessments of paternal engagement vary in the types of interaction activities that are included (e.g., caretaking, play, leisure). Measures of paternal accessibility may range from detailed time diaries (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001) to broad measures of co-residence or frequency of contact (D’Angelo, Palacios, & Chase-Lansdale, 2012). More problematically, many existing measures of responsibility measure how “responsible” fathers are for completing various childcare tasks, overlapping with measures of engagement and obstructing its clear assessment (Pleck & Masciadrelli, 2004).…”

Understanding the roles of masculinity and transnationality in family formation for a Mexican-American adolescent father

“…However, examination of the experiences of transnational fathers is limited by largely comparative research which views immigrant families through a lens of cultural and developmental deficits (Strier and Roer-Strier 2010). Although some research considers the social contexts of fatherhood, research addressing Latino fatherhood in the U.S., is limited (D'Angelo et al 2012;Guendelman et al 2018;Parra-Cardona et al 2006;Taylor and Behnke 2005). This dearth of research is problematic as Latinos are one of the largest minority populations in the U.S. making up almost 18% of the total population (Flores et al 2017).…”

Fathers’ Accounts of Struggle and Growth in Early Adulthood: An Exploratory Study of Disadvantaged Men

“…Latino men face a unique set of challenges related to cultural values: the value of familismo (familial ideals) may facilitate fathers’ connections to their children, but the heavy emphasis on machismo (masculine ideals) may undermine these connections. Latino fathers who craft a “hybrid” (or bicultural) style of parenting are more likely to be involved and nurturing fathers and have higher quality father–child and father–mother relationships (Cabrera & Bradley, ; see also Cruz et al., ; D'Angelo, Palacios, & Chase‐Lansdale, ). Additionally, undocumented Latino fathers encounter barriers that prevent their involvement in children's lives, including being hesitant to attend school functions because they feel unwelcome, are unfamiliar with the language, and fear deportation (Cabrera, Aldoney, & Tamis‐LeMonda, ; Jimenez‐Castellanos & Gonzalez, ).…”