Neighborhood Qualification of the Association Between Parenting and Problem Behavior Trajectories Among Mexican‐Origin Father–Adolescent Dyads

Abstract

To address the combined importance of fathers and neighborhoods for adolescent adjustment, we examined whether associations between fathers' parenting and adolescents' problem behaviors were qualified by neighborhood adversity. We captured both mainstream (e.g., authoritative) and alternative (e.g., no-nonsense, reduced involvement) parenting styles and examined parenting and neighborhood effects on changes over time in problem behaviors among a sample of Mexican-origin father-adolescent dyads (N = 462). Compared to their counterparts in low-adversity neighborhoods, adolescents in high-adversity neighborhoods experienced greater initial benefits from authoritative fathering, greater long-term benefits from no-nonsense fathering, and fewer costs associated with reduced involvement fathering. The combined influences of alternative paternal parenting styles and neighborhood adversity may set ethnic and racial minority adolescents on different developmental pathways to competence.

Social Determinants of Mental Health: Where We Are and Where We Need to Go

“…Living with family, satisfaction with family relationships, and family connectedness have all been associated with fewer depressive symptoms [7, 29]. Parenting styles can affect mental health, as “reduced involvement” fathering (compared to “authoritative” fathering) was linked to more internalizing and externalizing symptoms among Mexican youth in the United States [32]. Similarly, a history of abuse and neglect from a family member has been associated with symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and aggression [33, 34].…”

Longitudinal Relations Among Parenting Styles, Prosocial Behaviors, and Academic Outcomes in U.S. Mexican Adolescents

“…In U.S. Latino families, some researchers report expected negative relations between authoritarian parenting and positive adolescent outcomes, whereas other investigators demonstrate no significant relations between such parenting and outcomes (Domenech Rodríguez et al, 2009). Other research identifies unexpected associations between harsh parenting, demandingness, and Latino youth outcomes (see Halgunseth, Ispa, & Rudy, 2006, for a review), perhaps because scholars are failing to consider these behaviors and dimensions vis-à-vis other aspects of responsiveness (e.g., high acceptance) and demandingness (White et al, 2015; in press). Overall, mixed findings may be interpreted within recent works suggesting that the predominant frameworks may not capture the full range of parenting styles employed by parents of adolescents from diverse groups (Domenech Rodriguez et al, 2009; Kim, Wang, Shen, Hou, 2015; White, Liu, Gonzales, Knight, & Tein, 2016).…”

Culture's Influence on Stressors, Parental Socialization, and Developmental Processes in the Mental Health of Children of Immigrants

“…For example, for immigrant parents with limited income, education, and English skills, the most viable housing options may be in low-rent neighborhoods with high crime rates (Pumariega et al 2005). We therefore highlight two stressors, economic pressure (Mistry et al 2009) and neighborhood disadvantage (White et al 2016), as transcultural stressors that influence the mental health of children of immigrants.…”

“…Therefore, although tiger parenting can result in high academic achievement for adolescents, this may come at the cost of their mental health. For Mexican American families, White et al (2016) found that, for those living in high-adversity neighborhoods, no-nonsense parenting is an adaptive strategy for fathers. This type of parenting allows fathers to recognize the environmental demands of their neighborhoods and adapt their parenting accordingly, resulting in declines in internalizing problems across the course of adolescence in their children.…”