The association of fathers' parental warmth and parenting stress to child behavior problems

Abstract

This study examines whether fathers’ parental warmth and parenting stress were associated with behavior problems when children were approximately 36-months of age, beyond the influence of maternal behaviors. Study participants were 3,342 low-income fathers and mothers who participated in the Building Strong Families (BSF) study. Cross-sectional regression analyses indicated that for unmarried nonresidential families, fathers’ parental warmth and parenting stress were associated with child internalizing behavior problems; and fathers’ parenting stress only was marginally associated with child externalizing behavior problems. For consistently cohabiting residential fathers, only fathers’ parenting stress was marginally associated with child internalizing behavior problems. No associations of fathers’ parental warmth and parenting stress on either internalizing or externalizing behavior problems were observed in married families. Overall, study results suggest that fathers’ parental warmth and parenting stress may have a modest positive association on the development of child internalizing behavior problems particularly in vulnerable families (e.g., families in which fathers were nonresidential).

Father Involvement and Socioeconomic Disparities in Child Academic Outcomes

“…We are not aware of any other dataset that is similarly well suited to our current analysis. Although data collected from recent Healthy Marriage programs such as the Building Strong Families Project (Lee, Pace, Lee, & Knauer, ; Wood, Moore, Clarkwest, & Killewald, ) contain excellent measures of father involvement, they are limited in important ways that affect their suitability for this study. For instance, the Healthy Marriage initiatives required parents to volunteer and screened out ineligible participants, creating a select group of participants in sites where these initiatives took place (Amato, ).…”

Mothers’ and fathers’ parenting stress, responsiveness, and child wellbeing among low-income families

“…Recent studies suggest that higher maternal parenting stress is associated with lower child health ratings (Larkin & Otis, 2019), and mothers' supportiveness mediates the relationship between parenting stress and child behavior problems (Cherry, Gerstein, & Ciciolla, 2019). When examining fathers, cross-sectional studies show that fathers' parenting stress is associated with lower selfreported measures of caregiving involvement (Fagan, Bernd, & Whiteman, 2007) and child behavior problems (Lee, Pace, Lee, & Knauer, 2018). Longitudinal studies find that parenting stress significantly influences mothers' and fathers' parental sensitivity (Lau & Power, 2019;Pelchat, Bisson, Bois, & Saucier, 2003) as well as their responsiveness toward and involvement with their children (Coats & Phares, 2019;Ponnet et al, 2013).…”

“…These studies suggest that, like mothers' parenting stress, fathers' parenting stress may be an important determinant of parenting-child interactions and child outcomes. However, existent studies are limited in study design (e.g., cross-sectional analysis; Fagan et al, 2007;Lee et al, 2018), measurement of the parent-child interactions (e.g., non-observational; Ponnet et al, 2013), and the lack of testing mechanisms that explain the relationship between parenting stress and child outcomes (e.g., Pelchat et al, 2003). This study aims to respond to these gaps by exploring whether mothers' and fathers' parenting stress relates to future child outcomes through the mechanism of parental responsiveness.…”

“…In addition to including mothers and fathers in the same statistical model when possible, it is important to consider sociodemographic variables that may influence parenting stress, parental responsiveness, and child outcomes. For example, several factors can influence parenting stress, including depression, parental relationship status, and the number of children in the household (Chang et al, 2004;Cooper, McLanahan, Meadows, & Brooks-Gunn, 2009;Lee et al, 2018;Leigh & Milgrom, 2008). Additionally, parental age, race, income, and education level may influence the quantity and quality of parental responsiveness (Baker, 2017;Harper & Fine, 2006).…”

Klithih: Faktor Risiko dan Developmental Pathway Pelakunya

“…Penelitian yang dilakukan di Italia menemukan bahwa para pelaku kriminal mengalami penolakan oleh ayah dan mengalami kekerasan di keluarga sejak mereka kecil (Grattagliano dkk., 2015). Penelitian lain juga menemukan bahwa perilaku negatif dari ayah secara intens seperti memberikan hukuman fisik, marah, dan bersikap keras terhadap anak mengganggu proses kelekatan anak dengan ayah dan meningkatkan berkembangnya perilaku menyimpang (Lee, Pace, Lee, & Knauer, 2018;Su dkk., 2017).…”