Patterns of father self-evaluations among Mexican and European American men and links to adolescent adjustment

Norma J. Perez-Brena, Jeffrey T. Cookston, William Fabricius, Delia Saenz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

A mixed-method study identified profiles of fathers who mentioned key dimensions of their parenting and linked profile membership to adolescents' adjustment using data from 337 European American, Mexican American and Mexican immigrant fathers and their early adolescent children. Father narratives about what fathers do well as parents were thematically coded for the presence of five fathering dimensions: emotional quality (how well father and child get along), involvement (amount of time spent together), provisioning (the amount of resources provided), discipline (the amount and success in parental control), and role modeling (teaching life lessons through example). Next, latent class analysis was used to identify three patterns of the likelihood of mentioning certain fathering dimensions: an emotionally-involved group mentioned emotional quality and involvement; an affective- control group mentioned emotional quality, involvement, discipline and role modeling; and an affective-model group mentioned emotional quality and role modeling. Profiles were significantly associated with subsequent adolescents' reports of adjustment such that adolescents of affective-control fathers reported significantly more externalizing behaviors than adolescents of emotionally-involved fathers.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)213-235
Number of pages23
JournalFathering
Volume10
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012

Keywords

  • Adolescent adjustment
  • Fathering
  • Mexican families
  • Mixed-methods

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health(social science)
  • Social Psychology
  • Anthropology
  • Sociology and Political Science

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