Advancing Research and Measurement on Fathering and Child Development.

Fathers are more than social accidents. Research has demonstrated that fathers matter to children's development. Despite noted progress, challenges remain on how best to conceptualize and assess fathering and father-child relationships.

Associations between Parental Relocation Following Separation in Childhood and Maladjustment in Adolescence and Young Adulthood.

Petitions by custodial parents to relocate children away from non-custodial parents present difficult choices for family courts. In the current study, the sample (N = 81) was randomly recruited through the children's schools according to the following criteria: Children were 12 years old and at the time resided primarily with their mothers; mothers had been living with a male partner "acting in a father role" for at least the previous year. Thirty-eight children had been separated by more than an hour's drive from their biological fathers due to either their mothers or fathers relocating.

Parenting and later substance use among Mexican-origin youth: Moderation by preference for a common language.

The primary goal of the current study was to test whether parent and adolescent preference for a common language moderates the association between parenting and rank-order change over time in offspring substance use. A sample of Mexican-origin 7th-grade adolescents (Mage = 12.5 years, N = 194, 52% female) was measured longitudinally on use of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana.

Father-adolescent engagement in shared activities: Effects on cortisol stress response in young adulthood.

Parent-child relationships can critically affect youth physiological development. Most studies have focused on the influence of maternal behaviors, with little attention to paternal influences. The current study investigated father engagement with their adolescents in household (shopping, cooking) and discretionary leisure activities as a predictor of youth cortisol response to a challenging interpersonal task in young adulthood.

Reconsidering the "acculturation gap" narrative through an analysis of parent-adolescent acculturation differences in Mexican American families.

Using a sample of 193 Mexican American adolescents ( age at Wave 1 = 14) and three waves of data over two years, this study longitudinally examined the effects of parent-youth acculturation differences, relative to no differences, on parent-adolescent relationship quality and youth problem behavior. We examined parent-youth differences in , , and We differentiated between cases in which the adolescent was more acculturated than the parent and cases in which the parent was more acculturated than the adolescent. Adolescents were more commonly similar to their parents than different.

Effects of the interparental relationship on adolescents' emotional security and adjustment: The important role of fathers.

We examined the mediational roles of multiple types of adolescents' emotional security in relations between multiple aspects of the interparental relationship and adolescents' mental health from ages 13 to 16 (N = 392). General marital quality, nonviolent parent conflict, and physical intimate partner violence independently predicted mental health. Security in the father-adolescent relationship, over and above security with the mother and security in regard to parent conflict, mediated the link from general marital quality to adolescents' mental health.

He Said What? Guided Cognitive Reframing About the Co-resident Father/Stepfather-adolescent Relationship.

We studied young adolescents' seeking out support to understand conflict with their co-resident fathers/stepfathers and the cognitive and affective implications of such support-seeking, phenomena we call guided cognitive reframing. Our sample included 392 adolescents ( = 12.5, 52.

Divorce and eating behaviors: a 5-day within-subject study of preadolescent obesity risk.

Background: Obesity rates have more than doubled among children and have tripled among adolescents since the 1980s, and currently more than one third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. Parental divorce is a time of family upheaval, yet little is known about the family processes that link family structure and obesity.

Methods: The current study gathered a 5-day eating behavior questionnaire from 37 preadolescents (mean=10.

Attributions of Fathering Behaviors Among Adolescents: The Role of Gender, Ethnicity, Family Structure, and Depressive Symptoms.

Little attention has been paid to how early adolescents make attributions for their fathers' behavior. Guided by symbolic interaction theory, we examined how adolescent gender, ethnicity, family structure, and depressive symptoms explained attributions for residential father behavior. 382 adolescents, grouped by ethnicity (European American, Mexican American) and family structure (intact, stepfamilies), reported attributions for their fathers' positive and negative behaviors.

Marital problems, maternal gatekeeping attitudes, and father-child relationships in adolescence.

We evaluated maternal gatekeeping attitudes as a mediator of the relation between marital problems and father-child relationships in 3 waves when children were in Grades 7-10. We assessed each parent's contribution to the marital problems experienced by the couple. Findings from mediational and cross-lagged structural equation models revealed that increased marital problem behaviors on the part of mothers at Wave 1 predicted increased maternal gatekeeping attitudes at Wave 2, which in turn predicted decreased amounts of father-adolescent interaction at Wave 3.

Acculturation-based and everyday parent-adolescent conflict among Chinese American adolescents: longitudinal trajectories and implications for mental health.

The purpose of the study was to examine 2 types of conflict for Chinese American families that have not been integrated in previous literature: everyday conflict and acculturation-based conflict. We explored the relation between the 2 types of conflict over time and their associations with adolescent adjustment (i.e.

Patterns of Father Self Evaluations among Mexican and European American Men and Links to Adolescent Adjustment.

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 group mentioned emotional quality and involvement; an group mentioned emotional quality, involvement, discipline and role modeling; and an group mentioned emotional quality and role modeling.

Guided cognitive reframing of adolescent-father conflict: who Mexican American and European American adolescents seek and why.

Adolescents may seek to understand family conflict by seeking out confidants. However, little is known about whom adolescents seek, whether and how such support helps youth, and the factors that predict which sources are sought. This chapter offers a conceptual model of guided cognitive reframing that emphasizes the behavioral, cognitive, and affective implications of confidant support as well as individual, family, and cultural factors linked to support seeking.

Acculturation-based and everyday family conflict in Chinese American families.

Everyday conflict (studied primarily among European American families) is viewed as an assertion of autonomy from parents that is normative during adolescence. Acculturation-based conflict (studied primarily among Asian- and Latino-heritage families) is viewed as a threat to relatedness with parents rather than the normative assertion of autonomy. Our overarching goal for the chapter is to integrate our knowledge of these two types of family conflict that have been studied separately to arrive at a new understanding of what family conflict means for Chinese American adolescents and their parents.

Relations between Mattering to Step- and Non-Residential Fathers and Adolescent Mental Health.

This study examined the relations between perceptions of 133 early adolescents in stepfamilies concerning how much they mattered to their stepfathers and nonresidential biological fathers and adolescents' mental health problems. Mattering to nonresidential biological fathers significantly negatively predicted mother-, teacher-, and youth-reported internalizing problems. Mattering to stepfathers significantly negatively predicted youth-reported internalizing and stepfather- and youth- reported externalizing problems.

A longitudinal study of family obligation and depressive symptoms among Chinese American adolescents.

The purpose of this 2-year, 3-wave longitudinal study of Chinese American adolescents was to examine how family obligation behaviors and attitudes change over time; how gender, nativity, and birth order predict these trajectories; and whether family obligation relates to depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that family obligation behaviors decreased over the 2-year period but that family obligation attitudes were stable. Moreover, foreign-born adolescents reported higher levels of family obligation behavior than U.

Acculturation, discrimination, and depressive symptoms among Chinese American adolescents: a longitudinal study.

This study focused on the perceptions of discrimination for Chinese American adolescents: how perceptions changed over time, how generational status and acculturation were related to these changes, and whether earlier discrimination experiences were related to subsequent depressive symptomatology. The sample included 309 Chinese American adolescents who participated in a 2 year, three-wave longitudinal study. Findings suggest that perceptions of discrimination became more acute over time for the majority of Chinese American adolescents in our study, that greater initial levels of perceptions of discrimination predicted a slower orientation to U.

Predicting readiness to adopt evidence-based programs for divorcing families: champions, attitudes, and access to funding.

This paper attempts to identify the factors that explain service provider readiness to fund and implement evidence-based programs for children from divorcing families. Representatives from 128 family courts in United States counties were surveyed about the programs currently being offered for families of divorce and plans for changes in the services provided. Path analyses provided evidence that readiness to adopt effective programming was predicted by (a) the presence of champions who could potentially advocate for adoption, (b) county size, and (c) community attitudes favorable to services for families of divorce.

Effects of the Dads for Life intervention on interparental conflict and coparenting in the two years after divorce.

The ability of parents to forge harmonious coparenting relationships following divorce is an important predictor of their children's long-term well-being. However, there is no convincing evidence that this relationship can be modified through intervention. A preventive intervention that we developed, Dads for Life (DFL), which targeted noncustodial parents as participants, has previously been shown in a randomized field trial to favorably impact child well-being.