FATHER ENGAGEMENT, RESIDENCY STATUS AND CHILD WELL BEING AMONG BLACKS AND HISPANICS IN THE UNITED STATES

Fathers;Family;Public Health;Public Health Studies

Flagg, DesmondBlum, Robert W. ;

Johns Hopkins University

关键词: Fathers;    Family;    Public Health;    Public Health Studies;   

Others  :  https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/39543/FLAGG-DISSERTATION-2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: JOHNS HOPKINS DSpace Repository

【 摘 要 】

This thesis compares patterns of engagement between resident and nonresident fathers, and examines how nonresident father engagement affects the academic achievement and obesity risk of their children. Understanding the patterns of engagement by fathers’ residency status is important given prior research suggesting that nonresident fathers, who are more likely to be Black and Hispanic, may be less engaged than resident fathers.Father’s residency status may have significant implications for health outcomes in their children. Prior research suggests that children who live in households without their father have lower academic achievement, and that involvement from nonresident fathers may increase child obesity risk.However, there is an absence of research concerning how differences in the type of engagement activity influence child academic achievement and obesity.Improved knowledge about the association between nonresident fathers and the academic achievement and obesity risk of their children is important given that obese children are more likely to become obese adults, and therefore experience increased risk of diabetes, hypertension and myocardial infarction; while poor academic achievement in early adolescence increases the risk of high school dropout, which in turn is increases the risk of a number of adverse health conditions including depression, substance abuse, sexually transmitted disease, unplanned pregnancy, amongst others.This thesis is guided by the social-ecological model which posits that individual behaviors and outcomes are influenced by a variety of interrelated societal, community, interpersonal and individual factors.The data for this thesis come from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (1998 - 2007), a cohort of mostly low-income unmarried parents and their children living in urban areas in the United States.This thesis has three aims.The first aim is to describe the patterns of father engagement among Black and Hispanic resident and nonresident fathers. The second and third aims of this thesis focus on Black and Hispanic nonresident fathers, and examine whether their engagementis associated with a) their children’s academic achievement and b) their children’s risk of obesity.The results of this three-aim thesis are described hereafter.The results from Aim 1 indicate that nonresident fathers were significantly less likely to engage in activities with their children from infancy through early adolescence compared to resident fathers (56% to 98%, p<0.05), while engagement among all fathers (both resident and nonresident) decreased over time (92% at age 1 to 42% at age 9).The results for Aim 1 did not indicate a statistically significant difference in father engagement by race or ethnicity.The results from Aim 2 demonstrate that, overall, nonresident father engagement did not have statistically significant effect on reading achievement or math achievement in early adolescence.However, nonresident father engagement in the activity of reading books with their child was associated with a higher reading achievement scores (93.2 to 86.5, p<0.05).The results from Aim 3 indicate that, in general, nonresident father engagement did not yield a statistically significant impact on obesity risk among early adolescents.However, nonresident father engagement in the specific activities of watching television and playing video games were associated with a higher risk of obesity (38% to 22%; 37% to 24% p<0.05).These results suggest that effect of nonresident father engagement on adolescent health and wellbeing may depend on both the nature of the engagement activity and the health outcome. The implications of these findings are two-fold.First, these findings call for further research. Specifically, further research is needed to assess patterns of nonresident father engagement at later child ages (e.g., calling child on the phone at age ten, emailing child at age thirteen, attending child;;s basketball game at age 16, etc.) as the available data stops at the age of nine-years-old, as well as the impact of this engagement on child health outcomes. It will also be important to more carefully examine the impact of ;;positive’ (e.g., reading books) versus ;;negative’ (e.g., watching TV) on children’s health and how this impact varies over childhood. Second, these findings have implications concerning federal policies such as Responsible Fatherhood programs which promote nonresident father engagement by mentoring fathers and teaching them parenting skills, and Healthy Marriage Programs which seek to reduce father absenteeism by providing relationship and premarital counseling services to unmarried couples with children.