Rural Environments, Social Networks, and Paternal Contributions to Infant Development

项目摘要 这项拟议的研究旨在调查在墨西哥长大的黑人儿童的健康发展。 资源贫乏的农村环境。长期目标是提供有关家庭关系的信息，并提供 将重点放在父亲的行为上，这些行为将为制定有效的方案和政策提供信息，以阻止健康 以及在美国南部农村黑人儿童中观察到的教育差距。在第一次 在生命的2年里，神经认知和情感系统的关键发展是通过社会互动发生的 和照顾者在一起。产妇对发展的贡献是众所周知的；新的研究也表明 父婴关系是重要的贡献者。然而，这项研究主要集中在夫妇身上 已婚或处于类似婚姻关系的人。农村社区的大多数黑人男性都过渡到 在婚姻或稳定的同居关系之外为人父。暴露在经济和其他背景下 压力源可能会损害家庭关系，破坏父亲与婴儿的关系。尽管 这些挑战，最近的研究表明，大多数未婚的黑人父亲都找到了保持 参与了他们孩子的生活。与他们成功跨越障碍相关的过程 父亲的身份还没有被调查过。我们的方法是基于这样一个前提，即对父亲的研究 高度贫困的农村环境无法在应对以下问题的社会网络之外得到理解 贫困的挑战。因此，本研究的第一个目的是考察保护性社会的影响 关于父亲与婴儿关系的网络。第二个目标是调查父亲的行为， 最有可能促进婴儿发育。关于黑人父亲所谓的脱离的假设 他们赞助了一项关注黑人父亲与孩子在一起的时间的活动。 一项新的研究表明，增加父亲陪伴孩子的时间在 促进婴儿发育。相反，近距离的父婴互动的质量尤其突出。 据我们所知，没有研究人员收集(A)关于父亲的详细的、预期的数据。 或(B)关于父婴与这一群体相互作用的观察数据。我们建议 从佐治亚州农村社区招募250对年轻的黑人新人，他们还没有结婚，期待着他们的第一次结婚 孩子。孕妇和父亲将在怀孕第三个三个月期间登记(基线)。 当婴儿3岁时，父亲、母亲和共同照顾者将参与3次后续数据收集访问 月龄、12个月龄和24个月龄。我们将实现一个多信息源、多方法的数据 收集策略，包括父母和共同照顾者的自我报告，对亲子互动的观察 和婴儿发育，以及来自父母的社交网络数据。

Project Summary The proposed study is designed to investigate the healthy development of young Black children growing up in resource-poor rural environments. The long-term goal is to provide information on family relationships, with a focus on fathering behaviors that will inform the development of effective programs and policies to deter health and educational disparities observed among rural Black children in the Southern United States. During the first 2 years of life, crucial development in neurocognitive and affective systems occurs through social interactions with caregivers. Maternal contributions to development are well known; emerging research also indicates that father-infant relationships are important contributors. This research, however, focuses primarily on couples who are married or are in marriage-like relationships. Most Black men in rural communities transition to fatherhood outside of marriage or stable cohabitating relationships. Exposure to economic and other contextual stressors can take a toll on family relationships, undermining fathers’ relationships with their infants. Despite these challenges, recent research indicates that the majority of unmarried Black fathers find ways to remain involved in their children’s lives. The processes associated with their success in surmounting barriers to fathering have not been investigated. Our approach is informed by the premise that research on fathering in high-poverty, rural environments cannot be understood outside the social networks that emerge in response to the challenges of poverty. Therefore, the first aim of this study is to examine the influence of protective social networks on fathers’ relationships with their infants. A second aim is to investigate the fathering behaviors that are most likely to facilitate infant development. Assumptions regarding Black fathers’ purported disengagement from their children has sponsored a focus on the amount of time Black fathers spend with their children. Emerging research suggests that increasing the quantity of fathers’ time with children is of limited value in facilitating infant development. Rather, the quality of proximal father-infant interactions is particularly salient. We are aware of no studies in which researchers have collected (a) detailed, prospective data on fathers’ caregiving behavior or (b) observational data on father-infant interactions with this population. We propose to recruit 250 young Black couples from rural Georgia communities who are unmarried and expecting their first child. Expectant mothers and fathers will be enrolled during the third trimester of pregnancy (Baseline). Fathers, mothers, and co-caregivers will participate in 3 follow up data collection visits when infants are 3 months, 12 months, and 24 months of age. We will implement a multi-informant and multi-method data collection strategy with self-reports from parents and co-caregivers, observations of parent-infant interactions and infant development, and social network data from mothers and fathers.