Father Involvement & Child Well-Being in Latino Families

描述（由申请人提供）：最近家庭人口构成的变化以及种族和文化人口的日益多样化要求家庭研究的新方向，特别是在父亲扮演的角色方面。我们对父亲的了解主要来自双亲家庭，主要是白人，使用“在场/缺席”的参与定义，这在很大程度上是一种理论。很少有人知道少数族裔父亲是如何与孩子相处的，这种关系是如何随着时间的推移而演变的，以及不与孩子住在一起的父亲是如何成为孩子生活的一部分的。关于中产阶级拉丁裔的信息也很少，以及阶级和种族的变量如何导致父亲的做法。研究拉丁裔父亲的过程，了解他们参与的前因后果，特别是与他们的孩子，以及了解他们的文化/种族/少数民族特征如何影响他们的行为，在社会经济地位和种族内部差异方面都很稀少。该提案包括使用早期儿童纵向研究-出生队列（ECLS-B）数据的综合分析集，这是美国第一个具有全国代表性的儿童样本，也是美国第一个具有全国代表性的拉丁裔家庭样本的出生队列。本研究的主要目标是：(1)父亲的人力资本和情境特征（如文化适应、家庭支持和亲子关系质量）如何影响9个月和24个月的父亲敬业度？(2)父亲人力资本、情境特征和父亲参与对9月龄儿童认知的共同贡献和独特贡献是什么？(3) 9月龄父亲人力资本、情境特征和父亲敬业度对24月龄儿童认知的共同贡献和独特贡献是什么？(4)父亲居住、伴侣关系质量和文化适应对父亲敬业度和婴儿结局的调节作用。多元回归和结构方程路径建模技术将被采用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent changes in the demographic composition of families and an increasingly diverse ethnic and cultural population have called for new directions in family research, specifically in the roles fathers play. What we know about fathers is mainly from two-parent families, predominantly white, using a present/absent definition of involvement, and is largely atheoretical. There is little knowledge about how minority fathers are involved with their children, how involvement evolves over time, and how fathers who do not reside with their children remain a part of their lives. There is also little information about middle-class Latinos and how variables of class and ethnicity lead to fathering practices. Studies examining the processes of Latino fatherhood, understanding the antecedents and consequences of their involvement, especially with their young children, and understanding how their cultural/ethnic/minority characteristics shape their behavior are sparse across socioeconomic status and intra-ethnic differences. This proposal includes an integrated set of analyses using data from The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), the first nationally representative sample of children in the U.S. This is also the first birth cohort in the U.S. that will have a nationally representative sample of Latino families. The primary goals of this research are: (1) how do fathers' human capital and contextual characteristics (e.g., acculturation, family support, and quality of mother-father relationship) influence father engagement at 9 and 24 months? (2) What are the joint and unique contributions of fathers' human capital, contextual characteristics and father engagement to child cognition at 9 months? (3) What are the joint and unique contributions of fathers' human capital, contextual characteristics and father engagement at 9 months to child cognition at 24 months? and (4) What are the moderating influences of father's residency, partner quality of relationship and acculturation on father engagement and infants' outcomes. Multiple regression and structural equation path modeling techniques will be employed.