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日益多样化的种族和文化人口要求家庭研究有新的方向，特别是在父亲所扮演的角色方面。我们对父亲的了解主要来自以白人为主的双亲家庭，他们对参与的定义是现在/不在，而且很大程度上是理论上的。对于少数族裔父亲如何与孩子打成一片，参与如何随着时间的推移而演变，以及不与孩子同住的父亲如何仍然是他们生活的一部分，人们知之甚少。关于拉美中产阶级的信息也很少，也没有关于阶级和种族的变量如何导致育儿实践的信息。考察拉美裔为父的过程，了解他们参与的前因和后果，特别是与他们年幼的孩子，以及了解他们的文化/族裔/少数民族特征如何塑造他们的行为，在社会经济地位和种族内差异方面的研究很少。这项建议包括一套综合的分析，使用了早期儿童纵向研究-出生队列(ECLS-B)的数据，这是美国第一个具有全国代表性的儿童样本。这也是美国第一个拥有具有全国代表性的拉美裔家庭样本的出生队列。本研究的主要目标是：(1)父亲的人力资本和背景特征(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)父亲的人力资本、背景特征和父亲投入对9个月的孩子认知有什么共同和独特的贡献？(3)9个月的父亲人力资本、背景特征和父亲投入对24个月的孩子认知有什么共同和独特的贡献？(4)父亲居住年限、伴侣关系质量和文化适应对父亲敬业度和婴儿结局有何调节作用。将采用多元回归和结构方程路径建模技术。

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.