Paternal Role in Adverse Birth Outcomes in Black Families

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A wide range of factors have been examined as potential explanations for the high rates of adverse birth outcomes for Black women. Available research is limited in the extent to which it examines the role of babies' fathers in the lives of pregnant women. As we have reported, the few studies that have explored paternal effects on birth outcomes have generally excluded understanding the dynamic, complex, and often correlated maternal-paternal relationship. Given the significance placed on the father's role as a provider, studies have often have been limited to an examination of paternal age, occupation, or socioeconomic status. The proposed study will assess whether and how fathers may have an impact on successful birth outcomes (birth weight, gestational age). Our study of Black fathers and birth outcomes builds on our previous studies and those of others although differing in several important ways. Innovative aspects of this study include direct collection of data from fathers, assessment of the mother-father relationship, and inclusion of measures rarely studied, particularly as related to fathers, such as discrimination, neighborhood environment, and telomere length across the life course. This study complements the recently funded NIH R01 Social stressors and Inflammation: A Mixed Methods Approach to Preterm Birth (Giurgescu PI, Misra, co-I) in that 400 fathers of the babies (to be born) of pregnant Black women in that study will be recruited for the proposed study. Both fathers and mothers will be interviewed during the prenatal period and within the first week after birth. Data on birth outcomes and additional maternal social, psychological, and biomedical data from BIBB will complement data from this study to address the aims. Thus, multiple sources of data will be available to provide a more comprehensive assessment of fathers as part of the social environment in which Black women experience pregnancies. We aim to: (1) Determine how the mother-father relationship (support, conflict) during pregnancy relates to maternal and/or paternal factors; and (2) Determine whether and how paternal factors relate to birth outcomes (birth weight, gestational age at birth). Complex processes are at work in the lives of pregnant Black parents. Understanding mechanisms through which these processes unfold is imperative for articulating risk and protective factors influencing birth outcomes. Although the literature has identified a number of risk factors associated with mothers, little attention has been given to understanding the role of fathers related to birth outcomes. Understanding their contributions to birth outcomes could expand service, intervention, and policy efforts beyond mothers.