Relationships with nonresident fathers and offspring well-being during the early

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的目的是研究在非居民父亲和居民父亲的陪伴下长大的成年子女在学业成就、心理健康和物质使用方面的幸福感差异，并研究非居民父亲的参与是否会减轻这些潜在的差异。问题1A：在非居民父亲的抚养下长大的孩子与在居民父亲的抚养下长大的孩子之间的幸福感差异会持续到成年吗？问题1B：在非居民父亲的陪伴下成长与在居民父亲的陪伴下成长的差异是否会因没有父亲陪伴的时间长短而有所不同？问题2：在非居民父亲家庭中，父亲在青春期和青年期的参与与成年期幸福感的增加有什么直接和间接的联系？问题3：非居民父亲参与的哪些维度与成年子女的幸福感有最强烈的正相关，某些类型的参与是否对幸福感的某些维度更重要？问题4：非居民父亲参与与子女成年后幸福感之间的途径在儿子和女儿之间是否有所不同？拟议的项目将使用来自全国青少年健康纵向研究的第一、第三和第四波的数据，并将通过检查有常住生父的后代、从未与生父生活在一起的后代以及非常住生父离家时间长短不同的后代在成年后幸福感方面的差异来扩展研究。拟议的研究还将检查非居民父亲参与对成年子女福祉的影响。该项目将使用Mplus中的结构方程建模框架来控制复杂的抽样设计，有效地解释缺失数据，结合关键预测因子和结果的潜在结构，并分析跨组差异。本研究对前人研究的贡献在于：(1)考察了常住父亲家庭与不同类型非常住父亲家庭成年子女幸福感的差异；(2)考察非居民父亲参与的多个维度随时间的独特贡献；(3)研究在青少年时期观察到的问题行为是否会持续到成年期，以及非居民父亲的参与是否会成为日后这些结果的保护因素。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed research is to examine differences in well-being, in terms of academic achievement, mental health, and substance use, for adult offspring growing up with nonresident versus resident fathers and to examine whether nonresident father involvement mitigates these potential differences. We address the following research questions: Question 1A: Do differences in well-being between offspring that grew up with a nonresident father versus offspring that grew up with a resident father continue into adulthood? Question 1B: Do the differences between growing up with a nonresident father versus a resident father vary based on the length of time spent without a resident father? Question 2: Among nonresident father families, what are the direct and indirect pathways through which father involvement in adolescence and young adulthood is associated with increased well-being during adulthood? Question 3: What dimensions of nonresident father involvement have the strongest positive associations with adult offspring well-being, and do certain types of involvement matter more for certain dimensions of wellbeing? Question 4: Do the pathways between nonresident father involvement and offspring well-being during adulthood differ for sons versus daughters? The proposed project will use data from Waves I,III and IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and will extend research by examining differences in adult well-being between offspring with resident biological fathers, offspring who never lived with their biological fathers, and offspring with nonresident fathers absent from the household for varying lengths of time. The proposed study will also examine the consequences of nonresident father involvement for adult offspring well-being. The project will use a structural equation modeling framework in Mplus in order to control for complex sampling design, efficiently account for missing data, incorporate latent constructs of key predictors and outcomes, and analyze cross-group differences. The proposed project contributes to prior research by (1) examining differences in adult offspring well-being between resident father families and diverse types of nonresident father families; (2) examining the unique contribution of multiple dimensions of nonresident father involvement over-time; and (3) examining whether problem behaviors observed during adolescence persist into adulthood, and whether nonresident father involvement serves as a protective factor for these outcomes at later ages. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Understanding the long-term implications of childhood family structure and nonresident father involvement for adult offspring's development and well-being is important given high rates of divorce and increasing rates of nonmarital childbearing in the United States, which result in large numbers of children growing up apart from their biological fathers. Clarifying the role of nonresident fathers in shaping offspring's well-being during adulthood will help inform current efforts aimed at increasing and improving nonresident father involvement, and will help programs develop interventions that will have long-lasting benefits for children.