TY - JOUR
T1 - Parental Warmth of Non-Offending Primary Caregiving Fathers Rearing Children in the U.S. Child Welfare System
T2 - Associations with Children’s Socioemotional Development
AU - Lee, Joyce Y.
AU - Yoon, Susan
AU - Chang, Yujeong
AU - Cha, Hunmin
AU - Radney, Angelise
AU - Xu, Amy
AU - Landers, Ashley L.
AU - Schoppe-Sullivan, Sarah
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - SYNOPSIS: Objective. Fathers who are impacted by the child welfare system are often examined through a deficit lens. This cross-sectional study aims to assess paternal warmth as a positive dimension of non-offending, primary caregiving men’s fathering and examine the links between paternal warmth and children’s socioemotional development among families impacted by the U.S. child welfare system. Design. Data came from a subsample (N = 192) included in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being-Second Cohort. Primary caregiving fathers were from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, with biological fathers making up the largest group followed by foster fathers and grandfathers. Children’s internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and social competence were regressed on paternal warmth assessed using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Short Form. Results. Paternal warmth did not differ by father type. Greater paternal warmth was associated with lower levels of children’s externalizing symptoms and higher levels of children’s social competence. Conclusions. Non-offending, primary caregiving fathers engage in positive fathering—in the form of paternal warmth—despite the multiple disadvantages they face, and such fathering is associated with beneficial socioemotional outcomes for their children. Family and child welfare practitioners should provide father-inclusive services to support fathering, especially within the often complex system of child welfare.
AB - SYNOPSIS: Objective. Fathers who are impacted by the child welfare system are often examined through a deficit lens. This cross-sectional study aims to assess paternal warmth as a positive dimension of non-offending, primary caregiving men’s fathering and examine the links between paternal warmth and children’s socioemotional development among families impacted by the U.S. child welfare system. Design. Data came from a subsample (N = 192) included in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being-Second Cohort. Primary caregiving fathers were from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, with biological fathers making up the largest group followed by foster fathers and grandfathers. Children’s internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and social competence were regressed on paternal warmth assessed using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment-Short Form. Results. Paternal warmth did not differ by father type. Greater paternal warmth was associated with lower levels of children’s externalizing symptoms and higher levels of children’s social competence. Conclusions. Non-offending, primary caregiving fathers engage in positive fathering—in the form of paternal warmth—despite the multiple disadvantages they face, and such fathering is associated with beneficial socioemotional outcomes for their children. Family and child welfare practitioners should provide father-inclusive services to support fathering, especially within the often complex system of child welfare.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85209925323&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/15295192.2024.2425696
DO - 10.1080/15295192.2024.2425696
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85209925323
SN - 1529-5192
JO - Parenting
JF - Parenting
ER -