Group‐based transmission of fatherhood among intergenerational African American fathers: A case study

Abstract

Problem Nonresidential fatherhood contributes to the fact that over 70% of African American (AA) children grow up in homes without their biological fathers. In the absence of gender‐specific parental guidance, AA young men who become fathers may lack paternal‐parenting preparation. Methods This secondary data analysis describes the verbal exchange of fatherhood perspectives among four experienced fathers and one adolescent father who participated in a pilot of group‐based fatherhood intervention. Qualitative descriptive case study methodology guided by Social Learning Theory was used to explore the transmission of fathering perspectives between fathers. Findings Qualitative thematic analysis affirmed that adverse emotional and psychological distress may be avoided with positive parenting preparedness. Culturally‐specific group‐based bidirectional learning can transmit fatherhood knowledge and skills to adolescent nonresidential fathers and this new perspective can contribute to adolescent wellbeing. Conclusions There is a need to investigate channels for AA adolescent boys, young men and fathers to engage in cultural‐congruent paternal modeling in the event that their biological father or other social father role models are absent from their lives.

Men’s psychological and functional changes during parental transition: a review study

“…Studies have mentioned three main aspects of men's problems during the prenatal period. The first aspect was a false sense of inability to perceive the intangible presence of an unborn child and build an emotional connection with her (Ekelin et al, 2008;Gamboa and Julion, 2019). The second aspect dealt with relationship problems between couples, resulted from imbalance expectations from each other and different needs of men and women (Ekelin et al, 2008).…”

Predictors of Maternal Participation in Fatherhood Intervention Research With African American Nonresident Fathers

“…Intergenerational father absence can influence future generations of fathers because men who grew up living apart from their fathers may not have benefited from their fathers' presence and may subsequently undervalue their importance to their own children (Guzzo, 2011). Because they lack the experience of living in households where they were able to learn about fathering from their own fathers, they may also lack fathering skills and be unsure of how to parent, discipline, and support the healthy growth and development of their children (Gamboa & Julion, 2019). In fact, some AA fathers have acknowledged that they have limited knowledge, skills, and self-confidence in parenting their young children (Trahan, 2018).…”

“…Nonresident fathers may engage in parenting that is out of sync with maternal parenting because fathers with limited time with their children understandably want their time together to be enjoyable and may forego stringent limit setting (Osborne et al, 2014;Whyte, 2017). In addition, fathers may lack confidence in their parenting skills if they have not learned socially acceptable, culturally aligned parenting strategies from their own fathers (Gamboa & Julion, 2019).…”

“…Our premise was that mothers' willingness to participate reflects the co-parenting relationship. Potential predictors were identified based upon the literature and our prior research with AA nonresident fathers (Gamboa & Julion, 2019;Goldberg & Carlson, 2015;Julion et al, 2012;Trahan, 2018)…”