Life stress and unmarried, Black fathers’ attitudes toward attachment: The moderating role of shift-and-persist.

Abstract

Unmarried, Black fathers' positive engagement contributes to children's health and development beginning in early infancy. For many men, preparations for parenthood begin before birth as expectant fathers formulate parenting attitudes that can promote secure infant-father attachment relationships. This study examined aspects of life stress as predictors of prenatal attitudes toward attachment-the extent to which expectant fathers endorsed promoting attachment security in their infants. Further, we considered whether shift-and-persist cognitive strategies-a psychological resilience factor focused on shifting to positive focus and future-orientation-moderated these associations. A sample of 121 unmarried, Black men expecting the birth of a child were recruited during the second or third trimester of their partner's pregnancy. Expectant fathers reported on childhood trauma, recent negative life experiences, and depressive symptomology. Fathers also completed a survey assessment of shift-and-persist strategies, as well as a newly developed scale assessing attitudes toward attachment. Depressive symptoms and negative life events were directly, positively related to attitudes toward attachment. The association between positive attitudes toward attachment and both negative life events and depressive symptomology was moderated by fathers' ability to shift-and-persist. Specifically, aspects of life stress were generally unrelated to attitudes toward attachment when shift-and-persist was low, but related to more positive attitudes toward attachment when shift-andpersist was high. Preliminary findings point to the potential steeling effects of shift-and-persist strategies for expectant fathers facing moderate levels of life stress. Public Significance StatementUnmarried, expectant Black fathers in the rural southern United States who were experiencing life stress endorsed more positive attitudes toward attachment when they had shift-and-persist cognitive resilience strategies. Although findings are specific to this population and cannot necessarily be generalized to other fathers, results suggest opportunities for early father-child interventions to foster resilience and strengthen father-child relationships among unmarried fathers in rural communities.