Father beliefs as a mediator between contextual barriers and father involvement

Abstract

Fathers' beliefs were examined as mediators between multiple risk factors and involvement practices with children age zero to five enrolled in Head Start or Early Head Start. A diverse sample of 101 fathers, living in rural Midwestern communities of the USA completed questionnaires assessing mediators (i.e. parenting efficacy, role beliefs, and responsibility to an intervention program), barriers (e.g. lack of time, energy, work constraints), and father involvement (i.e. physical play, didactic engagement, caregiving, socialisation, involvement in the program, and accessibility). In each of the regression models, father efficacy and beliefs reduced the influence of barriers and were significant unique predictors of father involvement. Findings suggest that fathers' beliefs are more proximal to parenting practices than is family context, which have implications for early intervention programs serving children in at‐risk families.

Keywords:

• Father involvement
• Father beliefs
• Early intervention
• Mediator
• Family context
• Low income families

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the families and staff at USD Head Start Pre‐Birth through Five. Their participation and assistance were invaluable. Data for this manuscript were derived from a larger study of father involvement funded through a Special Fatherhood Initiative Grant awarded to Head Start Pre‐Birth through Five at USD through The Administration on Children, Youth and Families grant # ACYF‐IM‐HS‐02‐06. We also wish to thank Rita Humphrey for her assistance with manuscript preparation and revision.

Notes

1. Recently when the first‐author was immersed in thinking about cultural and socioeconomic shifts in fathering he was picking up his children from an in‐home rural daycare and noticed that his arrival often coincided with that of three other fathers, but no mothers. Beyond using the same daycare the fathers shared little in common; the author being 20 years older than the youngest father and the only professional among two farmers and a mechanic. Although this personal observation may or may not be representative, it is perhaps more telling that this daily event went unnoticed until he began writing a paper about it.