Friends, family, and foes: the influence of father's social networks

Perceptions of Urban Father Support in Early Parenthood: A Critical Incident Analysis

Becoming a father is a common transitional event, however men are often not adequately prepared for their fathering role. The United States (U.S.) health care system does little to support fathers' parenting needs during the postnatal and infancy period. Moreover, father's support needs are often perceived as secondary to the mother's needs in the maternal-child system. It is important that fathers' social support needs be investigated in the first year of his newborn's life, especially in diverse populations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the social support needs of urban, African American fathers during early parenthood. Using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT), a descriptive, qualitative design was used to interview 35 fathers about their social support at 2-12 months after the birth of their baby. Using a semi-structured interview guide, fathers were asked to describe helpful and unhelpful events they experienced since the birth of their baby. Fathers reported 36 helpful events and 32 unhelpful events for an overall total of 68 events. Data was analyzed using House's Social Support Theory and the four social support categories: instrumental, informational, emotional, and appraisal. Using the CIT, main categories and subcategories were developed. The helpful categories included: 1) Helping father with infant care, 2) Providing information on infant care, 3) Receiving HCP assistance, 4) Managing relationships, and 5) Becoming a father. The unhelpful categories included: 1) Receiving unhelpful assistance, 2) Receiving unreliable or unwanted assistance, 3) Offering bad advice, 4) Conflicting relationships, 5) Conflicts with friends, 6) Unsatisfying HCP experience, and 7) Receiving no support from family/organizations. The results of the study validated House's Social Support Theory and served as an excellent framework for exploring social support needs in fathers. More research needs to be conducted on the social support needs of fathers during the first year of their infants' lives, especially with experienced African American fathers and nonresidential fathers, and how health care professionals (HCPs), specifically postnatal and child health nurses, can better support fathers during the infancy period.

Promoting Father Involvement for Child and Family Health

Paternal involvement in children's lives is associated with a variety of child outcomes, including improved cognition, improved mental health, reduced obesity rates, and asthma exacerbation. Given this evidence, the American Academy of Pediatrics has promoted actions by pediatricians to engage fathers in pediatric care. Despite these recommendations, the mother-child dyad, rather than the mother-father-child triad, remains a frequent focus of care. Furthermore, pediatric care is often leveraged to improve maternal health, such as screening for maternal depression, but paternal health is infrequently addressed even as men tend to exhibit riskier behaviors, poorer primary care utilization, and lower life expectancy. Therefore, increasing efforts by pediatric clinicians to engage fathers may affect the health of both father and child. These efforts to engage fathers are informed by currently used definitions and measures of father involvement, which are discussed here. Factors described in the literature that affect father involvement are also summarized, including culture and context; interpersonal factors; logistics; knowledge and self-efficacy; and attitudes, beliefs, and incentives. Innovative ways to reach fathers both in the clinic and in other settings are currently under investigation, including use of behavior change models, motivational interviewing, mobile technologies, peer support groups, and policy advocacy efforts. These modalities show promise in effectively engaging fathers and improving family health.

Adherence to Traditionally Masculine Norms and Condom-Related Beliefs: Emphasis on African American and Hispanic Men

Although studies have shown that adherence to traditional masculine norms (i.e., Status, Toughness, Antifemininity) affect men's attitudes toward sexual health, there is little research on how men's adherence to these norms affect them in the context of heterosexual, dyadic relationships. Among 296 young pregnant couples, we investigated the extent to which adherence to traditional masculine norms affected male and female partners' own condom-related beliefs (i.e., condom self-efficacy, positive condom attitudes) and that of their partners. We tested an interdependence model using a dyadic-analytic approach to path analysis. We also tested for differences across gender and race-ethnicity (i.e., African American, Hispanic). Results showed that adherence to the Antifemininity and Toughness masculine norms predicted negative condom-related beliefs, whereas, overall, adherence to the Status norm predicted positive condom-related beliefs. Men's and women's adherence to traditional norms about masculinity were associated with their partner's condom self-efficacy, and moderated associations based on gender and race-ethnicity were detected. In contrast, each dyad member's traditional masculine norms were not associated with his or her partner's positive condom attitudes. Taken together, findings indicated that the roles of traditional masculinity and condom-related beliefs in sexual health should be addressed within the context of relationships and associations between masculine norms and condom-related beliefs are not uniformly negative.

Differential impact of types of social support in the mental health of formerly incarcerated Latino men

The role of social support in the mental health of formerly incarcerated Latino men (FILM) is an issue overlooked in public health prevention efforts. The objectives of this analysis were to (a) describe the levels of social support perceived and received by FILM; (b) identify the associations, if any, between levels of social support and mental health indicators such as depression and anxiety; and (c) explore the impact of familism and hypermasculinity on the receptivity of social support and the potential role of these factors in mediating associations between social support and mental health indicators. To accomplish the objectives, we conducted a cross-sectional survey with FILM (n = 259), ages 18 to 59, in New York City, and one nominated member of their social network (n = 130 dyads). In this analysis, we examined four dimensions of social support (instrumental, informational, appraisal, and emotional) from two perspectives: provided (as reported by members of the social networks) and perceived (as reported by FILM). The major outcome variables for this analysis were the presence/absence of major anxiety and depressive symptoms. Our logistic regression analyses suggest that perceived emotional support was inversely associated with both anxiety and depression. Our findings suggest that familism mediated the association between perceived emotional support and anxiety/depression. Therefore, we must consider designing network enhancement interventions that focus on both FILM and their social support systems.

What are other parents saying? Perceived parental communication norms and the relationship between alcohol-specific parental communication and college student drinking

This study examined parents' normative perceptions of other college parents' alcohol-specific communication, and how parents' perceived communication norms and alcohol-specific communication relate to student drinking outcomes. A sample of 457 student-parent dyads were recruited from a midsize university. Students completed Web-based assessments of alcohol-related attitudes and behaviors. Parents completed alcohol-specific measures of communication norms and parent-child communication, including communication content (i.e., targeted communication) and frequency of communication. Results indicated that parents overestimated how much other parents talked to their college students about the frequency and quantity of alcohol use, but underestimated how often parents initiated conversations about alcohol. In a path model, perceived communication norms positively predicted both targeted communication and frequency of communication. Perceived communication norms and targeted communication negatively predicted students' attitude toward alcohol use. In contrast, more frequent communication predicted students holding more approving attitudes toward alcohol. The relationship between parents' perceived communication norms and students' drinking behaviors was mediated by the parental communication variables and student attitudes. Tests of indirect effects were undertaken to examine meditational processes. The findings underscore relations involving parental perceived communication norms and parents' own alcohol communication and their children's drinking outcomes. The complex relationships of different types of parental communication and student outcomes warrant further research.