“An umbrella for all things”: Black daughter's sexual decisions and paternal engagement

• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Author: Marquitta S. Dorsey
• Date: 01 December 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12772

RESEARCH

“An umbrella for all things”: Black daughter’s sexual

decisions and paternal engagement

Marquitta S. Dorsey

School of Social Work, Loyola University

Chicago, Chicago, IL

Correspondence

Marquitta S. Dorsey, School of Social Work,

Loyola University Chicago, 1 East Pearson

Street, Maguire Hall, Chicago, IL 60611,

USA.

Email: mdorsey5@luc.edu

Funding information

This work was supported by a Research

Support Grant awarded by the Office of

Research Services of Loyola University

Chicago.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this article is to highlight the

value of Black fathers to the sexual decision-making pro-

cesses among Black adolescent and young adult daughters.

Background: Various contextual factors, such as fewer sex-

ual health resources in poorer communities and federal

funding cuts to family planning service agencies, ulti-

mately contribute to the sexual health decision-making of

adolescent young women and may be linked to sexual

health disparities among Black adolescent women. Recent

studies have reported the protective nature of a Black

father’s engagement to be beneficial to the behavioral out-

comes of adolescent daughters.

Method: Findings from 17 semistructured interviews con-

ducted with Black adolescent and young adult women are

used to discuss the impact of Black fathers’engagement in

their lives on their decision-making processes.

Results: Findings from grounded theory and thematic

analysis techniques highlight the impact of paternal advice

and expectations on the respondents’sexual decisions

through two primary themes: “teaches me about the game”

and “umbrella-like protection.”

Conclusion: Future research should consider interventions

that consider the intersectional experiences of Black ado-

lescent women and the implications of gender and power

dynamics on how Black fathers’engagement may be

important to a daughter’s sexual health decision-making

processes.

Implications: Practitioners working with Black families may

consider including Black fathers in sexual health communica-

tion efforts to support Black daughters’healthy sexual

decision-making.

Received: 15 July 2021Revised: 15 January 2022Accepted: 21 April 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12772

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2022 The Author. Family Relations published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Council on Family Relations.

Family Relations. 2022;71:2047–2065. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare 2047

Several studies have established the value of paternal engagement—specifically, Black paternal

engagement (Cryer-Coupet et al., 2020; Doyle et al., 2015; Jackson et al., 2015; Lemmons &

Johnson, 2019; Johnson & Young, 2016). Recently, more studies have explored contributions

of Black fathers to the sexual health decisions made by their Black daughters, particularly con-

sidering disparate rates of STI contraction, unplanned pregnancies and births, and risky sexual

behavior (Carter et al., 2011; Kost et al., 2017; Martin et al., 2019; Martinez, et al., 2011).

Black adolescent and young adult women disproportionately account for a range of sexually

transmitted infection (STI) contractions and risky sexual behavior (i.e., low condom use;

Sewell & Blankenship, 2019) and unplanned pregnancies (Kogan et al., 2013). Since the 1990s,

few studies have examined immediate, culturally appropriate strategies for addressing these dis-

parities. Some scholars have asserted the value of Black families to the developmental processes

of Black children and youth. Perhaps the Black family may be a site for effective sexual health

knowledge, which would buffer the disparities that currently exist for Black adolescent women.

Although some scholars have found associations between a nonresident and resident father’s

involvement and various dimensions of a daughter’s well-being (Coley, 2003; Daspe

et al., 2019; Ellerbe et al., 2018), the value of Black fathers to a daughter’s sexual well-being

and healthy decision-making requires more qualitative and theoretical attention—specifically,

how Black girls navigate intersectional, contextual barriers to healthy sexual decisions.For

daughters who live in resource-deficit communities (i.e., communities lacking adequate sexual

and reproductive health resources), protective factors, such as those immediately available

through the family, may benefit Black women who often navigate various systemic intersections

(i.e., limited access to sexual health services and health care biases) when making sexual deci-

sions. The current study considers how Black fathers function as a cultural asset, social capital,

and sexual health intervention for Black daughters through communication and information

sharing during adolescent and young adult years.

Contextual barriers that prevent Black adolescent women who live in poorer communities from

accessing sexual health resources—specifically, access to free or low-cost contraception (Ranji

et al., 2019), alongside reductions in federal family planning funding (Napili, 2018), warrant atten-

tion. The intersectional experiences of poverty; limited access to sexual health resources such as free

condoms, preferred birth control methods, and up-to-date sexual health education; and racial biases

experienced within the health care and school systems (Dorsey, 2020) force Black adolescent and

young adult women to navigate social barriers that may ultimately thwart healthy sexual choices

and hamper optimal health outcomes. Immediate protective mechanisms, such as parental sexual

health communication and racial socialization, from within the Black family, are needed to buffer

such broad, environmental conditions. Sexual health communication resources gained through

family-based interventions may support daughters in making healthy sexual choices, particularly

for groups of girls who disproportionately account for various sexual health disparities during their

developmental years (i.e., ages 12–19) where experiencing an unplanned pregnancy or an STI may

interfere with goals of upward mobility. Receiving sexual health communication from a Black par-

ent may offer information related to lived experiences for how to navigate racial and systemic bar-

riers to family planning services (Prather et al., 2018).

THE ROLE OF FATHERS

Fatherhood scholarship, examining the role of fathers, originally emerged from an era that did

not consider the father as a vital commodity to a child’s development (Caldwell et al., 2011;

Lee & Schoppe-Sullivan, 2017). In recent years, fatherhood inquiry has asserted the father’s role

in a child’s life as important and necessary to a child’s social and cognitive development

(Gryczkowski et al., 2010). Additionally, fathers are no longer seen as just the “breadwinner”

but also someone whose presence and involvement matters to a child’s academic performance,

2048 FAMILY RELATIONS