Harsh Parenting and Black Boys' Behavior Problems: Single Mothers' Parenting Stress and Nonresident Fathers' Involvement

• Author: Kathleen S. J. Preston,Aurora P. Jackson,Jeong‐Kyun Choi
• Published date: 01 October 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12373
• Date: 01 October 2019

A P. J University of California Los Angeles

J-K C University of Nebraska–Lincoln

K S. J. P California State University Fullerton

Harsh Parenting and Black Boys’ Behavior

Problems: Single Mothers’ Parenting Stress and

Nonresident Fathers’ Involvement

Objective: To test a model linking economic

hardship, parenting stress, and nonresident

fathers’ involvement in single mothers’ fam-

ily life during Black boys’ early childhood

(3–5 years of age) to harsh parenting and

behavior problems in middle childhood (9 years

of age).

Background: Parenting stress among single

mothers heading low-income Black families

is poorly understood. Most of the research on

the effects of stress in the parenting role and

outcomes for mothers and children has focused

on middle-class White samples. Boys are of

primary interest in this article because of evi-

dence, based largely on studies of economically

disadvantaged, two-parent, White families, that

boys may be more negatively affected than girls

by aspects of family conict that include harsh

and coercive parenting.

Method: Using data from a subsample of

unmarried Black mothers and nonresident bio-

logical fathers with a 3-year-old son (n=748)

Department of Social Welfare, Luskin School of Public

Affairs, 3250 Public Policy Building Box 951656, Univer-

sity of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095

(ajacks@ucla.edu).

[Correction added on 8/02/2019, after rst online publica-

tion: Author name Jong-Kyun Choi has been corrected to

Jeong-Kyun Choi].

Key Words: economic hardship, harsh parenting, nonresi-

dent fathers, parenting stress, single mothers.

from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing

Study, a nationally representative data set,

and survey interviews with mothers when the

children were 3, 5, and 9 years of age, we

examined relationships between and among

mothers’ economic hardship, depressive symp-

toms, parenting stress,father involvement, harsh

parenting, and child behavior problems when

the children were 3, 5, and 9years of age. Latent

variable structural equation modeling and effect

decomposition were estimated.

Results: Economic hardship was linked indi-

rectly to harsh parenting through mothers’

depressive symptoms and parenting stress, both

of which were related directly to increased

harsh parenting. Fathers’ involvement was

associated directly with mothers’ reduced eco-

nomic hardship and reduced parenting stress

when children were 3 to 5 years of age, and

reduced levels of harsh parenting at 9years of

age. Harsh parenting during middle childhood,

in turn, was associated directly and posi-

tively with boy’s behavior problems at 9 years

of age.

Conclusion: Nonresident Black fathers’

sustained involvement may buffer adverse

consequences of stressful conditions on single

mothers’ parenting. This is important because

studies have found that children growing up in

households without the involvement of both bio-

logical parents are at greater risk for negative

436 Family Relations 68 (October 2019): 436–449

DOI:10.1111/fare.12373