What Predicts Parental Involvement by Young Fathers at Psychosocial Risk

Personal, relational, and contextual characteristics were examined to explain paternal involvement by an ethnically diverse sample of young men at-risk for poor parenting due to psychosocial factors. Ninety-one young fathers (M= 21.6 years) of young children (M = 17.1 months) participated at Time 1; 64 were in the longitudinal sample. Half did not have a high school education; incomes were working poor levels or below. Data were collected at two time points 8 months apart through interviews and questionnaires administered in the participants’ homes. Level of paternal cognitions was the strongest predictor of father involvement. Fathers reported that job/school was often a barrier to involvement; the children’s mothers were seen as gatekeepers or gateopeners and own mothers were seen as facilitators of involvement.