African American Fathers And Afrocentric Parenting - Factors Associated With Parenting Of Their Children

Abstract

To provide an alternate explanation for the behavior of African American fathers in their parenting using an Afrocentric model, comparing it with the parenting behavior of the Caucasian father, who would use primarily an Eurocentric model. Using data from the National Survey of Family Growth, IV, 2002, a parenting scale was devised using specific parenting behavior that revolved around the type and frequency of interactions that the fathers had with their children, and whether the father was married, was resident with the child, neither, or both.Findings of this study uncovered many differences and similarities between the groups, namely, that marriage is a large factor in the parenting behavior of Caucasian fathers and the residential status is a large factor in the parenting behavior of African American fathers.