Aytuglu Alp, Thomas Clare R, Howard Cullin J, Huang Yating, Freeman Jonique Y, Koss Kalsea J, Ravindran Niyantri, Brown Geoffrey L
Department of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University.
Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin.
Dev Psychol. 2025 Jul 10. doi: 10.1037/dev0002010.
The present study utilized a person-centered approach to identify profiles of prenatal readiness for parenthood among a sample of 126 unmarried Black American fathers living in the southeastern United States. Further, prenatal readiness for fatherhood profiles were examined as predictors of distal outcomes of both paternal engagement in early infancy and socioemotional competence in toddlerhood. Expectant fathers reported prenatally on a series of intrapersonal, relational, and contextual variables indicative of their preparation for fatherhood. Fathers also reported on their paternal engagement in early infancy when children were 3-6 months of age. Mothers reported on children's socioemotional competence when they were approximately 12-18 months old. A latent profile analysis revealed three distinct readiness for fatherhood profiles defined as high readiness, mixed readiness, and low readiness based on expectant Black American fathers' prenatal parenting self-efficacy, desire for children, beliefs about the paternal role, interparental relationship quality, caregiving sensitivity in the family of origin, and economic distress. Results indicated that children of fathers in the high readiness profile showed more optimal socioemotional competence compared to children whose fathers were in the low and mixed readiness profiles. Indirect effects from profile membership to socioemotional competence via paternal engagement were not supported, but fathers in the low readiness profile did engage in less caregiving with their children relative to fathers in other profiles. Although mediating mechanisms remain unclear, findings suggest heterogeneity in unmarried Black American fathers' patterns of readiness for parenting in the prenatal period, with implications for children's early socioemotional development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
本研究采用以人为本的方法，在美国东南部生活的126名未婚黑人美国父亲样本中，识别为人父的产前准备情况。此外，还考察了为人父的产前准备情况，作为父亲在婴儿早期参与度和幼儿期社会情感能力等远期结果的预测因素。准父亲在产前报告了一系列表明其为人父准备情况的个人、关系和环境变量。父亲们还报告了孩子3至6个月大时他们在婴儿早期的育儿参与情况。母亲们报告了孩子大约12至18个月大时的社会情感能力。一项潜在类别分析揭示了三种不同的为人父准备情况类别，根据美国黑人准父亲的产前育儿自我效能感、对孩子的渴望、对父亲角色的信念、父母间关系质量、原生家庭中的照顾敏感性以及经济困境，将其定义为高准备、混合准备和低准备。结果表明，与父亲处于低准备和混合准备类别的孩子相比，处于高准备类别的父亲的孩子表现出更优的社会情感能力。从类别归属到通过父亲参与产生的社会情感能力的间接效应未得到支持，但与其他类别的父亲相比，低准备类别的父亲与孩子的互动确实较少。尽管中介机制尚不清楚，但研究结果表明，未婚黑人美国父亲在产前为人父母的准备模式存在异质性，这对孩子早期的社会情感发展具有影响。（PsycInfo数据库记录（c）2025美国心理学会，保留所有权利）
