Fathers have a distinct and unique effect on child development, but little is known about fathering beyond White or majority White families. The current study includes African American/Black biological fathers (N = 88) and their two-year-old children. Fathers reported low incomes and high rates of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Parenting behaviors were observed in high-stress and low-stress triadic contexts. In the high-stress condition, we assessed paternal responses to children's bids after the family was reunited following a separation paradigm. In the low-stress condition, we assessed parenting behaviors during a teaching task. Fathers' social baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was obtained as an index of parasympathetic arousal. RSA moderated the association between PTSD and fathers' responsiveness (F = 6.90, p = .00, R2 = .30), with no association between PTSD and responsiveness demonstrated among fathers with the highest levels of RSA relative to the sample (effect = .04, p = .00; CI [0.02, 0.06]). RSA did not moderate the association between paternal depression and parenting behaviors (p > .05). Furthermore, responsiveness was only significantly associated with low-stress paternal teaching behaviors for fathers with lower RSA (F = 4.34, p = .01, R2 = .21; effect = -.19, p = .00; CI [0.06, 0.32]). Findings demonstrate significant relationships among RSA, PTSD, and parenting for African American/Black men in contexts of economic adversity.
Keywords: fathers; posttraumatic stress disorder; respiratory sinus arrhythmia.
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