Latino Fathers and Their Children

This article examines Latino fathers and their influence on child well-being in light of recent demographic, cultural, and social shifts. Through use of a heuristic model of father involvement, this study found great heterogeneity in the way Latino fathers are engaged with their offspring and at least suggests an emerging hybrid that blends traditional with more modern views of parenting. Findings imply that a father's personal characteristics and experiences (such as cultural values and beliefs, immigration experience, motivation to parent, and financial, social, and human capital) and quality of his relationships (coparenting and couple) are important correlates of involvement with his children. There appear to be multiple mechanisms linking aspects of paternal involvement to child outcomes, including the quality of the mother–father and parent–child relationship and the father's own interactions (language input, supportiveness) with the child. These findings are considered in the context of methodological, conceptual, and measurement challenges that future studies should address.