Retrospective Reports of Fathering and New Fathers’ Parenting Identities

Previous research has demonstrated that parental support, behavioral control, and psychological control predicted various aspects of child and adolescent wellbeing. Less is known about whether or how the effects of these parenting dimensions carry into adulthood and impact parenting attitudes of the subsequent generation. The current study utilized identity theory and self-efficacy theory as frameworks to investigate whether retrospective reports of fathering received (support, behavioral control, and psychological control/disrespect) were related to three dimensions of new fathers’ parenting identity – self-efficacy, role salience, and role satisfaction. Additionally, this study sought to determine if the relationships between the family of origin fathering dimensions and subsequent generation fathering identity dimensions differed based on the structure of the family of origin. Fathers (N = 274) were part of a broader home visiting study and responded to two phone surveys. Three multiple regressions were performed, regressing the three dependent variables separately on the set of three independent variables. A second set of three regressions with family of origin father type as the moderator were used to determine if the relationships between the three family of origin fathering constructs and the three fathering identity measures differed by family of origin father type.