This study examined mothers’ and fathers’ reports of their time spent in their school-age children’s care and academic work and the relationships between socioeconomic status and social support variables with fathers’ time spent in children’s care and academic work within two-parent Mexican immigrant families. Mother and father dyads from 79 two-parent Mexican immigrant families with a second- or third-grade child residing in rural towns in southwestern United States participated in the study. Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that mothers spent significantly more time in children’s basic care, care on demand, and both academic interaction at home and at school than did fathers. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that fathers’ time spent in children’s care was positively related to their educational level and extrafamilial support and that their time spent in children’s academic work, although positively influenced by their education, was negatively influenced by family size. Findings are discussed with regard to gender role differences in parental engagement with children within Mexican immigrant families and their implications for informing policy makers, educators, and parents of the importance of parental time spent in enriching children’s development and culturally sensitive strategies for doing so.
Ablos, D. ( 2007). Latinos in the United States: The sacred and the political . Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
2.
Arroyo, W. ( 1999). Children and families of Mexican descent. In G. Johnson-Powell & J. Yamamoto (Eds.), Transcultural child development: Psychological assessment and treatment (pp. 290-304). New York: Wiley.
3.
Battle, J. ( 1997). Academic achievement among Hispanic students from one-parent versus dual-parent households. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 19, 156-170.
4.
Belsky, J. ( 1984). The determinants of parenting: A process model. Child Development, 55, 83-96.
5.
Belsky, J. ( 1990). Parental and nonparental childcare and children’s socio-emotional development: A decade review. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 52, 885-903.
6.
Berry, J. ( 1998). Acculturative stress. In P. Organista, K. Chun, & G. Marin (Eds.), Readings in ethnic psychology (pp. 117-122). Florence, KY: Taylor & Francis.
7.
Biller, H. ( 1993). Fathers and families: Paternal factors in child development . Westport, CT: Auburn House.
8.
Bozett, F., & Hanson, S. (Eds.). (1991). Fatherhood and families in cultural context. New York: Springer.
9.
Brandt, E. ( 1992). The Navajo area student dropout study: Findings and implications . Journal of American Indian Education, 31, 48-63.
10.
Brayfield, A. ( 1995). Juggling jobs and kids: The impact of employment schedules on fathers’ caring for children. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 321-332.
11.
Brislin, R. ( 1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written material. In H. Triandis & J. Berry (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 389-444). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
12.
Bronfenbrenner, U. ( 1986). Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspective. Developmental Psychology, 22, 723-742.
13.
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. ( 1998). The ecology of developmental processes. In W. Damon & R. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 1. Theoretical models of human development (pp. 993-1028). New York: Wiley.
14.
Cabrera, N., & Garcia-Coll, C. (2004). Latino father involvement: Uncharted territory in need of much exploration. In M. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (4th ed., pp. 98-120). Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley.
15.
Campos, R. ( 2008). Considerations for studying father involvement in early childhood among Latino families. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 30, 133-160.
16.
Ceballo, R. ( 2004). From barrios to Yale: The role of parenting strategies in Latino families. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences , 26, 171-186.
17.
Coggins, K., Williams, E., & Radin, N. ( 1997). The traditional tribal values of Ojibwa parents and the school performance of their children: An exploratory study. Journal of American Indian Education, 36, 1-15.
18.
Coley, R., & Morris, J. ( 2002). Comparing father and mother reports of father involvement among low-income minority families. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 64, 982-997.
19.
Coltrane, S. ( 1996). Family man: Fatherhood, housework, and gender equity . New York: Oxford University Press .
20.
Crosnoe, R. ( 2006). Mexican roots, American schools: Helping Mexican immigrant children succeed. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
21.
Day, R. D., & Lamb, M. E. (Eds.). (2004). Conceptualixing and measuring father involvement. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
22.
Delgado-Gaitan, C. ( 2007). Fostering Latino parent involvement in the schools: Practices and partnerships. In S. Paik & H. Walberg (Eds.), Narrowing the achievement gap strategies for educating Latino, Black, and Asian students (pp. 17-32). New York: Springer.
23.
Entwisle, D., & Alexander, K. ( 1995). A parent’s economic shadow: Family structure versus family resources as influences on early school achievement. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 399-409.
24.
Epstein, J. ( 1996). Advances in family, community, and school partnerships . New School, New Communities, 12, 5-13.
25.
Fagan, J. ( 1996). A preliminary study of low-income African American fathers’ play interactions with their preschool-age children. Journal of Black Psychology, 24, 351-367.
26.
Feuerstein, A. ( 2000). School characteristics and parent involvement: Influences on participation in children’s school. The Journal of Educational Research, 94, 29-38.
27.
Ford, D., & Wright, L. ( 1998). Achievement levels, outcomes, and orientations of black students in single- and two-parent families. Urban Education , 33, 360-385.
28.
Formoso, D., Gonzales, N., Barrera, M., Jr., & Dumka, L. ( 2007). Interparental relations, maternal employment, and fathering in MexicanAmerican families. Journal of Marriage and Family , 69, 26-39.
29.
Fuligni, A. ( 2001). A comparative longitudinal approach to acculturation among children from immigrant families. Harvard Educational Review, 71, 566-578.
30.
Fuligni, A., Witkow, M., & Garcia, C. ( 2005). Ethnic identity and the academic adjustment of adolescents from Mexican, Chinese, andEuropean backgrounds. Developmental Psychology, 41, 799-811.
31.
Greenfield, P. ( 2005). Paradigms of cultural thought. In K. Holyoak & R. Morrison (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of thinking and reasoning (pp. 663-682). New York: Cambridge University Press.
32.
Grolnick, W., Benjet, C., Kurowski, C., & Apostoleris, N. (1997). Predictors of parent involvement in children’s schooling. Journal of Educational Psychology , 89, 538-548.
33.
Grolnick, W., & Slowiaczek, M. (1994). Parents’ involvement in children’s schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model. Child Development, 65, 237-252.
34.
Hall, S. ( 2005). Change in paternal involvement from 1977 to 1997: A cohort analysis. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 34, 127-139.
35.
Hardway, C., & Fuligni, A. ( 2006). Dimensions of family connectedness among adolescents with Mexican, Chinese, andEuropean backgrounds. Developmental Psychology, 42, 1246-1258.
36.
Harkness, S., & Super, C. (Eds.). (1996). Parental cultural belief systems: Their origins, expressions, and consequences. New York: Guilford Press.
37.
Hawley, S., Chavez, D., & Romain, T. ( 2007). Developing a bicultural model for academic achievement: A look at acculturative stress, coping, and self-perception. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 29, 283-299.
38.
Hill, N. ( 2001). Parenting and academic socialization as they relate to school readiness: The roles of ethnicity and family income. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 686-697.
39.
Hofferth, S. ( 2003). Race/ethnicity differences in father involvement in two-parent families: Culture, context, or economy?Journal of Family Studies, 24, 185-216.
40.
Hossain, Z., & Anziano, M. ( 2008). Mothers’ and fathers’ involvement with school-age children’s care and academic activities in Navajo Indian families. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 14, 109-117.
41.
Hossain, Z., & Roopnarine, J. (1993). Division of household labor and child care in dual-earner African-American families with infants. Sex Roles, 29, 571-583.
42.
Hossain, Z., & Roopnarine, J. (1994). African American fathers’ involvement with infants: Relationship to their functioning style, support, education, and income. Infant Behavior and Development, 17, 175-184.
43.
Hossain, Z., Roopnarine, J., Ismail, R., Hashmi, S., & Sombuling, A. ( 2007). Fathers’ and mothers’ reports of involvement in caring for infants in Kadazan families in Sabah, Malaysia. Fathering, 5, 58-72.
44.
Ishii-Kuntz, M. ( 1994). Paternal involvement and perception toward fathers’ roles: A comparison between Japan and the United States. Journal of Family Issues, 15, 30-48.
45.
Lamb, M. (Ed.). (2004). The role of the father in child development (4th ed., pp. 222-271). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley .
46.
Lamb, M., Pleck, J., Charnov, E., & Levine, J. ( 1987). A biosocial perspective on paternal behavior and involvement . In J. Lancaster, J. Altmann, A. Rossi, & L. Sherrod (Eds.), Parenting across the lifespan: Biosocial dimensions (pp. 111-142). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
47.
Leaper, C., & Valin, D. ( 1996). Predictors of Mexican American mothers’ and fathers’ attitudes toward gender equality. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 18, 343-355.
48.
Lewis, O. ( 1959). Five families: Mexican case studies in the culture of poverty. New York: Basic Books.
49.
Lopez, G. ( 2001). The value of hard work: Lessons of involvement from an (Im) migrant household. Harvard Educational Review, 70, 417-437.
50.
Madsen, M., & Kagan, S. ( 1973). Mother-directed achievement of children in two cultures . Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 4, 221-228.
51.
Marin, G., & Gamba, R. ( 1996). A new measurement of acculturation for Hispanics: The bidimensional acculturation scale for Hispanics (BAS). Sciences Hispanic Journal of Behavioral, 18, 297-316.
52.
Marsiglio, W., Amato, P., Day, R., & Lamb, M. ( 2000). Scholarship on fatherhood in the 1990s and beyond. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62, 1173-1191.
53.
Martinez, E. ( 1988). Child behavior in Mexican American/Chicano families: Maternal teaching and child rearing practices. Family Relations , 37, 275-280.
54.
McAdoo, H. (Ed.). (2007). Black families. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
55.
McBride, B., Schoppe-Sullivan, S., & Ho, M. ( 2005). The mediating role of fathers’ school involvement on student achievement. Applied Developmental Psychology, 26, 201-216.
56.
McLyod, V., Cauce, A., Takeuchi, D., & Wilson, L. ( 2000). Marital processes and parental socialization in families of color: A decade review of research. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62, 1070-1093.
57.
Mirande, A. ( 1985). The Chicano experience: An alternative perspective. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
58.
Nord, C., Brimhall, D., & West, J. ( 1998). Dads’ involvement in their kids’ schools . The Education Digest, 63, 29-35.
59.
Parke, R. ( 1996). Fatherhood. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
60.
Parke, R., Coltrane, S., Duffy, S., Buriel, R., Dennis, J., Powers, J., et al. (2004). Economic stress, parenting, and child adjustment in Mexican American andEuropean American families. Child Development, 75, 1632-1656.
61.
Pedhazur, E., & Schmelkin, L. ( 1991). Measurement, design, and analysis: An integrated approach . Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum .
62.
Pleck, J., & Masciadrelli, B. (2004). Paternal involvement by U.S. residential fathers: Levels, sources, and consequences. In M. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (4th ed., pp. 222-271). New York: Wiley.
63.
Radin, N., Williams, E., & Coggins, K. ( 1993). Parental involvement in childrearing and the school performance of Native American children: An exploratory study. Family Perspective, 27, 375-391.
64.
Roggman, L., Fitzgerald, H., Bradley, R., & Raikes, H. ( 2002). Methodological, measurement, and design issues in studying fathers: An interdisciplinary perspective. In C. Tamis-LeMonda & N. Cabrera (Eds.), Handbook of father involvement (pp. 1-30). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
65.
Roopnarine, J., & Ahmeduzzaman, M. (1993). Puerto Rican fathers’ involvement with their preschool-age children. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science, 15, 96-107.
66.
Roopnarine, J., Krishnakumar, A., Metindogan, A., & Evans, M. ( 2006). Links between parenting styles, parent-child academic interaction, parent-school interaction, and early academic skills and social behaviors in young children of English-speaking Caribbean immigrants. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 21, 238-252.
67.
Roopnarine, J., Shin, M., Jung, K., & Hossain, Z. ( 2003). Play and early education and development: The instantiation of parental belief systems. In O. Saracho & B. Spodek (Eds.), Contemporary issues in early childhood education (pp. 115-132). Westport, CT: New Age.
68.
Ruiz, S., Roosa, M., & Gonzales, N. ( 2002). Predictors of self-esteem for Mexican American and European American youths: A reexamination of the influence of parenting. Journal of Family Psychology, 16, 70-80.
69.
Sanderson, S., & Thompson-Sanders, V. (2002). Factors associated with perceived paternal involvement in childrearing. Sex Roles , 46, 99-111.
70.
Sarkisian, N., Gerena, M., & Gerstel, N. ( 2007). Extended family integration among Euro and Mexican Americans: Ethnicity, gender, and class. Journal of Marriage and Family , 69, 40-54.
71.
Schaefer, R. ( 2008). Racial and ethnic groups (11th ed.).Upper Saddle River,NJ: Prentice Hall.
72.
Sherif-Trask, B., & Marotz-Baden, R. (2007). Theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of culturally diverse families. In B. Sherif-Trask & R. Hamon (Eds.), Cultural diversity and families (pp. 44-62). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
73.
Shouse, R. ( 1997). Academic press, sense of community, and student achievement . In J. Coleman, B. Schneider, S. Plank, K. Schiller, R. Shouse, H. Wang, et al. (Eds.), Redesigning American education (pp. 60-86). Boulder, CO: Westview .
74.
Smart, J., & Smart, D. ( 1995). Acculturative stress of Hispanics: Loss and challenges . Journal of Counseling and Development, 73, 390-396.
75.
Stewart, P., & Goldfarb, K. ( 2007). Historical trends in the study if diverse families. In B. Sherif-Trask & R. Hamon (Eds.), Cultural diversity and families (pp. 3-19). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
76.
Suarez-Orozco, M. ( 2001). Globalization, immigration, and education: The research agenda. Harvard Education Review, 71, 345-365.
77.
Tamis-LeMonda, K., & Cabrera, N. (Eds.). (2002), Handbook of father involvement. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
78.
Toth, J., Jr., & Xu, X. ( 1999). Ethnic and cultural diversity in fathers’ involvement. A racial/ethnic comparison of African American, Hispanic, and White fathers . Youth and Society, 31, 76-99.
79.
Trivette, C., & Dunst, C. ( 1988). Inventory of social support. In C. Dunst, C. Trivette, & A. Deal (Eds.), Enabling and empowering families: Principles and guidelines for practice (pp. 159-163). Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.
80.
Van De Vijver, F., & Leung, K. ( 1997). Methods and data analysis of comparative research. In J. Berry, Y. Poortinga, & J. Pandey (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (Vol. 1, 2nd ed., pp. 257-300). Boston, MA : Allyn & Bacon.
81.
Walker, J., Hover-Dempsey, K., Whetsel, D., & Green, C. ( 2004). Parental involvement in homework: A review of current research and its implications for teachers, after school program staff, and parent leaders. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project. Retrieved July 1, 2009 , from www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine/resources/research/homework.html
82.
Wical, K., & Doherty, W. ( 2005). How reliable are fathers’ reports of involvement with their children? A methodological report. Fathering, 3, 81-93.
83.
Yeung, W., Sandberg, J., Davis-Kean, P., & Hofferth, S. ( 2001). Children’s time with fathers in intact families . Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 136.
