Abstract

The current study examined the statistical relations between father’s and mother’s involvement and mental health. In addition, the study explored which parent’s involvement was more strongly correlated with mental health. The impact of parental involvement (i.e., warmth, care, affection and overprotection) on global depression and depressive mood and ideation were of particular importance. Another goal of the study was to use an African American adult child sample to extend the research literature and knowledge about African American parenting and to gauge their involvement from a protective rather than risk perspective. The last goal of the study was to determine through hierarchical regression analysis the unique contribution of each parent’s involvement to the participant’s mental health. The sample included 236 African American participants from a regionally accredited Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Southwest Georgia. Correlation and regression analyses revealed that father’s and mother’s involvement were related to global depression and depressive mood and ideation. Specifically, father’s and mother’s care was related to lower levels of depression but, father’s and mother’s overprotection was related to higher levels of depression. Additional results revealed that ratings of mother’s involvement was usually stronger than ratings of father’s involvement. Findings from this study, however, points to the importance of African American fathers in the development of their children.

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