Improving Preadolescent African American Boys' Prosocial Attitudes about Sex through Enhancing Parenting Among Their Nonresident Fathers

Although prevention of adolescent risky sexual behaviors through the enhancement of parenting behaviors is not a new idea, most previous studies have focused on improving the parenting behaviors of mothers with little consideration of the role of fathers in this process. In this study we examined the effects of a theory-based, culturally-specific family intervention designed to prevent youth risky behaviors through improving the parenting behaviors of nonresident African American fathers. We tested if improved parenting among fathers was linked to enhanced prosocial sexual attitudes among preadolescent boys. We also examined if such an effect was mediated by changes in the perceptions of sons regarding their father’s parenting behaviors. The sample for the study is 158 intervention and 129 comparison group father-son dyads. The intervention was composed of 15 sessions in which both fathers and sons attended, implemented over a two month period. Fathers reported on their parenting skills, monitoring behaviors, and communication about sex with their sons. Sons reported on their perceptions of their father’s monitoring behaviors and communication about sex, as well as their attitudes about sex (main outcome). We used structural equation modeling to test direct and mediating effects of the intervention on the outcome of interest. Our model fit the data very well (X² = 149.230, X²/df= 1.640, CFI = .964, REMSA =0.043), suggesting that the effect of intervention is not direct, but operates first through the promotion of parenting among nonresident fathers and then through the perceptions of sons of their father’s parenting behaviors, which finally was associated with increases in prosocial sexual attitudes among sons. Several paths were evident: 1) the intervention was associated with a larger increase in general parenting skills for fathers, which was in turn associated with a larger increase in fathers' communication about sex and monitoring behaviors compared to outcomes for comparison group fathers. 2) An increase in fathers' communication about sex and monitoring behaviors were then associated with increased perceived sexual communication and monitoring by sons. 3) Finally, increased reports of sexual communication and monitoring by sons were associated with a larger increase in prosocial attitudes about sex among intervention sons. These findings suggest that African American fathers’ parenting behaviors can be enhanced to encourage prosocial sexual attitudes in their preadolescent sons even when they do not live together. The policy implications of this research will be discussed.