Paternal Work Stress and Latent Profiles of Father-Infant Parenting Quality

Abstract

The current study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to examine the implications of fathers' experiences of work stress for paternal behaviors with infants across multiple dimensions of parenting in a sample of fathers living in nonmetropolitan communities (N = 492). LPA revealed five classes of fathers based on levels of social-affective behaviors and linguistic stimulation measured during two father-infant interactions. Multinomial logistic regression analyses suggested that a less-supportive work environment was associated with fathers' membership in multiple lower-quality parenting classes. Greater work pressure and a nonstandard work schedule also predicted fathers' membership in the latent parenting classes, although these associations differed depending on the number of hours fathers spent in the workplace.