The Long-term Effects of Father Role Meanings on Men's Psychological Well-being in the U.S.

Abstract

This study aims to explore the men's perceived meanings attached to the father role and to investigate the relationship between the father role meanings and men's psychological well-being. Using two waves of data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) across 5 years, this study estimated the influences of the father role meanings at T1 on psychological well-being of fathers at T2 with hierarchical Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression models. Findings showed that the majority of fathers felt the father roles interesting, appreciated, sociable, and well-done. However, stepfathers reported significantly more negative meanings of the father role than fathers having biological children. Positive role meanings attached to the father role in terms of interesting and well-done were Significantly associated with men's psychological well-being. Although this study has some limitations by using the secondary survey data (NSFH), this study has an advantage in exploring the association between fatherhood experiences and men's psychological well-being from men's own perspectives. Also, this study has strength in a sense that long-term effects of the father role meanings were investigated and empirically provide findings in consistent with role identity.