Unmarried African American Fathers: A Comparative Life Span Analysis

PHILLIP J. BOWMAN' and RELIFORD SANDERS" This study investigates the link between family provider role difficulties and psychosocial functioning among unmarried African American fathers. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the relation of parent-work role dynamics to psychological well-being (e.g., Adelmann, 1994; Barnett et al., 1987; Lamb et al., 1986; Thompson and Walker, 1989). Most research has concentrated on the mother role, with particular emphasis on positive and negative consequences of dual involvement in the mother-worker roles (e.g., Barnett and Baruch, 1991). However, researchers have also begun to unravel effects of work roles on fathers' participation, or lack of participation, in child care and related household chores (e.g., Barnett et al., 1992; Cohen, 1987, 1988; Pleck, 1985; Russell and Radin, 1983). Because most recent studies have been conducted on middle-class Caucasian samples, findings have limited generalizability for African American and/or lowincome populations. Existing descriptive data on racial differences reveal that Black mothers and fathers face more severe economic problems which make family provider role issues especially crucial (Bowman, 1988, 1991 a, 1991b; Gary, 1981; McAdoo, 1981). The growing literature, particularly among White women, has provided considerable support for an expansion hypothesis which predicts that multiple involvement in paid work, family, and other life roles enhances psychological well-being (Baruch and Barnett, 1986a, 1986b; Coleman et al., 1987; Crosby, 1987; Thoits, 1983). Among both White and Black women, there is also at least some support for a scarcity hypothesis: the prediction is that the social structure may impose burdensome role obligations, especially when the paid work role is added to primary or sole responsibilities for children and household chores (Barnett and Baruch, 1985; Harrison et al.,1985). Among Black parents, especially fathers, employment barriers appear to make family provider role difficulties major threats to psychological well-being (Bowman,1989; Glasgow,1980; Liebow,1967). For example, a national study of Black husband-fathers found that deleterious effects of objective employment barriers were exacerbated by low provider role expectancies and related role perceptions (Bowman, 1990a). Rather than focus on the number of roles, these findings supported a role strain-adaptation hypothesis, which focuses on the critical psycho-social consequences of objective difficulties in valued social roles, related role perceptions, and adaptive coping mechanisms (Barnett et al., 1987; Bowman, 1993; Pearlin, 1983; Sarbin and Allen, 1969). FAMILY PROVIDER ROLE ISSUES: A COMPARATIVE LIFE SPAN ANALYSIS Blankenhom (1995) and others have noted that father absence and related provider role issues are growing problems in America for all race and ethnic groups. However, the rapid post-industrial displacement of unskilled industrial jobs and related trends place African American fathers at alarming risk for chronic joblessness, provider role failure and familial estrangement (Billingsley, 1992; Bowman, 1988; Farley and Allen, 1987; Staples and Johnson, 1993; Taylor et al., 1988). As employment problems among Black fathers have shifted from underemployment in menial jobs to joblessness, corresponding increases have occurred in family provider role problems, unmarried teenage pregnancies, mother-headed households, and the feminization of family poverty in Black communities (Bowman, 1984; Bowman et al., 1982). Indeed, the importance of research on family provider role issues among unmarried Black fathers is clearly documented in studies on the dramatic decline of marriage among African Americans in the last quarter of the twentieth century (e.g., Tucker and Mitchell-Kernan, 1995; Wilson, 1987). To be sure, increases in unmarried, absent Black fathers is a major factor in the family poverty crisis within African American communities. …