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Communicative Support and Parental Knowledge among African American Residential Fathers: Longitudinal Associations with Adolescent Substance Use

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Abstract

Objectives

The current examines how African American residential fathers’ communicative support and parental knowledge influence adolescents’ substance use across a 3-year period. Additionally, this study examines whether these associations vary for African American boys and girls.

Method

Participants were 665 African American adolescents (M = 13.1 years of age; 49% female) from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth-1997. All adolescents resided with their fathers or father figures. Individual and parallel process growth curve analyses examined how communicative support and parental knowledge were associated with initial levels and rate of change in African American adolescents’ substance use.

Results

Although African American girls exhibited higher initial levels of substance use, there was greater growth in boys’ substance use over time. Analyses indicated that residential fathers’ parental knowledge was associated with substance use over time for both girls and boys. Findings also revealed that demographic factors more strongly predicted father–daughter relational characteristics.

Conclusions

Our study highlights how African American residential fathers’ parenting practices influence adolescent substance use. Further, this investigation suggests that gender and demographic variation in relation to African American girls’ and boys’ substance use is highly nuanced. Implications for prevention are discussed.

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Author Contributions

SC: Designed and executed the study, collaborated and wrote the initial draft of the paper. IM: Collaborated on the study design and assisted with writing of the manuscript. AG: Led the data analyses and assisted with editing of the final manuscript. ARG: Assisted with writing of the manuscript. MB: Contributed to drafting and editing of the manuscript. CNW: Assisting with initial literature review and initial drafting of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was funded by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (1R03HD0686880).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 214 Davie Hall, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Shauna M. Cooper, Alexis Georgeson & Marketa Burnett

  2. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Isha Metzger

  3. University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Alexandrea R. Golden & C. Nicole White

Authors
  1. Shauna M. Cooper
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  2. Isha Metzger
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Correspondence to Shauna M. Cooper.

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Cooper, S.M., Metzger, I., Georgeson, A. et al. Communicative Support and Parental Knowledge among African American Residential Fathers: Longitudinal Associations with Adolescent Substance Use. J Child Fam Stud 28, 3433–3445 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-019-01525-2

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