Fathers are often underrepresented in family health research. Researchers at the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center (CNRC) at Baylor College of Medicine explored fathers’ parenting styles in relation to food, eating and physical activity. Their findings were published in Public Health Nutrition.
“The motivation (to studying fathers) is that we need more information to tailor interventions in the future, so interventions are specific enough for fathers,” said Dr. Alex Jimenez Garcia, postdoctoral associate in the CNRC at Baylor and lead author of the paper.
The researchers explored fathers’ parenting styles and their association with race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and children’s characteristics. The participants were fathers with an average age of 38; 37.5% self-identified as Hispanic, 17.7% as Black or African American, and the remainder as non-Hispanic white or other / mixed races. They surveyed more than 600 fathers of children ages 5 to 11 and identified distinct parenting styles, such as:
- Engaged supporter fathers: Highly involved in food and physical activities
- Leveled fathers: Let children take a balanced approach
- Autonomy-focused fathers: Encourage children’s independence
- Uninvolved fathers: Minimal involvement in food and physical activities
- Control-focused fathers: Exert significant control over their children’s choices
After analyzing the data, they found that “engaged supporter fathers” indicated a more collaborative approach in family dynamics than all other profiles. “Uninvolved fathers” displayed little engagement and responsibility, which could affect their children’s overall health and home environment.
“One of the strengths of this paper is the relevance that we found was race and ethnicity have a stronger association with parenting style than socioeconomic status", he said. "We started contributing evidence to the relevance of culture, race and ethnicity in parenting practices.”
The survey included questions about behaviors fathers use to provide an environment for the child, asking about structure, access to fruits and vegetables and co-participation in physical activity. Researchers identified their profiles through data analysis and explored social determinants, child characteristics and family dynamics. They also found that fathers of boys are more engaged than fathers of girls and that fathers seem to be more involved in physical activity than nutrition.
“If we can classify fathers by parenting style before any intervention, we can move toward precision medicine to increase physical activity because we can create profiles and tailor the intervention based on the specific needs of the father,” Jimenez Garcia said. “Normally nutrition and physical activity interventions provide a one-size-fits all approach, but a differentiated approach would provide more effective results.”
These findings may open doors for researchers to be more precise in how to intervene and focus on specific populations. The team continues to use these instruments for other lines of research, including how fathers’ behaviors affect their children’s behaviors, as well as sleep and screen time.
By Homa Warren, senior communications associate at Baylor College of Medicine
