Father’s Parenting Stress after the Arrival of a New Child

Objective: This study analyzed the relationship between father identity characteristics and father’s parenting stress over the first five years after a birth. Background: Previous work has considered how father identities shape father involvement, but has not focused on parenting stress. Understanding parenting stress is important as it is linked to fathers’ and children’s well-being. Method: We analyzed Fragile Families (FFCW) data (N = 2,547), using OLS and fixed-effects analyses. The FFCW follows the families of a cohort of new children who were born in large urban areas of the U.S., in the late 1990s.Results: OLS results indicated that positive attitudes about fatherhood, wanting to provide direct care, and having higher levels of support from the birth mother predicted lower levels of father’s parenting stress one year after a birth; father engagement, changes in birth mother’s support, and inconsistent financial support were also significantly associated with parenting stress. Fixed effects results indicated that changes in father engagement were negatively associated with changes in father’s parenting stress over years 1-5; changes in father’s inconsistent financial support were positively associated with parenting stress. Finally, we found evidence that father identity characteristics moderate predictors of parenting stress. Conclusion: Father identities seem to play an important role in shaping fathering experiences and father’s parenting stress. Implications: Fathers should be encouraged and supported in developing more salient father identities and fathering commitments by significant others, family practitioners, and public policies.