Latino Fathers: The Relationship Among Machismo, Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, and Paternal Involvement

University of LouisvillePaternal involvement with children is associated with better outcomes for children andfamily functioning. There are, however, few data examining the intersection of culturalnorms and paternal involvement. For Latino fathers in the United States, paternalinvolvement may vary on the basis of cultural and gender norms, acculturation process,and ethnic identity. The current study used self-report surveys to examine the percep-tions of 67 Latino fathers regarding their paternal involvement, machismo (i.e., machoand caballerismo), degree of acculturation, and ethnic identity. The bivariate correla-tions revealed Latino fathers’ Latino acculturation, and macho attitudes were signi-cantly associated with paternal involvement, whereas ethnic identity and caballerismoattitudes were not. In the linear regression analysis, only Latino fathers’ machoattitudes were negatively associated with paternal involvement after accounting for thevariance in the other variables.Keywords: Latino fathers, machismo, ethnic identity, acculturation, paternal involve-ment