African American fathers' coping patterns: Implications for father-son involvement and race-related discussions

Abstract The current investigation utilizes a profile-oriented methodological approach to identify coping strategies among African American fathers of sons. Additionally, this study examines how identified coping strategies are related to fathers' parenting practices, generally and in the face of racial discrimination. Four hundred thirty-eight fathers (M = 38.39; SD = 9.86) with sons between the ages of 8 and 17 years of age (M = 12.01; SD = 2.84) participated in this investigation. Latent profile analyses identified 8 distinct coping profiles among African American fathers. Results also indicated that these coping profiles were associated with fathers' discrimination experiences and parenting practices. High coping fathers (i.e., higher levels across multiple coping dimensions) noted greater experiences with racial discrimination and also reported greater involvement and ethnic-racial socialization with their sons. Fathers with a more avoidant coping strategy indicated less engaged parenting with their sons. Highlighting intergenerational processes, findings have implications for African American fathers' and sons' coping assets and adaptation.