Citation

Acevedo-Polakovich ID, Kassab VA, Boress KSJ, Barnett ML, Grzybowski MM, Stout S, Richards AE, Bell KM, Crider EA, Beck KL, Alfaro M, Saxena SR, Bustos TE, Ojeda L. J. Latinx Psychol. 2019; 7(2): 137-153.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/lat0000111

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Most crimes committed by adolescents in the United States are linked to gang activity, which is disproportionally present in Latina/o communities. Although most gang-involved teenage fathers wish that their children would not join gangs, their parenting tends to foster gang involvement in their children. An improved understanding of fatherhood among gang-involved U.S. Latino youth can inform the development of parenting- and fatherhood-focused interventions. To foster such understanding, we conducted interviews and focus groups with purposive samples of young gang-involved Latino fathers, parents of gang-involved Latino youth, and individuals who provide services or supports to gang-involved youth. Guided by Marshall and Rossman's (1995) broad qualitative approach, we analyzed transcripts of these interviews and discussions, extracting 24 themes, which we organized into 7 categories and three higher order content groupings. We discuss the manner in which these findings describe the experience of fatherhood among gang-involved Latino youth, and point to influences on their parenting- and fatherhood-related attitudes and behavior. We discuss, also, the implications of our findings for the development of parenting- and fatherhood-focused interventions for gang-involved teenage Latino fathers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)

Language: en