Toward Understanding Parenting Identity in Mexican American and European American Families Michael M. Harrod Department of Sociology University of California, Riverside

Goals of Paper Examining potential racial/ethnic differences in the meaning of parenthood (Parke et al. 2004). Examining potential racial/ethnic differences in social psychological theories (Hunt et al. 2000; Sears 1986) Moving towards integrating two largely divergent literatures: family and social psychological

Justification for Research Recently family researchers have called for exploration of racial/ethnic differences in parenthood (Parke et al. 2004) Most research on whites & middle-class respondents Social psychology suffers from similar issues Most social psychological theory is based upon white samples; dearth of non-whites (Hunt et al. 2000) Sears (1986) argues too much social psychological theory based upon white, middle class, college students Society much more diverse

Theoretical Perspective Identity Theory (Stryker and Burke 2000) People and society are interrelated People internalize social roles and placement in social hierarchy People strive to have people see them as they see themselves

Important Theoretical Components Identity salience The hierarchical arrangement of identities The higher the salience, the more likely an identity is to be enacted Identity Commitment Affective—emotional significance of others attached to identity Interactional—number of social ties associated with a given identity

Macro affecting the Micro and Vice Versa Large-scale factors affect people’s ability to be a parent Economic, Kin, and Religious, etc. These, in turn, affect people’s social networks Social networks affect the number and salience of parent’s identities Role-demands and expectations and/or alternative opportunities to spend time doing other things Parent-child interactions The better the interactions, the more likely they will occur again; when bad, the less likely the will occur again

Activities Hypotheses— (Step)Fathers/Mothers H1a/b: The more commitment to the parental identity, the more likely to engage the child in activities H2a/b: The more salient the parental identity, the more likely to engage the child in activities H3a: The more traditional the gender ideology, the less likely (step)fathers are to engage in activities with the child H3b: The more traditional the gender ideology, the more likely mothers are to engage in activities with the child

Mattering Hypotheses— (Step)Fathers/Mothers H5a/b: The greater the number of activities, the more likely the child reports mattering H6a/b: The greater the commitment to parental identity, the more likely child reports mattering H7a/b: The more salient parental identity, more likely the child report mattering

Descriptive Statistics

(Step)Dad’s Activities

(Step)Father’s Mattering

Mom’s Activities

Mom’s Mattering

Supported Hypotheses H1a: The greater the commitment to the parental identity, the more likely the (step)father was to engage the child in activities H1b: The greater the commitment to the parental identity, the more likely the mother was to engage the child in activities H2a: The greater the salience of the parental identity, the more likely the (step)father was to engage the child in activities H3a: The more traditional the (step)father’s gender ideology, the less likely he was to engage the child in activities H5a: The greater the number of activities the (step)father engages the child in, the more likely the child is to report mattering

Findings As predicted, the meaning associated with being a parent is different for MA and EA parents. As predicted, the salience and commitment one has to their parental identity, the more likely they are to engage their child in activities The number of activities that one engages the child in, the more likely the child is to feel they matter to the parent The effect of identity salience and commitment are mediated by the number of activities for the child to feel they matter—for (step)fathers Mothers and (step)fathers have qualitatively different understandings of what it means to be a parent