Very little research has examined the associations between fathering in Mexican American stepfamilies and adolescent adjustment. A study examining parenting and adolescent self-esteem in Latino intact, stepfather, and single-mother families found that the link between parental psychological control and self-esteem was strongest in stepfather families, with higher levels of psychological control being related to lower adolescent self-esteem (Plunkett et al., 2007). The current study extends prior research by examining the link between fathers’ parenting and adolescent adjustment in step and intact Mexican American and European American families. In light of the findings discussed above, we predict that father acceptance, monitoring, consistent discipline, and involvement with their adolescent will be positively associated with positive adolescent adjustment, while father rejection will be negatively associated with positive adolescent adjustment but the links between rejection and adjustment will be stronger for European American than Mexican American adolescents.
