PERCEIVED PATERNAL ACCEPTANCE, PATERNAL INVOLVEMENT, AND YOUTHS PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT IN A RURAL, BIRACIAL SOUTHERN COMMUNITY

This study explores whether fathers' involvement by itself is associat ed with youths' psychological adjustment or whether the relationship b etween fathers' involvement and youths' psychological adjustment is me diated by children's perceptions of fathers' acceptance-rejection. A s econdary purpose is to explore ethnic and class differences in paterna l involvement, perceived paternal acceptance-rejection, and youths' ps ychological adjustment. The research is based on a proportional, strat ified, random sample of 21 Black and 37 White fathers and their 63 chi ldren. Results of multiple regression analyses indicate that only perc eived paternal acceptance is significantly related to Black and White children's psychological adjustment. Fathers' involvement by itself is significantly related to neither Black nor White children's psycholog ical adjustment. Finally results indicate that parenting and psycholog ical adjustment are not related significantly to social class.