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Article
Health Behavior Among Men Occupying Multiple Family Roles and the Moderating Effects of Perceived Partner Relationship Quality
American Journal of Men's Health
  • Nicole DePasquale, Pennsylvania State University
  • Courtney A. Polenick, Pennsylvania State University
  • Jesse Hinde, RTI International
  • Jeremy Bray, University of North Carolina
  • Steven H. Zarit, Pennsylvania State University
  • Phyllis Moen, University of Minnesota
  • Leslie B. Hammer, Portland State University
  • David M. Almeida, Pennsylvania State University
Document Type
Post-Print
Publication Date
11-1-2018
Subjects
  • Fathers -- Health behavior,
  • Male caregivers,
  • Relationship quality
Abstract

Men in the U.S. are increasingly involved in their children’s lives and currently represent 40% of informal caregivers to dependent relatives or friends aged 18 years or older. Yet, much more is known about the health effects of varying family role occupancies for women relative to men. The present research sought to fill this empirical gap by first comparing the health behavior (sleep duration, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise, fast food consumption) of men who only occupy partner roles and partnered men who also fill father, informal caregiver, or both father and informal caregiver (i.e., sandwiched) roles. The moderating effects of perceived partner relationship quality, conceptualized here as partner support and strain, on direct family role-health behavior linkages were also examined. Secondary analysis of survey data from 366 cohabiting and married men in the Work, Family and Health Study indicated that men’s multiple family role occupancies were generally not associated with health behavior. With men continuing to take on more family responsibilities, as well as the serious health consequences of unhealthy behavior, the implications of these null effects are encouraging: additional family roles can be integrated into cohabiting and married men’s role repertoires without health behavior risks. Moderation analysis revealed, however, that men’s perceived partner relationship constituted a significant factor in determining whether multiple family role occupancies had positive or negative consequences for their sleep duration, alcohol consumption, and fast food consumption. These findings are discussed in terms of their empirical and practical implications for partnered men and their families.

Description

This is the authors' version of an article that was subsequently published in final, edited form in the American Journal of Men's Health, vol. 12, no. 6: 2006-2017. May be found at https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988316660088.

Copyright © 2018 by SAGE Publication

DOI
10.1177/1557988316660088
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27291
Citation Information
Published as: DePasquale, N., Polenick, C. A., Hinde, J., Bray, J. W., Zarit, S. H., Moen, P., ... & Almeida, D. M. (2018). Health behavior among men with multiple family roles: The moderating effects of perceived partner relationship quality. American journal of men's health, 12(6), 2006-2017.