Paternal Involvement as Protective Resource of Adolescents’ Resilience: Roles of Male Gender-Role Stereotype and Gender

In this study the association between father involvement and adolescents’ resilience and the roles of male gender-role stereotype and male gender-role identity were examined. Data came from three high school samples of 748 students and was analyzed with structural equation model. Results showed that the data had a satisfactory fit for the model (GFI = .95, AGFI = .94, NFI = .91, CFI = .96, RMSEA = .03), indicating that male gender-role stereotype and male-role identity partially mediated the relationship between paternal involvement and resilience. And multi-group analysis indicated that the pattern of the mediating model of resilience did not differ across gender. But gender difference did exist in the pathway from male gender-role stereotypes to male gender-role identity. This study provided a new way to view father’s scaffolding role of children’s masculinity formation whereby children may increase their social capabilities. The significance and limitations of the results were discussed.