ABSTRACT
Objective. We examined the relation between neighborhood violence and father antisocial behavior with a national sample of fathers from low-income families with 3-year-old children Design. Children were classified into 4 groups based on their exposure to father antisocial behavior and neighborhood violence. Results. Children who experience high levels of each performed more poorly on indicators of emotion regulation. Children in risk groups were exposed to higher levels of family conflict, father depression, and poorer internal and external physical environments than children who were in the low-risk group. Children with fathers who were not antisocial were 3 times more likely to be spanked when the father resided in a high-risk neighborhood. Conclusions. Fathers should be included in early prevention programs targeting families with very young children, and such programs simultaneously challenged to broaden into community networks.
