The Relationship of Parental Presence and Family Structure on Attachment and Depression Propensities for Adult African-American Men

Some studies have found that African-American men reared in single-parent households headed by a mother and with little or no paternal presence, may suffer from a variety of mental health problems as adults, which can be linked to higher rates of incarceration. This study's research problem set out to determine whether there was a connection between paternal presence, attachment style, and depression propensities among African-American men. The theoretical framework for this study was Bowlby's attachment theory. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether an individual's attachment style mediates the relationship between depression propensity and paternal presence.