JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE / November 2001 Baker et al. / PARENTING AMONG LATINOS
This study examined predictors of parenting stress and competence within a sample of 43 immi-
grant Latino couples, in which some of the men had perpetrated abuse against their partners. It
was hypothesized that more physical and psychological abuse perpetrated by men against their
partners would be associated with higher parenting stress and lower parenting competence for
fathers and mothers. Results indicated that parenting stress and competence for fathers and
mothers were not uniform. Father’s parenting stress was not related to the predictor variables,
whereas mother’s parenting stress was related only to physical abuse. Father’s parenting com-
petence was related to both physical and psychological abuse whereas mother’s parenting com-
petence was not related to the predictor variables. When comparing Latino fathers and Latina
mothers, there were differences in parenting stress, with fathers experiencing less, but no differ-
ences in parenting competence.
Parenting Stress and Parenting
Competence Among Latino
Men Who Batter
CHARLENE K. BAKER
JULIA L. PERILLA
FRAN H. NORRIS
Georgia State University
The relation between parenting and domestic violence has been studied
extensively in the past two decades. Some of this research has focused on
child outcomes, whereas other studies have addressed issues of parenting
among battered women. Few studies, however, have explored male batterers
as parents, because men have not usually been incorporated into research
models regarding domestic violence and parenting outcomes (Mathews,
1995; Peled, 2000).
The negative effects on child outcomes due to the presence of domestic
violence have been well documented (Holden & Ritchie, 1991; Jouriles,
Norwood, McDonald, Vincent, & Mahoney, 1996; Wolfe, Jaffe, Wilson, &
Zak, 1985), although none of these studies were conducted with Latino/a
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Authors’ Note: This research was supported by Grant No. R03DA11152 from the Inter-
agency Consortium on Violence Against Women and Family Violence Research. The authors
thank the Caminar Latino Intervention team for their help in conceptualizing the project and col-
lecting the data, as well as Roger Bakeman for his comments on earlier drafts. Address corre-
spondence to Charlene Baker, Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, University
Plaza, Atlanta, GA 30303, or e-mail at bakerck@juno.com.
JOURNAL OF INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE, Vol. 16 No. 11, November 2001 1139-1157
© 2001 Sage Publications