You might call Latino Fathers: What Shapes and Sustains Their Parenting a book of firsts. Besides being UNLV sociologist Fatima Suarez’s inaugural book, the award-winning work is the first of its kind to delve into the lives, family dynamics, and parenting perspectives of Latino dads.

The book explores themes of inequality, oppression, and privilege as well as the notion of “new fatherhood” where men are both emotionally and economically connected to their children. Suarez also examined the role religion and faith played in Latino dads’ parenting styles and choices.

What began as her dissertation research at the University of California, Santa Barbara, including in-depth interviews with 60 diverse fathers across the state, became a years-long labor of love. After joining UNLV in 2022 as an assistant professor of sociology, she continued to refine the research until publishing it last year.

The research findings were as varied and complex as the men in the study, including adoptive fathers, stepfathers, and mixed-race or biracial, and gay dads.

Here, Suarez shares how the multilayered relationship with her father informed the study, why Latino fathers’ experiences matter, and how her research has implications for mothers and fathers alike. 

What motivated you to research Latino fathers?

I was raised in a Mexican, Catholic immigrant family. In my freshman year of college, some of the messages I was getting from my psychology and sociology classes were that fathers like my dad were very machista (chauvinistic). They didn’t let their daughters go to college and didn’t value education. But that didn’t sound like my dad. My dad was adamant that my three younger sisters and I went to college, became career people, and were able to pursue our professional dreams. He wouldn’t let me get a part-time job while in school because he said that was his responsibility.

The school work wasn’t resonating with my experiences as his daughter. But in reflecting, I realized my dad’s relationship with my mom was quite traditional. She was a stay-at-home parent, and he was the breadwinner. My mom was very involved in our upbringing and education, but my dad wasn’t. It was this paradox where he was supportive of us, but he was not really involved.

Why is this population so understudied?

It’s a glaring omission, but you don’t realize it until there’s finally a book about it. We get used to the invisibility. We assume there’s a lot of research about Latino families, and fathers must be a part of that work, but they’re not. This is the first book about Latino fathers.

You asked fathers to reflect on their relationships with their fathers and how that impacted their parenting. What did you find?

The majority said they were good fathers. They built their identities as involved modern fathers on how their fathers raised them. But they were also conscious of not throwing their own fathers under the proverbial bus. Even though they acknowledged their father's shortcomings, they positioned those shortcomings as “I'm a different kind of father. I don't physically punish my kids, and I do pick them up from school. I help them with homework, something my dad never did.” 

Many of the fathers excused their own father's shortcomings as they were simply doing what society and the cultural norms were at the time. Today, they believe they have agency to be different.

Culturally, Latino mothers are held in high regard. How did the fathers you studied deal with the valorization of women in their culture? 

My participants highly revered their mothers and put them on a pedestal. Many of them recognized their mothers as their involved parent because, in some cases, their fathers were not present. Some said they never asked their fathers for parenting advice; they always asked their mothers. My participants valorized their mothers because of all the work they did for their families while their fathers were absent or at work.

That filtered into how the men in my study saw themselves as parents. Older participants, especially, downplayed their own contributions to their families because of work and their inability to be present as much. They overemphasized the involvement of their wives or the mothers of their children because they were not as interactive with their children.

Describe how Latino dads grappled with living up to that concept of “new fatherhood.”

“New fatherhood” is the modern standard of good fathering — a father who is emotionally and economically engaged with their children, a breadwinner who tucks their children into bed at night, reads to them, plays with them, tells their children I love you.

For a Latino father, that is a Eurocentric, economically privileged standard of fathering. It requires a lot of time — and time is what Latino fathers and other fathers of color don't always have. They're also contending with the carceral or immigration systems. There are all these institutions and structural factors that come into play that take away fathers’ time.

Economically privileged white fathers might outsource a lot of work around the house to make time for their family fun. They may hire nannies or housekeepers. “New fatherhood” is out of reach for many Latino fathers. If they’re working multiple jobs, commuting to different sites, meeting the demands of high-power careers, it doesn’t add up. Whether hourly-wage workers or professionals, it leaves a lot of men feeling like they’re not doing enough.

How did the men in your study contend with stereotypes?

Because of the racist and sexist myths about them as Latino men, they're automatically rendered not good men. Their masculinities are weaponized against them. And by extension, they're seen as bad fathers. They're authoritarian. They have very gendered and sexist attitudes about what boys do and what girls do, what women can do and men can't do. They're also seen as chauvinists and womanizers. We are constantly bombarded with these tropes and images about Latino men that impact their parenting and how they're seen. They are seen as deadbeat and have to paddle upstream to prove otherwise.

Historically, many Latino fathers have practiced Catholicism. How has religion impacted the way they interact with their children?  

There’s been kind of a political distancing from Catholicism. Still the values and beliefs were still channeled into parenting. They still relied and drew on Catholicism as a cultural and value resource to teach community, generosity, kindness, and empathy. Whether practicing religion or not, they drew on religion and spirituality to guide their parenting, especially with young kids.

What do you hope scholars and others who read your book take away from it?

There are incredibly high ideals about what family life should be. Work is not arranged or organized to support families. I hope fathers and mothers look inward and ask, “What are my family ideals?” and “What kind of family do I envision having?” I hope we give ourselves and each other grace when we don’t meet those expectations. Everybody’s doing the best they can. In some ways, the men in my study are reproducing the same systems of inequity, but they are trying their best with what they have. They’re exercising their agency as fathers.

This year your book was lauded by the American Sociological Association. What does that mean to you?

It won the 2026 Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award from the American Sociological Association (ASA), Latina/o Sociology section, and an honorable mention for the same award from ASA’s Race, Class, and Gender section. It’s a reminder of why this field is important. Hopefully it encourages others to continue building this field. 

What are some implications for further study?

Gay Latino fatherhood is a big puzzle worth pursuing, particularly those who might have children with women, not just within gay unions. Also, Latino teenage fathers are largely ignored and invisible within the work of youth sexuality and fatherhood research. Black Latino fathers and Latino father groups deserve attention, especially in other parts of the country.