Predicting Low-income Fathers' Involvement and the Effect of State-level Public Policies on Fathers' Involvement with Their Young Children PDF Download

Author: Kelly S. Mikelson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 248

View

Book Description
This dissertation examines low-income fathers' involvement with their young children using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) data. Chapter 3 entitled, "He Said, She Said: Comparing Father and Mother Reports of Father Involvement," compares mother and father reports of fathers' frequency of involvement in various activities and in measures of emotional involvement. This chapter finds that fathers report spending 17.6 percent more time engaged in 11 activities with their young children than mothers report the father spending. How parental disagreement is measured yields starkly different results given the underlying distribution of these data. Chapter 4 entitled, "Estimating the Impact of Child Support and Welfare Policies on Fathers' Involvement," is a longitudinal analysis combining three waves of the FFCW data with annual, state-level policy data on child support enforcement and welfare policies. This chapter examines the impact of policies on fathers' involvement over time. Fathers' involvement is operationalized as accessibility, responsibility, and engagement. Using parents that are unmarried at the time of the focal child's birth, this chapter finds that public policies do influence fathers' involvement after controlling for individual social and demographic characteristics. Policies may be operating in conflicting ways to both increase and decrease fathers' involvement. For example, fathers' daily engagement is positively affected by stronger paternity establishment policies but is negatively affected by stronger child support enforcement collection rates and the welfare family cap policy. Chapter 5 entitled, "Two Dads Are Better Than One: Biological and Social Father Involvement," examines whether biological and social fathers are substitutes or complements in a child's life and how biological fathers and social fathers impact the mother's frequency of involvement. This chapter finds that resident social fathers contribute as much time to the focal child as resident biological fathers. Factors that increase the overall parental frequency of involvement include having: a resident biological or social father, native-born parents, a biological father who had a very involved father, and a positive relationship between the biological parents. Factors that decrease overall parental frequency of involvement include: the father's new partner, the father's incarceration, a mother's other children, and the child's increasing age.

Author: Jay Fagan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000371794
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 187

View

Book Description
This book presents state-of-the-art findings of research on fatherhood programs, funded by the Fatherhood Research and Practice Network (FRPN), which advance knowledge and practice in the fathering field. New Research on Parenting Programs for Low-Income Fathers includes research on how to engage mothers to support father–child contact and to successfully employ social media and online technology for practice. It offers findings on how to increase paternal engagement and parenting skills and to include fathers in policies and programs for children and families. It discusses the importance of providing staff training and resources to practitioners who work directly with fathers. Chapters also provide summaries of key implications for evidence-based practice and future directions for research that encourage effective fatherhood practice. This book is an excellent resource for therapists, social workers, fatherhood educators, fatherhood practitioners, researchers, and policy makers on how to inspire positive father engagement with children and healthy coparenting relationships.

Author: Yoshie Sano
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Absentee fathers
Languages : en
Pages : 302

View

Book Description
The two studies of this dissertation examined mothers' perspectives of nonresident fathers' involvement in low-income families. The overall goal of these studies was to gain a more comprehensive understanding of nonresident fathers' involvement and its effect on family well-being. In the first study I applied a relatively new methodology, zero-inflated negative binomial regression, to overcome the methodological shortcomings of previous studies. The models (N=1215) examined what factors predicted two aspects, presence and level, of father-child contact and paternal engagement. Different factors were found to influence presence of father-child contact and frequency of contact. Similarly, different factors predicted presence of paternal engagement and level of engagement. Thus, a nonresident father's decision to be involved in his child's life may be a fundamentally different decision than how much he is involved. In addition, parents' positive relationship--romantic relationship and higher quality of relationship--was found to be the major predictor influencing all outcome variables. It appears that a positive co-parental relationship is central to nonresident father involvement. In my second study, I qualitatively examined rural mothers' perceptions of nonresident fathers' involvement (N=83). Specifically, I investigated whether mothers are really "gatekeeping" the father involvement, as suggested by previous research. There was no simple yes/no answer to this question, rather, results suggested that whether a mother acts as a gatekeeper of her children depends on her unique circumstances. Mothers, by at large, wanted the nonresident fathers to be involved in their children's lives and to perform responsible fathering, but mothers' expectations of the fathers' roles may be narrowly defined and, therefore, easily violated. Some mothers did intentionally refuse or limit father-child contact in cases where they believed that father involvement would threaten the safety of their children. In these cases, "gatekeeping" behavior can be viewed as one survival strategy for the mothers. The two studies presented here collectively demonstrate the complexity of non-resident father's involvement and provide insight that will be useful for policy targeted to low-income families.

Author: Jyotsna Pattnaik
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400751559
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 357

View

Book Description
This vital addition to Springer’s ‘Educating the Young Child’ series addresses gaps in the literature on father involvement in the lives of young children, a topic with a fast-rising profile in today’s world of female breadwinners and single-parent households. While the significant body of theoretical understanding and empirical data accumulated in recent decades has done much to characterize the fluidity of evolving notions of fatherhood, the impact of this understanding on policy and legal frameworks has been uneven at an international level. In a field where groups of fathers were until recently marginalized in research, this book adopts a refreshingly inclusive attitude, aiming to motivate researchers to capture the nuanced practices of fathers in minority groups such as those who are homeless, gay, imprisoned, raising a disabled child, or from ethnically distinct backgrounds, including Mexican- and African-American and indigenous fathers. The volume includes chapters highlighting the unique challenges and possibilities of father involvement in their children’s early years of development. Contributing authors have integrated theories, research, policies, and programs on father involvement so as to attract readers with diverse interest and expertise, and material from selected countries in Asia, Australia, and Africa, as well as North America, evinces the international scope of their analysis. Their often interdisciplinary analyses draw, too, on historical and cultural legacies, even as they project a vision of the future in which fathers’ involvement in their young children’s lives develops alongside the changing political, economic and educational landscapes around the world.

Author: Timothy Black
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019006224X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

View

Book Description
The expectation for fathers to be more involved with parenting their children and pitching in at home are higher than ever, yet broad social, political, and economic changes have made it more difficult for low-income men to be fathers. In It's a Setup, Timothy Black and Sky Keyes ground a moving and intimate narrative in the political and economic circumstances that shape the lives of low-income fathers. Based on 138 life history interviews, they expose the contradiction that while the norms and expectations of father involvement have changed rapidly within a generation, labor force and state support for fathering on the margins has deteriorated. Tracking these life histories, they move us through the lived experiences of job precarity, welfare cuts, punitive child support courts, public housing neglect, and the criminalization of poverty to demonstrate that without transformative systemic change, individual determination is not enough. Fathers on the social and economic margins are setup to fail.

Author: Deadric Treandis Williams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Absentee fathers
Languages : en
Pages :

View

Book Description
Results indicate that structural factors are highly predictive of paternal commitment and paternal involvement among low-income African American fathers, thus lending strong credence to the structural barriers perspective. Moreover, while findings also indicate that several cultural factors are associated with paternal involvement (e.g., attitudes toward single motherhood and low self-efficacy), they are at odds with the cultural deficiency perspective. These results have both theoretical and policy implications. With respect to fatherhood theory, findings derived from this research call for a much-needed theoretical integration in studying paternal commitment and paternal involvement among low-income African American fathers; that is, to synthesize and integrate a structurally sound theory with a culturally sensitive approach, such as the cultural resiliency perspective. This research also suggests that public policymakers should be aware of the adaptive strategies that many low-income African American fathers employ in order to be actively involved with their young children.

Author: Natasha J. Cabrera
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136235051
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 487

View

Book Description
This second edition reviews the new research findings and theoretical advances on fathers, families, child development, programs, and policies that have occurred in the past decade. Contributors from a range of disciplines and countries showcase contemporary findings within a new common chapter structure. All of the chapters are either extensively revised or entirely new. Biological, evolutionary, demographic, developmental, cultural, sociological, economic, and legal perspectives of father involvement are described along with policy and program implications. Now with a greater international perspective, this edition considers demographic shifts in families in the United States and Europe. All chapters now follow a common structure to enhance readability and interdisciplinary connections. Each chapter features: Historical Overview and Theoretical Perspectives; Research Questions; Research Methods and Measurement; Empirical Findings; Bridges to other Disciplines; Policy Implications; and Future Directions. In addition, each chapter highlights universal and cultural processes and mechanisms. This structure illuminates the ways that theories, methods, and findings are guided by disciplinary lenses and encourages multidisciplinary perspectives. This extensively revised edition now features: • Expanded section on Biological and Evolutionary Perspectives that reviews fathering in animal populations and the genetic and hormonal underpinnings that feed into fathering behaviors within and across species. • New section on Economic and Legal Perspectives that addresses the economics of fatherhood, marriage, divorce, and child custody issues, and family dispute resolution. • New section on Child Development and Family Processes that covers topics on father-child relationships, the father’ role in children’s language, cognitive, and social development, and father risk, family context, and co-parenting. • Separate chapters on Black, Latino, and Asian American fathers. • Now includes research on cohabitation and parenting, gender roles and fathering, intergenerational parenting, and fatherhood implications for men in the section on Sociological Perspectives. • The latest demographics, policies, and programs influencing father involvement in both the US and Europe. • Coverage of methodological and measurement topics and processes that are universal across ethnic groups and cultures in each chapter. Intended for advanced students, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers interested in fatherhood and family processes from a variety of disciplines including psychology, family studies, economics, sociology, and social work, and anyone interested in child and family policy.

Author: Michael E. Lamb
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 0470599960
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 673

View

Book Description
The Definitive reference on the important role fathers play in child development today Edited by Dr. Michael Lamb—the recognized authority on the role of fathers in child development, The Role of the Father in Child Development, Fifth Edition brings together contributions from international experts on each subject to provide a thorough and current summary of the state of fatherhood across cultures, classes, economic systems, and family formations. This classic guide offers a single-source reference for the most recent findings and beliefs related to fathers and fatherhood. This thoroughly updated new edition provides the latest material on topics such as: The effects of divorce Fathers from low-income backgrounds Stepfathers’ lives: exploring social context and interpersonal complexity Social policy Gay fathers Fatherhood and masculinity The definitive book on when, why, and how fathers matter to their children and families, The Role of the Father in Child Development, Fifth Edition is an essential reference for all mental health professionals who endeavor to understand and support fathers in becoming positive influences in their children’s development.

Author: H. Elizabeth Peters
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113502409X
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 354

View

Book Description
How much power does a father have to influence his children's development? A lively and often heated public debate on the role and value of the father in a family has been underway in the United States for the past decade. Nevertheless, we are far from understanding the complex ways in which fathers make contributions to their families and children. Fatherhood: Research, Interventions, and Policies addresses the central questions of the role of fathers: Ž What is the impact of father involvement on child outcomes? Ž What factors predict increased involvement of fathers? Bringing together papers presented at the Conference on Father Involvement, this volume includes contributions by leading scholars in anthropology, demography, economics, family science, psychology, and sociology. Many of the contributors also address the implications of father involvement for family policy issues, including family leave, child care, and child support. Furthermore, the discussion of fatherhood ranges well beyond the case of intact, middle-class, white families to include fathers from various ethnic groups and socioeconomic classes and of varied marital status, including fathers of nonmarital children, single-father families, and nonresident fathers. Fatherhood: Research, Interventions, and Policies addresses both practical and theoretical concerns, including: the redefinition of fatherhood changes over time in research on fatherhood the predictive power of fathers’activities on their children's adult outcomes the correlation between fathers’income and their involvement with their nonmarital children the influence of fathers on their sons’probability of growing up to become responsible fathers the effects of divorce on father-son and father-daughter relationships interventions that help to keep divorced fathers in touch with their children This comprehensive, powerful book combines pioneering empirical research with thoughtful consideration of the social and psychological implications of fatherhood. It is essential reading for researchers, policymakers, psychologists, and students of family studies, human development, gender studies, social policy, sociology, and human ecology.

Author: Kirby Deater-Deckard
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300133936
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 220

View

Book Description
All parents experience stress as they attempt to meet the challenges of caring for their children. This comprehensive book examines the causes and consequences of parenting distress, drawing on a wide array of findings in current empirical research. Kirby Deater-Deckard explores normal and pathological parenting stress, the influences of parents on their children as well as children on their parents, and the effects of biological and environmental factors. Beginning with an overview of theories of stress and coping, Deater-Deckard goes on to describe how parenting stress is linked with problems in adult and child health (emotional problems, developmental disorders, illness); parental behaviors (warmth, harsh discipline); and factors outside the family (marital quality, work roles, cultural influences). The book concludes with a useful review of coping strategies and interventions that have been demonstrated to alleviate parenting stress.