Comparing Fathers and Mothers Who Have Social Work Contact.

Relatively little is known about the characteristics of fathers who receive social worker contact. This lack of knowledge also extends to male partners of mothers who, while not biologically related to the children, may also be significant caregivers. Increased knowledge is vital to inform the provision of services for whole families. This research note examines the characteristics of these men using a sample of individuals from a large-scale British cohort study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). We compare the characteristics of fathers with those of mothers who have had social work contact. Furthermore we demonstrate the use of classification tree models (Breiman, Friedman, Olshen, & Stone, 1984) as a means of predicting whether fathers or mothers are more likely to receive social work contact. (Author abstract)