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Journal Article Although the gender gap may be slowly closing across generations, men are generally much more likely than women to develop a substance use disorder as they move through adolescence into early to middle adulthood when most men first become a father. Research done from several different perspectives suggests that substance use by men affects family relations and family relations affect substance use by men, undoubtedly in a reciprocal manner as men move through the life cycle of the family. Moreover, substance use by men represents a substantial threat to the development of infants, toddlers…
Brief
In fiscal year 2018, noncustodial parents were obligated to pay nearly $33.6 billion in current child support on behalf of the 15 million children served by the Title IV-D child support program. One-third of that, or $11 billion, was not collected. Unemployment is the leading reason for non-payment of child support by noncustodial parents. This brief will explore the opportunities at the state and federal levels to provide employment services to noncustodial parents and increase child support payments in the process.
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Journal Article Lower baseline testosterone (T) among men is generally associated with more sympathetic and nurturant responses to infant stimuli. The effect of exposure to infant crying on men’s levels of T, however, is not well understood. The present study aimed to measure men’s T responses to high and low levels of infant crying. Changes in fathers’ (n = 18) and non-fathers’ (n = 28) salivary T levels from baseline were measured in response to caring for an infant simulator programmed to cry often (high-demand condition) or infrequently (low-demand condition) during a 20-min caregiving simulation. Men…
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Journal Article Literature in developmental psychology suggests that mothers and fathers both play unique and important roles in their children’s development. However, research investigating the unique contributions and psychological functioning of fathers of youth with developmental disabilities, and the role that fathers play in effective intervention, remains limited. Whereas evidence suggests that parent-mediated interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can lead to increased engagement from parents, and reduced stress and psychopathology commonly experienced by parents of youth with…
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Journal Article Although several systematic reviews have addressed the antecedents and consequences of adolescent motherhood, none have examined adolescent fatherhood.
The aims of this systematic review were to identify evidence-based factors that increase the probability of adolescent fatherhood and to identify outcomes that differ between adolescent fathers compared to two other groups, namely adult fathers and non-father age peers. The current study used a theoretical framework, Parke's systems view, to guide the review.
A total of 2869 unique published sources were screened and 39 met…
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Men who become fathers during their teens or early twenties face many important decisions. Practitioners can empower these young fathers to make the best decisions for themselves and their families by providing them with accurate research-based knowledge. This NRFC brief for fatherhood practitioners considers some of the topics that young fathers may need to think about and offers tips on how practitioners might help them make informed decisions about these topics.
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Journal Article This editorial shares lessons learned from providing a parenting intervention, employment support, an internship, case management, and behavioral health services to young fathers in a community-based program, FatherWorks (an adaptation of Supporting Father Involvement), designed to reduce unintended pregnancies. These lessons were identified through monthly team meetings over the course of a six-year grant from the Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies Program of the Family and Youth Services Bureau. (Author abstract modified)
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To better understand the challenges federal grantees face in sustaining their programs, and to learn from the successful efforts of former grantees, the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) launched a sustainability study. OAH’s sustainability study examines whether—and in what form—programs first funded in 2010 to support expectant and parenting youth and families have continued operating beyond the federal grant, and the types of strategies and resources they found useful in attempting to sustain their programs. This brief presents the first set of findings from the sustainability study. It…
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The Administration for Children and Families funded Mathematica Policy Research to conduct a rigorous evaluation of the Wise Guys program in and near Davenport, Iowa, in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Public Health. This programming was delivered by a community-based organization in Davenport-area middle schools and funded through the state’s Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) grant. The Wise Guys curriculum aims to promote male responsibility and discourage early entry into fatherhood. By offering programming in male-only groups, Wise Guys aims to create an…
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Journal Article In this special issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, a broad range of review papers provides insight into important themes and issues regarding the complexity of operationalizing community-wide initiatives’ overall vision. Presented together from different vantage points, these papers capture the challenges and opportunities at the local community level to approach teen pregnancy prevention from a comprehensive perspective that includes education, health services, and community engagement. Several cross-cutting themes provide insights that can help the next generation of programs.
