Brief
Policies and practices that support young men of color in their teen years can help put them on the path to lead healthy and productive lives. Young men of color face more obstacles in education, employment, and health than their white peers. In order to improve health and success of middle- and high school-aged young men of color, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) launched Forward Promise in 2011.To inform this new initiative and better understand the issues at work, RWJF engaged the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) to conduct roundtable discussions, online surveys, and telephone…
Unpublished Paper
Father involvement appears to be a significant factor in the success of African American children, resulting in positive psychosocial, behavioral, cognitive, and academic achievement outcomes beginning in toddlerhood and continuing through late adolescence. The present study assessed how involvement of African American fathers influences their adult children's adjustment ability and academic achievement in college and graduate school. Over 100 participants, aged 18-34, who self-identified as African American, were raised with an African American biological father or non-biological father…
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Journal Article The purpose of this study was to longitudinally examine the relationship between father involvement in school settings and student achievement. The sample, pulled from the first and second waves of the PSID-CDS data set, consisted of 596 families with children aged 5-12 at time 1. Results revealed variations in the relationship between father involvement across time and student achievement based on characteristics of the child and demographic contexts of the families, most notable among these being child ethnicity, child gender, and family income. Findings underscore the need to explore how…
Other
This document is the proceedings from a joint working session on May 2-3, 2013 hosted by CLASP and the Scholars Network on Black Masculinity. Through this joint working session, the participants identified eight areas where they could be influential in crafting policy solutions for black maleadolescents and opportunities to act individually and collectively to advance work in these areas.
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Journal Article This study was designed to examine connections among father beliefs, perceptions, context, and involvement, and school-aged children's attachment and school outcomes in the U.S. and Taiwan (n = 274 father-child dyads). Fathers completed questionnaires regarding their family demographics, education-related beliefs, perceptions, and involvement, and children's school achievement. Children completed a pictorial measure of attachment and standardized socio-emotional assessments. Father involvement was related to father beliefs and perceptions and to children's attachment-related secure…
This tip sheet will highlight common challenges, benefits, and strategies for successful partnerships based on interviews with stakeholders from agencies that have successfully integrated healthy marriage and relationship education into social services that target youth and families. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article Since Amato and Gilbreth's (1999) meta-analysis of nonresident father involvement and child well-being, nonmarital childbirths and nonresident father involvement both have increased. The unknown implications of such changes motivated the present study, a meta-analytic review of 52 studies of nonresident father involvement and child well-being. Consistent with Amato and Gilbreth, we found that positive forms of involvement were associated with benefits for children, with a small but statistically significant effect size. Amounts of father-child contact and financial provision, however, were…
In our discussion, we review and synthesize research evidence on five identified domains of instability that have been well established in the literature: family income, parental employment, family structure, housing, and the out-of-home contexts of school and child care. In our review of the evidence, we also discuss some of the key pathways through which instability may affect development. Specifically, research points to the underlying role of parenting, parental mental health, and the home environment in providing the stability and support young children need for positive development. We…
According to this paper, the parenting gap is a big factor in the opportunity gap. The chances of upward social mobility are lower for children with parents struggling to do a good job -- in terms of creating a supportive and stimulating home environment. Children lucky enough to have strong parents are more likely to succeed at all the critical life stages, which means policies to help weaker parents do a better job can be investments in opportunity, and equality. Key findings indicate: 1) The quality of U.S. parenting, as measured on the HOME scale, strongly varies by income, family…
Brief
WIFI believes all children should develop the early reading skills needed to succeed in school and adulthood. Because parents are children's first and most important teachers, we further argue that fathers should be given the tools and encouragement needed to focus on developing their children's reading skills. This brief describes several program evaluations that demonstrate 1) parents can be taught how to effectively read with their children, and 2) children benefit academically from reading with their parents. We also provide important program adaptations to consider when implementing…
