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Journal Article By age 3, children from privileged families have heard 30 million more words than children from underprivileged families. Longitudinal data on 42 families examined what accounted for enormous differences in rates of vocabulary growth. Children turned out to be like their parents in stature, activity level, vocabulary resources, and language and interaction styles. Follow-up data indicated that the 3-year-old measures of accomplishment predicted third grade school achievement.
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Journal Article This study examines the role of biological and social fathers in the lives of low-income African American adolescent girls (N= 302). Sixty-five percent of adolescents identified a primary father; two thirds were biological and one third were social fathers. Adolescents reported more contentious and less close relationships with biological than with social fathers. Multivariate regression analyses indicated that daughters' perceptions of anger and alienation from fathers was related to greater emotional and behavioral problems for adolescents, whereas perceptions of trust and communication…
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Journal Article This study of 2,722 British adolescents aged 14-18 years explored whether paternal involvement can protect against low levels of well-being even when maternal involvement and risk and protective factors are controlled for. Results showed that although both father and mother involvement contributed significantly and independently to offspring happiness, father involvement had a stronger effect. Furthermore, the association between father involvement and happiness was not stronger for sons than for daughters. There was no evidence suggesting that family disruption weakens the association…
This fact sheet discusses the influence fathers have on children's health habits. Two of the most important modeling behaviors fathers can provide are their own diet and exercise habits. A 1999 study by Child Trends concluded that, "the most serious threat to the health of American children is the behavior of their own parents." Other research has found that families whose fathers modeled and supported good eating habits tended to eat more meals together, watch TV less, and exercise more often.
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Journal Article Family practitioners who provide divorce education programs should be aware that a child in a sole-custody household (especially one headed by the father) is highly likely to lack insurance coverage for access to health care services for healthy development. Examining 543 divorce records in New Hampshire, the author analyzed coverage across divergent family types following custody negotiations and found that a child in a sole-custody household was at higher risk for lacking coverage than was one in a shared-custody household. These results were confirmed by a chi-square test and logical…
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Journal Article The role of the father or father figure is critically important to the task of taking our African American boys from boyhood into manhood. The vacuum of this required fathering role has had a devastating impact on our urban communities and it is time that we fill this role. In America today no other community has been harder impacted by the growing trend of father absence than the African American community. Statistics have been quoted that the percentage of father absence homes is as high as 60%. However, these statistics do not reflect the number of fathers who are physically present in the…
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Journal Article Recent statistics reveal that children living apart from their fathers are at an increased risk of suffering negative outcomes. One study found that the rate of child abuse in single-parent families is nearly twice the rate of child abuse in two-parent households (Federal Interagency Forum, 1997). Another study, after controlling for various variables, revealed that boys who grew up outside of intact marriages were, on average, more than twice as likely as other boysto end up in jail (Harper and McLanahan, 1998).These findings have sparked increased interest in the critical role of fathers…
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Journal Article In recent years, researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in father/male involvement in early childhood programs. However, few empirical studies have examined early childhood educators' efforts to involve fathers in such programs. The purpose of the present investigation was to assess early childhood educators' efforts to involve fathers and to determine which efforts lead to greater success at overall father involvement. Surveys were completed by 213 early childhood educators attending regional training events. Findings demonstrate that efforts are being made in a…
Many, if not most, foster children are living apart from their fathers at the time they are removed from their homes. Once removed, these children experience even less contact with their noncustodial fathers. The dearth of fathers in the lives of foster children is of mounting concern as efforts to expedite permanent homes for these children intensify and there is greater recognition of fathers' contributions to family stability and children's healthy development. Consequently, in recent years, legislative and policy changes affecting child support and child welfare have placed new emphasis…
Almost half (46%) of high school-aged teens in the United States have had sexual intercourse. Because of continued concern about teenage sexual activity and support for messages that encourage young people to delay sexual debut, where and when teens first have sex is a matter of interest to those who run programs for teens, to policymakers, and to parents. This "Science Says" research brief uses data from a recent national survey to examine the time and place teens first have sex and provides recommendations based on these findings. (Author abstract)
