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Journal Article The authors provide an overview of two issues of the Children and Youth Services Review that report the findings on a study of the impact of welfare reform on unwed parents. The Fragile Families and Child Well-Being study compared the family situations of 3,600 children of unmarried parents and 1,100 children born to married parents during the same time period. Mothers and fathers were interviewed shortly after the birth of their child with additional interviews planned for 12, 30, and 48 months. The questions addressed the characteristics of parents eligible for welfare benefits in the…
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Journal Article Ignored in the flurry of new research on fathers is that fatherhood may have consequences for men. This article explores possible effects on the lives and well-being of men for a range of fatherhood experiences. Data are drawn from the National Survey of Families and Households. The first part of this article examines whether men's varied associations with children (no children, coresident, non-coresident, and stepfatherhood) are associated with men's psychological health and behavior, social connections, intergenerational family relations, and work behavior. We found strong evidence that…
The absence of fathers in the home has profound consequences for children. Almost 75 percent of American children living in single-parent families will experience poverty before they turn 11-years old, compared to only 20 percent of children in two-parent families (National Commission on Children,1993). Indeed, virtually all of the increase in child poverty between 1970 and 1996 was due to the growth of single parent families (Sawhill, 1999). Children who grow up absent their fathers are also more likely to fail at school or to drop out, experience behavioral or emotional problems requiring…
