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Journal Article The researchers examined childhood family structure, age, and race/ethnicity as correlates of paternal relationships using the Father Presence Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 788 adult women aged 18 to 88 years from ethnically diverse backgrounds. The most consistent finding was the effect of family structure on participants' evaluations of their paternal relationships. Father absence because of divorce or separation produced less favorable evaluations on every scale and within every racial/ethnic category; however, when father's absence was attributable to death before 18 years, a…
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Journal Article I interviewed 57 low-income fathers about how they define responsible fatherhood. Unlike findings from previous research, their definition did not include financial provision or daily caregiving. Instead, their definition included six dimensions, some of which resemble a "Big Brother": spending time in non-caregiving activities; avoiding harm by voluntarily distancing from the child when it is in the child's best interest; acknowledging paternity in non-legal forums; spending money on gifts, joint activities, and special needs; monitoring the child's home for trouble; and minimizing absences…
This text explores the impact of parental incarceration on offender parents, children, and caregivers, reasons for the widespread incarceration of parents, and the intended and unintended consequences of the imprisonment of offenders. It begins with background information on the incarceration rate of the United States, the use of a family perspective to explore the impact of parental incarceration, the use of ecological theory and developmental contextualism to examine parental incarceration, and elements of a context-process-outcome framework. Chapter 2 discusses context and processes…
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Journal Article In the United States, multipartnered fertility (MPF) has become commonplace. This study provides the first nationally representative measures of women's MPF, across multiple years, using the U.S. Census Bureau's Surveys of Income and Program Participation. Because welfare rules contain strong incentives for MPF, and because MPF is especially common among welfare recipients, the authors also examine the relationship between welfare and MPF. Focusing on the pre-TANF period 1985 to 1996, when welfare rules were more comparable across states and the absence of time limits made the incentives for…
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In 2008, both mothers and fathers exited the workforce for various reasons, including caring for a minor child. Estimates from Current Population Survey (CPS) data spanning 1968-2009 indicate the percentage of homes with a stay-at-home father in which the wife earned 100% of the income increased from 1.2% to 3.4% (the percentage of homes with a stay-at-home mother decreased from 47.7% to 25.7%) (Kramer and McColloch, 2010). The increased trend of fathers leaving the workforce to take care of a child is associated with financial reasons (Doucet, 2004), parenting values, career advancement of…
Current policy regarding child protection services places increasing demands for providers to engage fathers whose children are involved in the child protection process. This requisite brings to the fore the ongoing challenges that fathers have historically faced in working within these systems. Despite this need, there is little empirical evidence regarding the factors and strategies that impact the engagement of fathers in interventions relevant to child protection services. This comprehensive and systemic review synthesizes the available literature regarding factors and strategies that may…
A parenting adult and a 10- to 15-year old were surveyed in 1,511 racially, ethnically, economically, geographically, and structurally diverse U.S. families. Key findings indicate: (1) The average American family surveyed scores 47 out of 100 on the Family Assets Index; (2) Families are more alike than different when it comes to overall levels of Family Assets; (3) Some demographic factors do make a difference in overall levels of Family Assets, though these differences tend to be small -- some factors that do affect overall levels of Family Assets include age of the child, parenting adults'…
Theories of family functioning suggest that childbearing with multiple partners may increase parenting stress due to changes in social and economic resources and the challenges associated with parenting across multiple households. These family processes may not be equally stressful for mothers and fathers, because they face different parental constraints and responsibilities. I use four waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine whether multi-partnered fertility increases parenting stress for mothers and fathers. Using lagged regression models and…
Why are Family Dinners Important? It isn't always easy to eat dinner together as a family. Research from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) has found that when they asked teens and parents why they didn't eat dinner more often together, the two groups of people blamed each other. Research studies, however, continue to highlight the power of family dinners. When you gather around the table, make it count! Talk about what's going on in your lives. Tell jokes. Discuss current events. Make family meals fun! Use this kit with both young children and teens to help plan a…
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Journal Article This paper draws on information from the Fragile Families Study (N = 2,695) to examine how different coparenting styles emerge and are related to fathers' involvement with young children in a representative sample of unmarried parents. The results show that the quantity and quality of paternal involvement is significantly higher when unmarried parents establish a cooperative as opposed to a disengaged or conflicted coparenting style. Cooperative coparenting is less likely, however, when unmarried parents have separated after the birth or were never together as a couple, when fathers are…
