This fact sheet discusses the transition men make as they accept becoming a father and their unique development as fathers during the first two years of fatherhood. Topics include The Father's Self-concept and Self-esteem, Mother/Father Roles and Communication, Parenting Attitudes and Stress, Father's Changing Relationship with His Parents, and Support and Stress in the Community.
A new group of today's fathers is aiming for the "triple crown"-- a mix of success at work, intimacy with family, and time for friends. They are learning-- as women have learned -- that you can't "have it all." Their efforts to find new ways to balance work and love are beginning to change both the family and the workplace. Other books have described the malaise, but until now, no one has described the dimensions of the revolution or pointed to the light at the end of the tunnel.
Journalist and feminist Suzanne Braun Levine, a founding editor of Ms. magazine interviewed scores of men…
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Journal Article A cohort study was conducted to examine the association between father involvement and child neglect. Participants were recruited from an inner-city pediatric primary care clinic and a clinic for children at risk for human immunodeficiency virus infection in a teaching hospital. Child neglect was measured via home observation, a videotaped mother-child interaction, and child protective services reports. A father or father figures was identified for 27 percent of the 244 five-year-old children participating in the study. Rates of neglect ranged between 11 percent and 30 percent. Father absence…
Preliminary data from the Fragile Families survey were analyzed to examine the impact of incarceration on marriage and family structure. The study specifically considered the characteristics of married and unmarried fathers at risk of imprisonment. Men who have been incarcerated are less likely to be married than men who have never been in prison. Former inmates were also less likely to have a relationship with the mother of their child at the child's first birthday. Regression analysis with incarceration as a dummy variable supported the finding that a history of incarceration negatively…
Data from the Baltimore Parenthood Study, a 30-year longitudinal study of teenage parents, were analyzed to identify the long-term consequences of paternal involvement and the generational transmission of patterns of fatherhood. A subsample of 110 males were examined with an occasional reference made to a subsample of females. Results indicated that a strong link existed between the stable presence of a biological father in the histories of the young men and the timing of their own family formation. Early fatherhood, both during the teen years and early twenties, is much more likely to occur…
Living far away from your grandchildren is never easy. This handbook contains 225 activities to help long distance grandparents build and strengthen relationships with their grandchildren. (Author abstract)
This monograph describes Creating Lasting Family Connections (CLFC), a multifaceted youth substance abuse prevention program designed to promote the healthy development of youth at risk for alcohol and other drug abuse. Chapter 1 discusses the need for alcohol and other drug prevention initiatives, reviews historical trends in substance abuse treatment and prevention, and examines the impact of motivations on prevention practices. Chapter 2 reviews resiliency theory, the theoretical basis for the development of the CLFC program, and Chapter 3 describes the components of the CLFC program. Main…
This book examines the characteristics of a healthy father-daughter relationship. Dr. Leman weaves the latest research on effective fathering with stories about his own parenting. He outlines the architecture of the father-daughter relationship, including how to build it on a foundation of trust.
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Journal Article The twentieth century has been characterized by four important social trends that have fundamentally changed the social cultural context in which children develop: women's increased labor force participation, increased absence of nonresidential fathers in the lives of their children, increased involvement of fathers in intact families, and increased cultural diversity in the U.S.. In this essay, we discuss how these trends are changing the nature of father involvement and family life, and in turn affecting children's and fathers' developmental trajectories. We end with an eye toward the…
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Journal Article The last few decades have seen a dramatic increase in the number of children raised in homes where the biological father is not present. Many of these children, mired in secrecy, guilt, and family conflict, are left with unanswered questions and self-doubts about this absence. Depression and behavioral problems often result. This article reviews the clinical literature around relevant issues such as father hunger, developmental deficits, and the varying effects on the child depending on age, sex, and the degree of the father's absence. Several case examples are offered to illustrate these…
