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Journal Article Fatherhood can be a turning point in development and in men's crime and substance use trajectories. At‐risk boys (N = 206) were assessed annually from ages 12 to 31 years. Crime, arrest, and tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use trajectories were examined. Marriage was associated with lower levels of crime and less frequent substance use. Following the birth of a first biological child, men's crime trajectories showed slope decreases, and tobacco and alcohol use trajectories showed level decreases. The older men were when they became fathers, the greater the level decreases were in crime and…
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Our nation’s military fathers and their families face an unprecedented context. Between 2001 and 2008, there was a ten-fold increase in the number of Department of Defense troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan (Belasco, 2009). In 2008 the Parents as Teachers National Center chose SAY--San Diego’s Healthy Start Military Family Resource Center--for its innovation in collaborating with the military to form Dads On Duty, a program uniquely tailored to young military dads with kids ages birth to 5. To date more than 150 fathers have completed Dads on Duty, which uses evidence-based practices…
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This article discusses reasons for the lack of father involvement in child rearing, the benefits of father involvement for children's well-being, and the benefits of father engagement that are specific to child protective services and foster care. Strategies for engaging fathers are discussed in the areas of agency commitment, locating and recruiting fathers, the initial contact, and on-going contact. Characteristics of successful father engagement programs are also noted.
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Journal Article The current study investigated how fathering behaviors (acceptance, rejection, monitoring, consistent discipline, and involvement) are related to preadolescent adjustment in Mexican American and European American stepfamilies and intact families. Cross-sectional data from 393 7th graders, their schoolteachers, and parents were used to examine links between different dimensions of fathering and adolescent outcomes. Following an ecological multivariate model, family SES, marital satisfaction, and mothers' parenting were included as controls. In all contexts, fathering had significant effects…
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This resource was developed under an Innovation and Improvement Project grant from the Office of Head Start with the goal to encourage and support positive relationships of families with infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children of incarcerated fathers or fathers on probation or parole. Head Start programs may find this resource useful. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article Using longitudinal data from the Youth Development Study (analytic sample N = 712), we investigate how age, adult role acquisition and attainments, family resources, parent-child relationship quality, school attendance, and life events influence support received from parents in young adulthood. Parental assistance was found to be less forthcoming for those who had made greater progress on the road to adulthood, signified by socioeconomic attainment and union formation. The quality of mother-child and father-child relationships affected parental support in different ways, positively for…
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A variety of MRE programs are offered in communities and by the military/Guard. Connecting theGuard (through Chaplains and family support programs) to community-based MRE services can provide needed supports to Guard families coping with stressors related to deployment, employment, and lack of connection to other Guard families in their community. This paper summarizes the key challenges and stressors the Guard members' families face and identifies emerging programs, promising practices, and existing resources to support the specific needs of National Guard couples and single parents. (Author…
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Journal Article This special issue contains articles that explore how disadvantaged young men are faring in the face of low educational achievement, joblessness, out-of-wedlock childbearing, incarceration, and in the face of the Great Recession. An introductory article reviews social and economic forces facing young fathers, and the following four articles outline the economic status of low-income men and fathers. The deteriorating labor market prospects for low-skilled men in the United States is discussed, as well as young disadvantaged men as fathers, the relationship contexts of young disadvantaged…
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This topic was selected for a teleconference because, according to the CFSR, across the nation, child welfare agencies still struggle with locating fathers and engaging and involving them in their children's lives and in the case planning process. Fathers play unique and important roles in their children's lives; therefore, maintaining contact and strengthening the father-child bond should be a priority. The objectives of this session were: To introduce ways to use the "voice of fathers" within the child welfare system to understand their experiences, needs, and desire to be part of their…
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Journal Article We focused on coparenting support, partner relationship quality, and father engagement in families with young children that did not change structurally over 4 years of participation in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study (N = 1,756). There was a significantly stronger and more robust positive association between fathers' perceived coparenting support at age 1 and father engagement at age 3 among nonresidential nonromantic parents compared with residential (married or cohabiting) and nonresidential romantic parents. There was a significantly stronger and positive association…
