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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…

In early 2019, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released a policy statement recognizing that “maternal depression affects the whole family” and urging pediatric providers to “incorporate recognition and management of perinatal depression into pediatric practice.” Soon after, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued new recommendations on interventions to prevent perinatal depression. The convergence of these 2 statements from nationally recognized bodies of experts in evidence-based medicine underscores the urgency of a heightened focus on screening and making referrals for…

Kinship care refers to familial arrangements where the primary caregiver(s) are biological relatives, godparents, or other fictive kin with strong bonds, raising children when the biological parents are unable. The majority of children living in a home with neither of their biological parents’ present are living in kinship care arrangements. Previous research has primarily focused on maternal involvement and experiences in kinship care; however, little is known about paternal access, engagement, and responsibility in these arrangements. Researchers and practitioners have identified factors…

Although the gender gap may be slowly closing across generations, men are generally much more likely than women to develop a substance use disorder as they move through adolescence into early to middle adulthood when most men first become a father. Research done from several different perspectives suggests that substance use by men affects family relations and family relations affect substance use by men, undoubtedly in a reciprocal manner as men move through the life cycle of the family. Moreover, substance use by men represents a substantial threat to the development of infants, toddlers…

Although a number of studies have emerged in recent years on the role parents play in their children’s musical development, few have examined fatherhood. Through this phenomenological interview study, the author considers the lived experiences of musical fathers and their children, which are retrospectively recounted by three father-child pairs. The data are interpreted through the lens of children’s four psychological needs – competence, autonomy, relatedness, and purpose – and consider the extent to which these were met for each of the six participants throughout their childhood music…

This study explores fathers’ engagement with home visiting in the “Tennessee Dad” project, a cluster randomized-controlled trial of an in-home parenting education program for fathers delivered alongside a primary home visiting curriculum. Results from three mixed models using data from 2,916 visits with treatment (n = 113) and control (n = 117) condition families indicated that visits to treatment condition families were more likely to have a father present than visits to control condition families, but there were no differences between conditions on participation minutes or level of…

Research on young parents experiencing homelessness has typically focused on mothers and pregnant women. Young homeless fathers’ tendencies to decline involvement throughout pregnancy and in their children’s lives have been documented and condemned; however, little is known about young men’s perspectives on these situations. This exploratory study engaged homeless young men in qualitative interviews regarding their perceptions and experiences of fathering. Respondents often viewed fatherhood as solely representing breadwinner responsibilities and as a burden that one dutifully carries or…

Most crimes committed by adolescents in the United States are linked to gang activity, which is disproportionally present in Latina/o communities. Although most gang-involved teenage fathers wish that their children would not join gangs, their parenting tends to foster gang involvement in their children. An improved understanding of fatherhood among gang-involved U.S. Latino youth can inform the development of parenting- and fatherhood-focused interventions. To foster such understanding, we conducted interviews and focus groups with purposive samples of young gang-involved Latino fathers,…

Since the last decade review of the fathering literature in 2000, scholars across numerous disciplines such as demography, family studies, medicine, nursing, law, psychology, social work, and sociology have continued to produce a steady stream of work on fathering and father-child relationships. This literature is reviewed selectively with a focus on key developments, persistent challenges, and critical directions for future research. Significant developments include greater availability of large and nationally representative datasets to study fathers; expansion and evaluation of U.S.…

There are many predictors of successful fatherhood involvement. One of the key predictors that I found in my work with families was the father’s relationship with the children’s mother as well as whether the father was a resident or non-resident of the home. Specifically looking at predictors of father involvement, fathers who have a better relationship with the children’s mother tend to have more access to their children (Cabrera, Tamis-LeMonda, Bradley, Hofferth, & Lamb, 2000; Coley & Hernandez, 2006). During my work, I have noticed that human service agencies are more tailored…