Being a father in this era of changing family structures and converging gender roles means more than bringing home a paycheck or delivering punishment to a misbehaving child. A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that Americans expect dad to be more of a moral teacher and emotional comforter than a breadwinner or disciplinarian. About six-in-ten Americans (58%) say it is "extremely important" for a father to provide values and morals to his children, the top ranked paternal role of the four tested in the survey. Roughly half say it is extremely important for a dad to provide emotional…
Most state child support agencies have responded to the increases in teen and nonmarital births with the traditional offer of paternity establishment and child support enforcement services after the birth of the child. The Child Support Division of the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has taken the innovative step of developing a number of educational and outreach efforts that reach youth and young adults before a pregnancy occurs.The leading example of the OAG’s efforts is the Parenting and Paternity Awareness (p.a.p.a.)Curriculum; p.a.p.a. is a school-based curriculum that sends a…
In response to dramatic increases in imprisonment, a burgeoning literature considers the consequences of incarceration for family life, almost always documenting negative consequences. But the effects of incarceration may be more complicated and nuanced and, in this paper, we consider the countervailing consequences of paternal incarceration for a host of family relationships, including fathers' parenting, mothers' parenting, and the relationship between parents. Using longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and a rigorous research design, we find recent paternal…
The present study examined the longitudinal associations among supportive coparenting and father engagement during infancy and mother-child attachment at age three within an at-risk sample (N= 1371), using secondary data from Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) study. Mothers reported on coparenting and father engagement during the one-year phone interview and mother-child attachment was assessed using the Toddler Attachment Sort-39 (TAS-39) at age three during the three-year in-home interview. Findings suggest that supportive coparenting was significantly associated with higher…
The way mothers and fathers spend their time has changed dramatically in the past half century. Dads are doing more housework and child care; moms more paid work outside the home. Neither has overtaken the other in their "traditional" realms, but their roles are converging, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of long-term data on time use. The findings are based on a new Pew Research survey of 2,511 adults nationwide conducted Nov. 28-Dec. 5, 2012, and an analysis of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which began in 2003 and is a nationally representative telephone survey that…
Previous research has shown that fathers taking some time off work around childbirth, especially periods of leave of 2 or more weeks, are more likely to be involved in childcare related activities than fathers who do not do so. Furthermore, evidence suggests that children with fathers who are "more involved" perform better during the early years than their peers with less involved fathers. This paper analyses data of four OECD countries--Australia; Denmark; United Kingdom; United States--to describe how leave policies may influence father's behaviours when children are young and whether…
Qualitative research suggests that economically disadvantaged fathers experience considerable stress due to difficulty fulfilling the breadwinning ideal and workplace inflexibility that ignores their childcare responsibility. Yet, quantitative research on how employment and work-family conflict are related to fathers' parenting stress, especially in comparison with mothers', is limited. Analyses using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,165) show that current unemployment and greater work-family conflict, but not overwork, odd-jobs, and nonstandard hours, are…
This report explains that Making Connections was the Annie E. Casey Foundation's signature place-based, community-change initiative of the 2000s. It sought to build on previous work and launch an effort focused firmly on the framework of family strengthening. It grew from the premise that children do well when they have healthy, supportive, economically secure families, and that families do better when they live in neighborhoods with a range of opportunities, including services, resources and support networks. The Foundation started Making Connections in 22 places, focusing eventually on…
As a service member, or spouse or former spouse of one, you have unique child support needs. All branches of the armed forces offer parenting programs and resources to strengthen military families. This handbook supplements those resources by providing information you might need regarding paternity establishment, child support, access/visitation, and child custody. First line supervisors and military commanders may also find this a handy addition to a leadership toolkit. (Author abstract)
The Fathers & Fathering in Contemporary Contexts 2012 research conference featured sessions on a range of topics, including resident and nonresident fathers, co-parenting, father involvement and well-being, and diverse contexts providing much needed insights into fathers and the roles they play in families. The executive report summarizes the goals of the conference, describes key findings from the sessions, and outlines directions for future research. (Author abstract modified)
