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Journal Article Incarcerated fathers or men in the role of father or surrogate father in the US are approaching rates that could be considered epidemic in proportion. Children are adversely affected by the absense of fathers. This study explores the efficacy of a programmed parenting intervention for incarcerated men, derived from the Real Life Parenting Skills Program. (Author abstract modified)
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Journal Article Using data from case records and from questionnaires completed by caseworkers, the author describes: contact between 132 fathers of children in kinship foster care and their caseworkers over a period of 12 months; and the fathers' involvement in permanency planning for their children. The data indicate that most fathers had no contact with the caseworkers during the period under study, and had never participated in permanency planning. Analysis revealed that paternal involvement varied significantly by the child's family composition. Fathers of two or more children from a one-father family…
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Journal Article Most research on the effect of father figures in the home on the incidence of child maltreatment has been cross-sectional and has focused on sexual abuse. This prospective study's purpose is to determine if the presence of a father surrogate in the home affects the risk of a subsequent child maltreatment report. In a longitudinal sample of at-risk children, North Carolina's Central Registry for Child Abuse and Neglect was used to determine the maltreatment history of children from birth to age 8 years. Children who had a father surrogate living in the home were twice as likely to be reported…
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Journal Article The new welfare reform law includes a number of provisions designed to increase the amount of child support paid by nonresident fathers, but little is known about whether stronger child support enforcement may create parental conflict. Parental conflict may increase when fathers do not wish to pay or when fathers pay and demand more time with their child, but mothers resist these demands. Using seven-city data from the study of Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing, the authors find that very few parents are opposed to the idea that fathers should have child support obligations and rights to…
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Journal Article While considerable research has been carried out on the experiences of birth mothers in adoption, birth fathers remain a relatively neglected group. As part of an ongoing project to redress the balance, Gary Clapton explores the life course of a group of 30 birth fathers ranging in age from 35 to late 60s. Beginning with the immediate post-adoption period, he traces the men's early feelings of grief and loss, and in a minority of cases, alleged indifference, through to a spectrum of emotions spanning curiosity, concern, regret and 'connectedness'. The author points to similarities with the…
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Journal Article Two alternative theoretical models of parenting, identity theory and parental investment theory, are investigated as sources of explanation of men's fathering attitudes and behaviors. Four dimensions of fathering are explored: responsivity, harshness, behavioral engagement, and affective involvement. Concepts from identity theory operationalized as predictors include father role salience, role satisfaction, and reflected appraisals. From parental investment theory, concepts included investment maximization, contingent commitment, and paternity certitude. Using telephone survey data drawn from…
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Journal Article This article describes the development of solution-focused psychotherapy groups for incarcerated fathers at a medium security correctional facility. The solution-focused approach was implemented to avoid the strategies used by inmates to undermine insight-oriented and non-directive therapies. Emphasis was placed on the identification of problems, desired outcomes, and behaviors that would achieve the participant's goals. Program planners selected the cognitive-behavioral approach to group psychotherapy for its focus on the recognition of feelings and identification of successful methods of…
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Journal Article Interviews were conducted with 20 young men who used General Assisstance, many of whom were the fathers of children of poor, unwed mothers. The relationship respondents had with their fathers was examined. For those young men who were themselves fathers, it also explored how those relationships influenced their own paternal identity and the relationships with their children. Findings from this research suggest that the relationship a man has with his father and the influence this has on his development of generativity and univocal reciprocity may be more influential to the son's paternal…
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Journal Article Research on child development has increasingly emphasized the complexity of developmental processes, and this reconceptualization is reflected in recent research on the effects of child maltreatment as well. The author illustrates the value of studying maltreatment in the context of children's relationships, not only with their biological mothers, but with biological fathers and father figures as well. Ambiguities remain, however, suggesting that more must be discovered about the quality and longevity of the relationships between these men and both their partners and surrogate children to…
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Journal Article A shortened form of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) was used to examine the relationship between parenting styles and the psychological distress and offending patterns of a group of young male offenders held in custody in Scotland. High levels of psychological distress were linked with low parental care, but there was no association between psychological distres and parental control. Parental care was not a distinguishing factor in offending patterns, although high paternal control was linked with a younger age of first arrest. When interactions of paternal and maternal parenting styles…
