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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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Journal Article Urban, African American fathers have been a difficult population for social workers and other helping professionals to effectively serve. This article, based on interviews with front-line African American service professionals at a father-focused program, who also participated in writing this article, provides information about and suggestions for working with young fathers. Providing father-friendly service, joining with fathers, holding them accountable for their behavior, and addressing their relationship with their child and the mother of their child through couples work are suggested…
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Journal Article Although scholars and policy makers herald the promotive influence of fathers' parenting involvement, limited research has carefully delineated effects of fathers' parenting on low-income children's development and whether early contributions from fathers confer long-term protective effects. Using data from the Three-City Study (N = 261), analyses assessed whether fathers' parenting practices during early childhood showed long-term links with low-income children's cognitive skills through middle childhood. Results found that fathers' warm and stimulating parenting predicted enhanced reading…
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Journal Article We investigated how mothers' and fathers' depressed mood and father-child and mother-child relationship predicted preschool children's problem behavior. The sample was 11,286 continuously intact, two-parent biological families of the United Kingdom's Millennium Cohort Study. We found that mother-child relationship and maternal depressed mood had larger effects on children's problem behavior than father-child relationship and paternal depressed mood. The effect of paternal depressed mood was completely mediated by quality of father-child relationship. There were significant moderator effects…
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Journal Article Much is known about how having a teenage mother influences children's outcomes, but the relationship between teenage fatherhood and children's health and development is less well documented. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, the authors investigated how teenage fathers matter for children. They expected teenage fathers' influence on children to differ from adult fathers' in three domains: the household context, the father' mother relationship, and the father-child relationship. Teenage fathers were less often married and more often cohabiting or nonresident, and their…
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Journal Article Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of the ‘Healthy Dads, Healthy Kids’ (HDHK) program, which was designed to help overweight fathers lose weight and be a role model of positive health behaviors for their children. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Participants: A total of 53 overweight/obese men (mean (s.d.) age = 40.6 (7.1) years; body mass index (BMI) = 33.2 (3.9)) and their primary school-aged children (n = 71, 54% boys; mean (s.d.) age = 8.2 (2.0) years) were randomly assigned (family unit) to either (i) the HDHK program (n = 27 fathers, n = 39 children) or (ii) a wait…
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Journal Article Objective: The role of fathers in the lives of children has gained increasing attention over the last several decades, however, studies that specifically examine the parenting role among men who are alcohol dependent and have co-occurring intimate partner violence (IPV) have been limited. This brief report is intended to highlight the need to develop and focus interventions for men with co-occurring substance abuse and IPV with an emphasis on their roles as fathers.Method: Sixty-nine men who participated in a randomized comparison study of a coordinated substance abuse and domestic…
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Journal Article In this issue of Protecting Children, child welfare researchers and practitioners from across the nation share the lessons they learned from the National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System (QIC NRF). The QIC NRF is a 5-year (2007-2011), federally funded project to promote knowledge development around engaging non-resident fathers of children involved in the child welfare system, and the impact of that engagement on child safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article This article provides an overview of the National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathersand the Child Welfare System (QIC NRF), describes the QIC NRF program sites' recruitment processes, presents findings on the percentages of non-resident fathers reviewed for program recruitment, found eligible, and enrolled, and describes practice considerations, recommendations, and potential future research areas. 3 tables and 25 references. (Author abstract modified)
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Journal Article In recent years, there has been an increase in programs designed to promote involved and responsible fatherhood. While the literature provides insight into how existing organizations serving fathers can improve the quality of their service delivery, little is known about starting a fatherhood program from the ground up. This article contributes to the needed discussion on such programs by exploring the development of the Man Up fatherhood program. Featured in this discussion is Man Up's program development model, which combines parent education and community engagement events and activities…
