A father will always play a vital role in a child's growing years, especially sons. His absence or presence in the child's life will have a profound impact in the future. In Black Fathers Black Sons, author Ray Waters delves into the relationships of African-American men and reveals new insights that will fuel debate and debunk many myths. (Author abstract)
Report, Book
Do dads matter in the lives of their kids? While some debate this, the research answers the question with a capital Y-E-S! Healthy Marriages, Responsible Fatherhood captures a lot of that research which shows how important fathers really are, and how marriage is the glue that bonds dads to their kids.The Healthy Marriage Series is available in print (as booklets), digital (PowerPoint, Video and Keynote) and online (YouTube and Blip.tv) formats. (Author abstract modified)
Writing a book on African American manhood is truly a work-in-process. No man, no matter how old, has all the answers to the question, "What does it mean to be a real Black man?" Like all matters of image and identity, this question can only be answered by being in a relationship with a community of friends. Without the bond of friendship and respect, the effort to answer the question is likely to be marked by a competition to present the most superior image. Butler has attempted to answer the question by pointing to the fact that African American manhood is not one image or idea. Black…
The Best Kept Secret studies the often-overlooked group of single, African American custodial fathers. While the media focuses on the increase of single mothers and the decline in marriage in the black community, Roberta Coles paints a nuanced picture of single black dads. Based on qualitative research, the author looks at the parenting experience of these fathers, who may have become single parents through nonmarital births, divorce, widowhood and adoption. The fathers, ranging in age from 20 to 76, discuss their motivations for taking custody of their children, what roles they enact as…
We've all heard that a father's involvement enriches the lives of children. But how much have we heard about how having a child affects a father's life? As Peter Gray and Kermyt Anderson reveal, fatherhood actually alters a man's sexuality, rewires his brain, and changes his hormonal profile. His very health may suffer--in the short run--and improve in the long. These are just a few aspects of the scientific side of fatherhood explored in this book, which deciphers the findings of myriad studies and makes them accessible to the interested general reader. Since the mid-1990s Anderson and Gray…
Men do not often come for counseling because they are having difficulties with being a father, but many of the presenting problems and reasons for seeking help can be related to the roles and responsibilities of fathering. The dramatic shift in societal expectations of being a father can often leave men confused as they navigate conflicting views, demands, and responsibilities.Counseling Fathers is designed to bridge the gap between fathers and professional helpers. This book provides the mental health practitioners with a guide for working with fathers in therapy, whether the issues of…
Over the past several decades, researchers as well as social policymakers and educators have acknowledged the importance that fathers play in their children's lives. A good deal of research on fathering has been conducted among Euro-American families in North America. However, our understanding of fathering across various ethnic groups remains limited. Throughout Canada and the United States, the immigrant population has been growing rapidly. Currently, no book has delineated the field of immigrant fathering from a comprehensive and multidisciplinary perspective that includes theory, research…
The Marriage-Go-Round illuminates the shifting nature of America's most cherished social institution and explains its striking differences from marriage in other Western countries.Andrew J. Cherlin's three decades of study have shown him that marriage in America is a social and political battlefield in a way that it isn't in other developed countries. Americans marry and divorce more often and have more live-in partners than Europeans, and gay Americans have more interest in legalizing same-sex marriage. The difference comes from Americans' embrace of two contradictory cultural ideals:…
If your children have been removed, the stories in this booklet will take you step by step through the process of reunifying with your children. (Author abstract)
Initial validation data are presented for the Risky Situation (RS), a 20-minute observational procedure designed to assess the father-child activation relationship with children aged 12-18 months. The coding grid, which is simple and easy to use, allows parent-child dyads to be classified into three categories and provides an activation score. By having the same parent-child dyads participate in the Strange Situation (SS) and in the RS, researchers were able to demonstrate that the RS appears to evoke specific relationship patterns. Moreover, parental stimulation of risk-taking, the central…
