Data collected in longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of divorcing families were analyzed to provide an empirical basis for understanding the dynamics of divorced fathering. The research focused on the difficult circumstances of divorced fathers rather than on their defective characters. Findings revealed that fathers continue to visit their children and pay child support at high levels when they perceive that they retain some degree of paternal authority. The loss of this sense of paternal authority appears to occur, in part, because fathers perceive that the legal system and their…
The last two decades have been marked by a series of social and policy developments that are changing both how men see themselves as fathers and how policies conceptualize and encourage their involvement in the lives of children and families. This paper focuses on several areas of intersection between research on fathers and policy. The paper first summarizes the research that led to the current political and social interest in fathers. The paper then describes the Fatherhood Initiative, a set of activities that stemmed from a 1995 memorandum from President Clinton. This Initiative led to…
Preliminary data from the Fragile Families survey were analyzed to examine the impact of incarceration on marriage and family structure. The study specifically considered the characteristics of married and unmarried fathers at risk of imprisonment. Men who have been incarcerated are less likely to be married than men who have never been in prison. Former inmates were also less likely to have a relationship with the mother of their child at the child's first birthday. Regression analysis with incarceration as a dummy variable supported the finding that a history of incarceration negatively…
