This fact sheet outlines how TANF funds can be used to fund programs that develop and maintain healthy marriages/families. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article This research represents an exploration of patterns of boundary ambiguity among poor, young, unmarried men and their reproductive partners. Interviews were conducted with men and their partners during the third trimester of pregnancy. Interviews focused on patterns of men's physical and psychological presence in relationships with their partners and in activities associated with pregnancy and prenatal care. Patterns of presence among fathers-to-be are identified and factors associated with those patterns are explored. Patterns of presence reflect degrees of physical and psychological presence…
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Journal Article Research suggests that a lack of father involvement in divorced families may have negative effects on fathers, mothers, and their children. However, past research has often failed to include men's perspectives of the factors that influence their parental role after separation or divorce. Despite the fact a majority of fathers experience a decrease in child access following separation; research has often overlooked the significance of parental time to fathers' experiences of parenting after separation and divorce. This study is an analysis of interviews completed with men regarding their…
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Journal Article We examined the relationship between fathers' human, social, and financial capital and future marital plans among 176 pregnant adolescent mothers and the fathers of their babies. Fathers' social capital proved to be the most significant resource in relation to marital plans. Mothers and fathers were significantly more likely to plan to marry when the father was involved in the pregnancy and when there was less couple conflict. Couples were more likely to agree about marriage when the mother and father agree that the father was involved in these aspects of parenting and when the couple agrees…
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Journal Article Grounded in family systems and ecological theories, this study examined teenage mothers' perceptions of fathers' parental involvement and the role of teenage mothers' gatekeeping beliefs. Fathers' involvement was perceived to be greater when teenage parents were romantically involved (n = 55). When they no longer shared a romantic relationship (n = 59), mothers' satisfaction with and desire for fathers' involvement (i.e., gatekeeping beliefs) mediated the association between mothers' perceptions of developmental and contextual factors and their perceptions of fathers' involvement. Overall…
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Journal Article The current study utilized a social exchange perspective to examine relations among 74 adolescent mothers' perceptions of barriers to father engagement, parenting alliance strength, and nonresident fathers' engagement in caregiving and nurturing activities with their children. Even after accounting for mothers' perceptions of barrier strength, mothers who viewed the parenting alliance as strong also perceived fathers as more engaged in caregiving activities. A more complex pattern emerged for mothers' perceptions of father engagement in nurturing activities, such that relations between…
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Journal Article Studies on the relationship between fathers' marital satisfaction and involvement with their children have yielded conflicting results. As a partial test of a theoretical model of responsible fathering (Doherty, Kouneski, & Erickson, 1998), this study re-examined this relationship by using measures of both quantity and quality of father involvement and by exploring moderator effects and linear versus curvilinear relationships between the variables. Data were from a longitudinal study of 165 couples collected during the second trimester of pregnancy, and 6 and 12 months postpartum.…
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Journal Article Using an ecological perspective and data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care, correlates of father involvement were examined for 68 stepfathers and 68 biological fathers of first-grade children to determine whether contextual factors associated with involvement differed between the two groups. Stepfathers and biological fathers did not differ in their relative amount of involvement in childrearing activities or in the quality of their engagement with their children, but family processes were different in stepfamilies compared with biological families. For stepfathers, but not…
American attitudes toward marriage have undergone changes in recent years, with shifts toward an increased acceptance of nontraditional family forms. Data show that Americans are developing increasingly favorable attitudes toward nontraditional family structures, such as cohabitation. While most American adolescents express positive attitudes toward marriage and a desire to become married themselves, more and more are accepting of nontraditional marital activities such as cohabitation and premarital sex. Rates of cohabitation are on the rise among American couples. These nontraditional…
While the vast majority of contemporary Americans eventually marry, their age at marriage matters. Early marriage is associated with an increased risk of marital dissolution compared with marriages that occur to older individuals. However, only a minority of Americans now marries in their teens or early twenties. Researchers have also found that individuals who have never married report lower overall levels of well-being compared with those who are married, although the exact reasons for this are unclear. (Author abstract)
