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Journal Article Neoconservative social scientists have claimed that fathers are essential to positive child development and that responsible fathering is most likely to occur within the context of heterosexual marriage. This perspective is generating a range of governmental initiatives designed to provide social support preferences to fathers over mothers and to heterosexual married couples over alternative family forms. The authors propose that the neoconservative position is an incorrect or oversimplified interpretation of empirical research. Using a wide range of cross-species, cross-cultural, and social…
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Journal Article Maternal gatekeeping is conceptualized within the framework of the social construction of gender and is defined as having three dimensions: mothers' reluctance to relinquish responsibility over family matters by setting rigid standards, external validation of a mothering identity and differentiated conceptions of family roles. These three conceptual dimensions of gatekeeping are operationalized with modest reliability and tested with a confirmatory factor analysis on a sample of 622 dual-earner mothers. With cluster analyses, 21% of the mothers were classified as gatekeepers. Gatekeepers did…
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Journal Article This article presents a discussion on a book called "The Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action." Participants include: Susan Albright, an editorial pages editor of the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune; David Blankenhorn, the founder and president of the New York based Institute for American Values, a private, nonpartisan organization devoted to research, publication, and education on issues of family well-being and civil society; and Wade Horn, president and co-founder of the Maryland-based National Fatherhood Initiative. The discussion touches on the reasons for a fatherhood movement, the…
This working paper explores the role of fathers and father-child relationships in the psychosocial development of adolescents by examining outcomes data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) files on children and mothers. The survey uses a number of measures to evaluate child development and well being; other characteristics of children and mothers; information about family structure and household makeup; family income, home environment, and other sociodemographic factors; as well as children's perceptions of their mother, father, and or/step father. The initial survey was…
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Journal Article The reconciliation of work and family demands places unusual stress on many single-parent families. Using a 1995 random sample of single fathers (n = 346) and single mothers (n = 364) in military communities, we explored the relationship between gender and the ability of parents to manage work and family responsibilities. Using ANOVA and discriminant function analyses, we found no gender differences in the proportion of single parents who perceived they were successful at managing family and work responsibilities. However, there were significant gender differences in how men and women use…
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Journal Article The attitudes of adoptive fathers toward the birth fathers of their adopted children were examined in this study. One hundred thirteen adoptive fathers answered a questionnaire about their infertility history, the adoption experience, source of information about the birth father of their child, type of adoption, frequency and topics of thoughts about the birth father, and the influence of the adoptive parents and the birth parents on the characteristics of the child. Level of attachment was also discussed. Respondents reported that pre- adoption preparation and social workers contributed the…
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Journal Article The central hypothesis of this article, that large investments by fathers in childrearing are associated with high marital stability, is tested against two competing hypotheses about marital stability. The hypotheses are examined using data from a national survey of households in the Netherlands. Investments are measured with retrospective questions about the degree to which fathers were involved in childrearing tasks. Divorce is measured indirectly, with questions about husbands' and wives' perceptions of the stability of their marriage. Multivariate analyses indicate that when fathers are…
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Journal Article Data on matched triads of 428 biological mothers, their husbands, and a young adult child interviewed in the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households are used to examine affective relationships from the perspective of both parent and child. The analysis examines the ways each dyadic relationship depends on relationships with the third member of the triad and whether these processes operate differently for mothers and fathers, for fathers and stepfathers, for daughters and sons. Results show that parents' affect is related significantly to marital quality and the partner's…
This study was designed to explore possible differences between adoptive and biological fathers in terms of how much they enjoyed being involved in child care and child rearing activities with their young children. Anonymous questionnaires were returned by 85 adoptive and 98 biological first-time fathers with one child age three or younger. The results indicated that adoptive fathers derived greater enjoyment from their involvement in their children's lives than did biological fathers. Interestingly, the two most significant items were enjoy caring for a dependent human being and enjoy…
This executive summary describes the methodology used to investigate strategies States are using to promote responsible fatherhood and outcomes of the study. A demographic profile of fathers is provided that includes information on working fathers, father involvement in schools, and child support. Findings from the report indicate: 38 of the 45 responding States are engaging in current activities using public awareness to promote responsible fatherhood; 37 States sponsor one or more initiatives to help prevent unwanted or too-early fatherhood; 43 States use strategies to help fathers be…
