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Journal Article The relative extent to which mothers and fathers administer physical punishment sheds light on family relationships, parental roles and, perhaps, the identity of potential abusers. In this study, 362 British mothers and 103 fathers of randomly selected children from 366 two-parent families were interviewed. According to self-reports, the proportions of mothers and fathers who had used physical punishments were similar, as were the frequencies with which they used them. About 50 percent more mothers than fathers smacked or hit their children weekly or more often, whereas fathers were more…
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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 Using data from the 1987-1988 National Survey of Families and Households, this study examines gender differences in how nonresident parents spend time with their absent children. Whereas nonresident fathers are often perceived as "Disneyland" parents, nonresident mothers are generally considered to be more involved in their children's daily lives. However, results suggest that nonresident mothers and fathers exhibit a similar pattern of participation in activities with their absent children, controlling for sociodemographic and family characteristics. Most nonresident parents either engage…
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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 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…
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Journal Article Using data from interviews with caseworkers in two agencies, this article describes the extent to which 74 African American fathers participated in services on behalf of children placed in kinship foster homes because of abuse, neglect, or dependency. The data revealed that few fathers were involved in case assessments, case planning, or receipt of services. Caseworkers usually did not pursue paternal involvement or identify lack of participation as a professional concern. The article explores possible explanations for the low participation and identifies practice and policy changes that…
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Journal Article Fifteen foster fathers were interviewed for this study about their experience as foster parents. The men provided information about their motivations for becoming foster fathers, their function as a foster parent, attachment and loss during their relationship, and personal connections between the child and the birth family. In general, the study found that the motivations of foster fathers focused on the emotional benefits and the strength of commitment the man feels to the child. The foster fathers reported involvement in all parts of the child's life, with the exception of contact with…
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Journal Article This article examines the factors deemed important to people when making custody decisions, focusing on a number of recent controversial adoptions cases in which courts have been forced to decide if a birth father should be granted custody of his child when the birth mother purposely fails to inform him of the child's birth or of her intention to place the child for adoption. Three independent variables from which eight vignettes were created are described, modeled on actual court cases: the birth father's knowledge of the adoption plan; the birth father's parental fitness; and the presence…
