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Journal Article This study examines the relationships between ethnicity-based variations in nonresident fathers' involvement and children's behavior. Using weighted least squares regression analysis, this study investigates nonresident father involvement and children's behavior based on a nationally representative sample of children in the National Survey of America's Families. After controlling for family context variables, nonresident father involvement through increased frequency of visits was positively associated with better child behavior. The payment of formal or informal child support by nonresident…
This chapter explores demographic features of fathers, who they are, where they are, and how fathering as a concept has changed over the generations. Research findings on the benefits of father involvement are shared, and cultural aspects of working with fathers are examined. Key practice points for professionals working with fathers are listed.
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Journal Article Black fathers are important advocates in addressing the underrepresentation of Black students in gifted programs, as well as the achievement gaps between Black and White students. Black fathers increasingly understand the important role that Black mothers have traditionally played in supporting their gifted children's school experiences. As a result, many are learning to value and embrace their fatherly role in nurturing their child's academic potential by establishing and cultivating relationships with gifted education teachers. Improving Black father and gifted education teacher…
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Journal Article This study examines whether levels of father engagement (e.g., verbal stimulation, caregiving, and physical play) vary by race/ethnicity using a model that controls for fathers' human capital, mental health, and family relationships. It also tests whether the models work similarly across race/ethnic groups. Its sample of N=5,089 infants and their families is drawn from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). We found that, after including controls, African American and Latino fathers had higher levels of engagement in caregiving and physical play activities than…
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Journal Article Purpose: Numerous studies show associations between father absence and girls' early puberty. However, most research has been retrospective, focused on menarche, and failed to consider body mass index (BMI), ethnicity, and income in the analyses. This study resolves these scientific gaps.Methods: This was a prospective study of 444 girls aged 6-8 years and their caregivers (96% mothers). Data were collected annually in clinic, including weight, height, and Tanner stage for breast and pubic hair. Caregivers reported on father absence and demographics. This report focuses on the assessment of…
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Journal Article Literature and research examining father involvement has focused primarily on outcomes associated with the well-being and development of children. The contextual factors associated with fathers, and how these factors shape fathers' involvement with their young children, have received limited attention in this literature. Addressing this limitation, this study focuses on the relationship between fathers' residential status, age, race and ethnicity, educational attainment, financial status and father involvement. Results of the regression models indicate that fathers who reside with their…
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Journal Article Similarities or differences in parenting between reports about mothers and fathers may be associated with the format of the questionnaire. The purpose of this study was to examine three questionnaire formats for collecting the same data about fathers and mothers from adolescents and emerging adults. Study 1 used secondary data analyses from three cross-sectional studies with 820 Latino adolescents using the three survey formats. Study 2 used data from a blind experimental design with 472 emerging adults where the three survey formats were randomly assigned to participants. The analyses from…
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Journal Article This study examines the efficacy of ParentCorps among 4-year-old children (N = 171) enrolled in prekindergarten in schools in a large urban school district. ParentCorps includes a series of 13 group sessions for parents and children held at the school during early evening hours and facilitated by teachers and mental health professionals. ParentCorps resulted in significant benefits on effective parenting practices and teacher ratings of child behavior problems in school. Intervention effects were of similar magnitude for families at different levels of risk and for Black and Latino…
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Journal Article Contextual, mother-, child-, and father-level variables were examined in association with fathers' emotion talk to infants during a shared picture book activity, in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample (N = 549). Significant main effects included the rate of emotion talk from fathers' romantic partners (i.e., the infant's mother), infant attention and distress, and sensitive parenting. Significant interactions were also found. Higher income African American fathers referred to negative emotions more than non-African American higher income fathers. In addition, African American fathers who…
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Journal Article The present study examined the effects of nonresident fathers' involvement -- measured by the frequency of fathers' contact with their children and the quality of fathers' parenting -- on their children's behavior problems. Using data from a subsample of African American single and non-cohabiting mothers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, results indicate that more frequent contact between fathers and their child and fathers' more adequate parenting were associated indirectly with fewer child behavior problems transmitted through more adequate parenting by mothers. The…
