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Journal Article The impact of children's perception of a father's and mother's support on children's quality of relationship with their classroom teacher was examined in a sample of 51 third and fourth grade Asian children rated by their teachers as aggressive. Children's perception of a father's support predicted teacher-ratings in all three areas of the teacher-student relationship (instrumental help, satisfaction, and conflict) but children's perception of a mother's support did not. This adds to a gradually expanding research base documenting the benefits of fatherly support across selected and…
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Journal Article This paper explores American Indian fathering in the Dakota nation with an emphasis on cultural accuracy. Focus groups and census data suggest father absence is a major problem and that efforts should provide positive male role models. Life course and generative fathering theories inform this discussion and fit well with Dakota culture. Factors leading to diminished male roles are discussed and empirical and applied suggestions provided. Since family setting and structure differs significantly from previous generations, adaptation is critical for fathers who wish to provide effective…
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Journal Article Life history interviews were conducted with 40 low-income noncustodial African American men in three age cohorts. Using four elements of a life course perspective (human agency, linked lives, social context, and multiple rhythms of time), the author explored how the stories that men told of their fathers' life experiences shaped their own paternal identities. Three narrative themes (stability, liminality, and inquiry) gave meaning to men's struggles to become involved fathers and linked them to similar challenges faced by their fathers years earlier. Differences in narrative construction…
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Journal Article Narrative analysis of semistructured interviews with 64 young adults (98% African American) revealed their idealized views of biological fathers. Interviews contained descriptions of current father contacts as well. Data were informed by prospective quantitative information on father-child contact from infancy to age 15. Ideally, biological fathers give children personal presence, material support, counsel, and guidance. Each relationship was classified as either: deceased, unknown, known but not involved, or involved; analysis showed that the extent of early contact tended to predict these…
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Journal Article This article uses a sample of 867 African American households to investigate differences in parenting practices and child outcomes by type of household. Results indicate that mothers provide similar levels of parenting regardless of family structure. Secondary caregivers, however, show a great deal of variation in quality of parenting. Fathers and grandmothers engage in the highest quality parenting, stepfathers the poorest, with other relatives falling in between. These differences in parenting do not explain family structure differences in child behavior problems. Results suggest that…
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Journal Article This longitudinal investigation explores how fathers engage with their infants, how their behaviors matter within and across developmental time, and how demographic and social factors affect the quality of the father-infant relationship. Participants were 74 racially and ethnically diverse, low-income fathers from the Father and Newborn Study (FANS) and their 8- and 16-month-old infants (36 boys, 38 girls). Father - infant interactions were vidiotaped during semistructured free play in participants' homes. The quality of father - infant interactions was assessed using Likert-type ratings of…
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Journal Article Race/ethnic differences in the prevalence of and characteristics associated with low support provided by fathers of babies born to pregnant adolescents were examined among 719 adolescent mothers who were interviewed postpartum. Low support was reported by 41.9% of African-American, 26.2% of Mexican-American, and 19.4% of Caucasian adolescent mothers. Across race/ethnic subgroups, fathers who provided limited support were characterized by chronic substance use, gang or police involvement, or partner-directed violence. Policies advocating universal father involvement without concomitant…
Although a large body of research examines early female fertility, there is considerably less demographic research on male fertility. This study seeks to fill this gap by describing the timing of early fatherhood transitions and examining the family background factors associated with early fertility transitions. The authors tested for differences in these patterns from ages 15 to 24 by sex, race, and cohort. To test the robustness of results, they used the 1979 and 1997 National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth and the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. With a few exceptions, estimates of…
This E.D. TAB presents information about the biological fathers of children born in the United States in the year 2001. It is the first publication of findings using the data collected from fathers during the base-year collection of the ECLS-B. It presents information on specific demographic characteristics of resident and nonresident biological fathers' involvement in pregnancy and birth, fathers' attitudes about fathering, and father involvement. (Author abstract)
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Journal Article This study explores how father involvement is associated with adolescent risk behaviors among youth in first, second, and third-generation families in US. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 (Rounds One-Three), and discrete time logit regressions, we find that father involvement predicts a reduced likelihood of subsequent engagement in risky behaviors among adolescents. Being a first-generation immigrant youth is also associated with reduced risky behaviors. Two-way interaction models indicate that father involvement matters more for sons than for daughters. Two-way…
