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Journal Article Theory and research suggest that the transition to parenthood is a major life transition, and that adaptation to the parenting role is influenced by a complex set of factors, including the relationship with the child's mother, family of origin, and how the father is situated within sociocultural contexts. The father-mother relationship is particularly important for men making the transition to fatherhood. This study examined patterns of fathering among young fathers (15?24 years) and investigated how fathers' relationships with the mothers of their young children (infants and toddlers) were…
In 1993, the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) published a 61-page review of Army family research entitled What We Know About Army Families. This report summarized research findings from approximately 70 studies on American military families and the implications of that research for Army policymakers, program managers, unit leaders, and supervisors. The goal of What We Know About Army Families was to disseminate research-based information and recommendations about Soldiers and their families throughout the Army community to help strengthen retention,…
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Journal Article Data from the Fragile Families and Child-Well-being Study were used to examine predictors of involvement among fathers of young children ( N=2,215) born to adolescent and young adult mothers (ages 14-25; N=2,850). Participants were interviewed immediately following their baby's birth and at 3-years postpartum regarding co-parental relationship quality, fathers' caretaking behavior ("father involvement"), and fathers' provision of material support for the child ("in-kind" support). Early postnatal and 3-year postpartum parental relationship quality and father-child cohabitation predicted 3-…
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This brochure is a family strengthening resource designed to help refugees identify violence or abuse in the home. In addition to English, it is also available in the following languages: Arabic, Bosnian, Burmese, Farsi (Persian), French, Hmong, Karen, Kirundi, Russian, Spanish, Somali, Swahili, and Vietnamese.
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Journal Article We identify and discuss mothers' early strategies to recruit nonresidential biological fathers, intimate partners, male family members and friends, and paternal kin to support the needs of young children in low-income families. Using the concept of kinscription and longitudinal ethnographic data on 149 African American, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White families from Welfare, Children and Families: A Three-City Study, we developed a model of recruitment that includes three related processes: the search for legitimacy with conventional fathers and partners, the consequences of maternal advocacy…
This 80-page report examines the health and well-being of Minnesota's fathers and families. The report includes an introduction that examines the importance of fatherhood, statistics about Minnesota's fathers, and recommendations for promoting healthy fatherhood. (Author abstract)
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)
We examine the consequences of incarceration for non-resident White, Latino, and African American fathers' contact with children and their formal and informal child support agreements. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we found that fathers' current incarceration presented serious obstacles to maintaining contact with children and interfered with the establishment of informal financial support agreements with mothers. Recent and past incarceration were strongly and negatively associated with how often non-Latino White fathers saw their children, while having a…
In this paper I review Daniel Patrick Moynihan's views on employment and young black men in his 1965 report. I then update the evidence on their employment status, and review the causes and policy implications of these trends. Moynihan was extremely prescient in forecasting a "crisis...that would only grow worse." He understood that these trends involve both limits on labor market opportunities that these young men face as well as skill deficits and behavioral responses by the young men themselves. Policies that deal with a wide range of disadvantages and behaviors are needed to reverse these…
Brief
Many of the nation's most vexing domestic problems are linked with negative behaviors of and problems experienced by adolescent boys and young men. Delinquency and crime, school dropout, unemployment and nonwork, nonmarital births, and poverty are all associated disproportionately with young men. Two sets of public policies--wage subsidies and work requirements--that hold promise for helping young men increase their employment and earnings could thereby alleviate many of these social problems, especially poverty. (Author abstract)
