Recent Research Reports and News: May
2003
Fathers—Research | Children
& Families | Fatbers/Mothers
in Prison | Census Data
| Systemic Barriers
| Welfare Reform
| NCOFF Abstracts
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Family Characteristics and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Black
Men in the United States, Rosalie J. Bakken and Mary Winter,
Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Volume 34, Number
5, September/October 2002.
CONTEXT: Past research indicates that family characteristics are associated
with sexual risk-taking behaviors in adolescence and adulthood. Because
the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases is higher among black
males than among males of other races, it is important to understand
factors associated with sexual risk in this group.
METHODS: Data from 1,125 black men participating in the 1991 National
Survey of Men were used in structural equation modeling to examine
the association of individual and family characteristics with age
at sexual initiation and the lifetime number of sexual partners.
RESULTS: Men whose mothers worked were likely to have first intercourse
at a younger age than others (beta, -.104), whereas those raised by
both parents were likely to delay sexual initiation (.072) and to
have fewer partners during their lifetime (-.062). Men who were married
or had had first intercourse at an older age were likely to have a
lower total number of partners than others (-.297 and -.369, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: School and community programs should provide culturally
appropriate and accessible activities for black youth, and should
reach black males early, while they are still in elementary school.
Programming targeted at parents may help them learn skills for communicating
effectively with children about sexuality-related issues.
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Are Married Parents Really Better for Children? What Research
Says About the Effects of Family Structure on Child Well-Being,
Mary Parke, Couples and Marriage Series Brief No. 3, Center
for Law and Social Policy, May 2003.
CLASP Summary:
This brief, the third in a series on Couples and Marriage Research
and Policy, summarizes research on the effects of family structure
on child well-being, discusses some of the complexities of the research,
and identifies issues that remain to be explored. It concludes that
research largely supports the notion that, on average, children do
best when raised by two married, biological parents who have a low-conflict
relationship. However, this new review also finds that discussions
of this research are too often oversimplified, which leads to exaggeration
by proponents of marriage promotion initiatives and to skepticism
from critics.
To access the full report in PDF format, visit the CLASP
web site.
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Costs and Benefits of Improving Response Rates for a Hard-to-Reach
Population," Julien O. Teitler (Columbia Univ.), Nancy
E. Reichman (Columbia Univ.), and Susan Sprachman (Mathematica Policy
Research, Inc.), Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol., 67, Spring
2003.
Mathematica Summary:
A prevailing assumption in survey research is that the higher the
response rate, the more representative the sample. Given real-world
budget constraints, it is important to determine whether the benefits
of marginal increases in response rates outweigh the costs. At a certain
level, other methods of increasing the sample or reducing survey error
may be more cost-effective. The authors examine the costs and benefits
of increased response rates on the composition of fathers in the Fragile
Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national longitudinal survey
of new parents. They conclude that the characteristics of the sample
approached those of the target population as response rates increased,
but returns appear to have diminished at very high levels of effort.
For a copy of the article, visit the Public
Opinion Quarterly's web site. (A subscription may be required.)
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Selected Articles: The Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority Philosophy
and Programs, Avraham Hoffmann, Director General and founder,
State of Israel Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority, Jerusalem, September
2002.
Preface excerpt:
Since the creation of the Israeli Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority
in 1984, Avraham Hoffmann has been its Director General. He has worked
hard to develop a comprehensive system for the rehabilitation of released
inmates and their families. Over nearly two decades and with no such
precedents, a wide range of programs have been developed, adapted
to the different populations needs. Together with an excellent and
devoted staff, he worked at promoting the released inmates reintegration
into society, as well as disseminating his belief that prisoners can
and should be rehabilitated and that the society must be an active
partner.
Hence, it was not easy to gather Avraham Hoffmann’s articles
and lectures on the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority, its unique
and innovative programs and his philosophy, in a single book. This
book does not intend to assemble all Avraham Hoffmann’s work
and ideas, nor gather all his articles, as they are too many. It
presents the most recent articles and newly developed programs.
Some older articles treat major programs that are mentioned in recent
articles but briefly. Other programs, no less important, were omitted;
a great deal still wait to be written by Hoffmann.
This new volume of articles is now available in PDF format from
the Family & Corrections Network's
web site as part of their Reading Room.
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New Initiative Aims to Strengthen Community Strategies for
Prisoners Returning to Society, The Urban Institute, April 15,
2003.
Press Release exceprt:
The Reentry Mapping Network, a three-year innovative partnership that
will help mobilize local leaders and residents to effectively identify
and address the challenges of prisoner reentry, kicks off this month
with the Urban Institute's selection of the Network's first six partner
cities: Des Moines, Iowa; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Oakland, California;
Providence, Rhode Island; Washington, DC; and Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. Developed with the support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation,
the Network will choose six more cities to join the partnership next
year.
With more than 600,000 prisoners returning to society each year,
prisoner reentry poses many challenges to the communities involved,
including an increased risk to public safety and a limited availability
of jobs, housing, and social services for the returning prisoners.
The Network seeks to strengthen communities' capacities to acquire
information that will help them better understand and address these
challenges.
Partners will collect and analyze data related to incarceration,
community supervision, and indicators of community well-being (e.g.,
employment, crime, housing, and education). Partners will use the
data to pinpoint neighborhoods that experience high concentrations
of returning prisoners and examine the extent to which such communities
are equipped to address the challenges that prisoner reentry creates.
Some partners will also conduct surveys and focus groups to inform
the data collection and analysis process. Partners will work with
community stakeholders to target intervention efforts and resources
where most needed and to help assess their effectiveness.
Although mapping has been used to effectively address a wide range
of criminal justice challenges, until now only a few cities have
mapped neighborhood-level incarceration and reentry data. Even fewer
cities have attempted to link incarceration and reentry data with
other indicators of community well being.
The cities were chosen through a competitive selection process
that examined the feasibility and quality of the proposed research
project, its value to the community, and the quality and availability
of existing relevant data.
The first six partner organizations and their primary research
topics are:
- Des Moines, Iowa: The Child and Family Policy Center will examine
family reunification and parental responsibility for ex-prisoners
and their immediate families. (Contact: Charles Bruner, 515-280-9027)
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Project COMPASS and the Non-Profit Center
will identify opportunities to strengthen coordination among service
providers for ex-prisoners and their families. (Contact: Jim Pingle,
414-286-3467)
- Oakland, California: The Urban Strategies Council will help
educate and prepare community stakeholders to face the challenges
and seize the opportunities that come with reintegrating parolees
into the community. (Contact: Junious Williams, 510-893-1376)
- Providence, Rhode Island: The Providence Plan will examine
the effect of ex-offenders' residential mobility on their likelihood
of staying out of prison and accessing services, and they will
identify strategies for connecting ex-prisoners to community resources.
(Contact: Patrick McGuigan, 401-455-8880)
- Washington, D.C.: DC Agenda will analyze workforce development
opportunities and challenges related to ex-prisoners. (Contact:
Mark Rubin, 202-223-2598 ext. 16)
- Winston-Salem, North Carolina: The Center for Community Safety
will identify the risks and assets of neighborhoods with high
concentrations of ex-prisoners and devise strategies for more
effective use of those resources and assets to address the needs
of ex-prisoners, their families, and their communities. (Contact:
Sylvia Oberle, 336-750-3470)
For a copy of the complete Press Release, visit the Urban
Institute web site.
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Sexual Intercourse and the Age Difference Between Adolescent
Females and Their Romantic Partners, Christine E. Kaestle,
Donald E. Morisky and Dorothy J. Wiley, Perspectives on Sexual
and Reproductive Health, Volume 34, Number 6, November/December
2002.
CONTEXT: The age difference between a female and her partner may
influence relationship dynamics in ways that put the female at increased
risk of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
Very little is known, however, about how romantic involvement progresses
to intercourse, particularly among adolescent females with older
male partners.
METHODS: Data from 1,975 female participants in the National Longitudinal
Study of Adolescent Health were analyzed using logistic regression
to determine whether the age difference between an adolescent female
and her romantic partner is a risk factor for sexual intercourse.
RESULTS: Adolescent females involved with an older partner have
higher odds of having intercourse with that partner than females
with partners their own age, after adjustment for demographic covariates.
The magnitude of this association is most dramatic among the youngest
females--for example, the odds of intercourse among 13-year-old
females with a partner six years older are more than six times the
odds among 13-year-old females with a same-age partner (odds ratio,
6.4), while 17-year-old females with partners six years older have
about twice the odds of intercourse when compared with those who
have a same-age partner (2.1).
CONCLUSIONS: Young adolescent females with substantially older partners
are much more likely than their peers to have sex with their partner,
which exposes them to the risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted
diseases.
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Married-Couple and Unmarried-Partner Households: 2000,
Tavia Simmons and Martin O'Connell, Census 2000 Special Report,
U.S. Census Bureau, February 2003.
Press Release excerpt (March 13, 2003):
The Census Bureau released a Census 2000 report on married- and
unmarried-couple households today.
The 16-page report, Married-Couple and Unmarried-Partner
Households: 2000, by Tavia Simmons and Martin O'Connell, marks
the first time the Census Bureau has issued a census report on
unmarried partners. In 1990, "unmarried partner" was added as
an option to the census question on household relationship.
The report and supplementary tables on the Internet show numbers
of married-couple households for 2000, as well as unmarried-partner
households consisting of two people of the opposite sex and of
two people of the same sex.
It also shows data on residential and geographical variations
in demographic characteristics for the four types of households,
such as differences in the sex of the householder (the person
in whose name the housing unit was owned or rented), the prevalence
of mixed-race couples and partners, as well as differences in
the ages of the couples or partners in the various types of households.
A color-coded, thematic map of the United States shows the percentages
of unmarried- partner households by county.
New Citations from
NCOFF's FatherLit Database
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