Recent Research Reports and News: July
2003
Fathers—Research | Children
& Families | Fatbers/Mothers
in Prison | Census Data
| Systemic Barriers
| Welfare Reform
| NCOFF Abstracts
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Boom Times A Bust: Declining Employment Among Less-Educated
Young Men, Elise Richer, Abbey Frank, Mark Greenberg, Steve
Savner, and Vicki Turetsky, Center for Law and Social Policy, July
2003.
Introduction:
During the 1990s, employment rates for less-educated young women
rose significantly. Less-educated young men, however, did not experience
a similar jump in employment rates. In fact, their employment rates
remained stagnant during the decade, failing to return to higher
rates of prior years. Their continued high unemployment rates and
inability to achieve prior employment peaks, even after many years
of a strong economy, are causes of concern.
Many studies have theorized why employment grew so much for women
with relatively low levels of education during this same time period.1
Some of the clearest influences appear to have been the Earned Income
Tax Credit (EITC), which made work more financially rewarding for
lowearning custodial parents, and welfare reform and increased child
care subsidies, which encouraged more single mothers to enter the
workforce. Neither of these causes is likely to have played a large
role in encouraging young men to enter the workplace, however, because
young men are much less likely to be custodial parents or participating
in the welfare system.
Some of the causes of low and declining employment rates for less-educated
young men are clear, and some are disputed or have not been extensively
researched. It is clear that fewer job opportunities in manufacturing
(tied to lower wages for lesseducated workers) and increasing skill
demands in a broad range of occupations have played a significant
role in the decline of employment rates. The spatial mismatch between
jobs in the suburbs and the population living in inner cities contributes
to sustained low employment rates for those young men who live in
the city. Certain child support policies may discourage noncustodial
fathers from accepting regular jobs, instead encouraging employment
in the ?informal? economy. For African American young men in particular,
there is evidence that high incarceration rates and discrimination
both play roles in reducing employment rates. There are disputes
or inadequate research about other potential factors: increased
labor force participation of women and immigrants reducing opportunities
for less-educated men; family structure; and cultural factors.
Very low and declining employment rates for young less-educated
men are worrisome because of the effects on individual and family
income and well-being. In 2000, the Census Bureau estimated that
there were approximately 7.6 million lesseducated men aged 18-24
in the U.S. Disengagement from the workforce for any period of time
reduces future earnings potential and limits the ability to gain
skills critical to job retention and advancement. In light of the
problems unemployment and disengagement from the labor market create,
and the clearly identified factors behind these trends, policies
to raise employment rates for less-educated men are urgently needed.
For a copy of the full report in PDF format, visit the CLASP
web site.
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Heading Home: Offender Reintegration into the Family, Vivian
L. Gadsden, Editor, American Community Corrections Association and International
Community Corrections Association., 2003.
Heading Home is the latest publishing collaboration from the American
Correctional Association and the International Community Corrections
Association. Edited by Vivian Gadsden, this resource examines such
important issues as parent education for incarcerated parents; families,
prisoners and community reentry; children of prisoners; family violence
prevention; faith-based programs; and mentoring.This book will help
you to take out much of the guess work for the offender who is about
to be released. They will gain the knowledge to handle any problem
which arises upon their return to the community. (April 2003, approx.
225 pages, 1-56991-165-7)
For information on ordering this book, contact the publisher at 800-222-5646).
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Do Unmarried Parents’ Expectations Predict Marriage? Evidence
from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, Maureen
R. Waller and Sara S. McLanahan, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing,
Princeton University, June 2003.
Abstract:
This paper uses couple-level data from the first two waves of the
Fragile Families and
Child Wellbeing Study to investigate factors associated with unmarried
mothers’ and fathers’
expectations about marriage and the effects of their expectations
on union transitions. In most
couples, both partners expect to marry the other parent; when they
disagree, fathers tend to be
more optimistic than mothers. Couples are much more likely to marry
and less likely to separate
when both partners see the possibility of marriage in their future.
Consistent with research on
cohabitation, men’s expectations appear to influence the transition
to marriage more than
women’s. However, unmarried parents are more likely to maintain
their romantic relationships
if either parent expects to marry.
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High Hopes But Even Higher Expectations: The Retreat From Marriage
Among Low-Income Couples, Christina Gibson, Kathryn Edin, and
Sara McLanahan, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton
University, June, 2003.
Abstract:
In this paper we use qualitative interviews, embedded within a large,
nationally representative
survey, to examine what new unmarried parents say about their plans
and expectations for marriage and
to determine why they do not marry. The qualitative data shed light
on an apparent contradiction that
arises from the quantitative analysis. According to the latter,
most unmarried parents hold positive views
towards marriage and say they plan to marry. Yet only a few actually
do so by the time their child is a
year old. The qualitative data confirm the finding that parents
hold positive views towards marriage.
More importantly, they suggest that these views may actually be
preventing marriage. To these young
parents, marriage means that a couple has “arrived,” both
financially and emotionally. Because new
parents value marriage so highly, they believe they must achieve
certain goals before they can get
married. We conclude that economic and cultural factors are inextricably
linked in the marriage
decision, as couples evaluate their financial and emotional readiness
for marriage in light of their
assessment of the institution’s value.
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Barriers to Marriage Among Fragile Families, Center for
Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University, Fragile Families
Research Brief, May 2003.
Background:
A primary goal of the Bush administration is to promote "healthy marriages"
among low-income couples. To this end, the re-authorization of the
welfare reform bill will provide substantial funds to states to develop
programs designed to improve relationship skills among couples that
have children outside marriage. Reactions to the proposed legislation
has been mixed. Supporters of the bill argue that increasing marriage
will reduce poverty and improve parenting and child well being. Opponents
claim that marriage would have only a small effect on poverty while
increasing women's exposure to domestic violence thereby making children
worse off.
Implicit in this debate are assumptions about the nature of relationships
between unmarried parents, the extent of economic resources, and
the prevalence of domestic violence and related risk factors. This
brief uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study
(See Box, page 2) to examine the characteristics of unmarried couples
and, more specifically, to determine what proportion of unmarried
parents are likely to benefit from (or be harmed by) marriage promotion
programs. The FFS is following a birth cohort of nearly 5,000 children,
including 3,712 children born to unmarried parents and 1,186 children
born to married parents. The data are nationally representative
of births in cities with populations of 200,000 or more. For more
information about the study, visit the web site of the Center for
Research on Child Wellbeing: http://crcw.princeton.edu/fragilefamilies/index.htm.
Critics of the marriage promotion programs argue that the major
barriers to marriage among unmarried parents are (1) lack of stable
employment, (2) mental health problems, and (3) domestic violence.
While these areas do not cover all of the obstacles faced by new
unmarried parents, they are the ones most often discussed by policy
makers and critics. To measure economic capacity, we looked at whether
unmarried fathers were working at the time their child was born.
To measure mental health, we used the CIDI scale, which was developed
to identify parents suffering from clinical depression or anxiety.
To measure substance abuse, we used questions that asked parents
whether drugs or alcohol interfered with their work or relationships
during the past year or whether they had ever been treated for drug
and alcohol problems. To measure violence we used a question that
asked mothers whether they had been 'hit or slapped' or 'seriously
hurt' by the father of their child. We also looked at whether the
father had ever been incarcerated for a violent crime.
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Looking for Murphy Brown: Are College-Educated, Single Mothers
Unique? (Working Paper # 03-05-FF), Margaret L. Usdansky and
Sara McLanahan, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton
University, May 2003 (Revised June 2003).
Abstract:
In this paper, we study the 20 percent of unmarried mothers in the
U.S. who have attended college. We ask whether these women constitute
a distinct subgroup of unmarried mothers in terms of their attitudes
toward marriage and men, the characteristics of their partners or
the age at which they become mothers. We find evidence that being
college educated and single is associated with holding more independent
views about marriage, with having lower-quality partners and with
increased odds of becoming a mother late in life—above and
beyond the main effects of education and marital status. We also
find variation across race-ethnic groups. White, educated single
mothers most closely resemble the image of the “independent
woman,” while African-American and Hispanic mothers are more
likely to be partnered with less-educated men.
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Number of Stay-at-Home Dads Rising, Shauna Curphey, Women's
eNews, July 4, 2003.
Article Excerpt:
On a cloudy Tuesday morning eight fathers and a gaggle of toddlers
and preschoolers converge on the Cedar Grove Park playground for their
weekly playgroup. Between shooing their tots away from mud puddles
or chasing them across the wide field that borders the play area,
the men swap advice on nap times and getting their little ones to
eat veggies.
Occasionally, a curious mom at the park will approach the group and ask them if they have the day off, said Tom Gomez, who, with his 4-year-old son, Sean, has been part of the Orange County Dads' Group for nearly four years. His response is, "No, do you?" He knows taking care of young children is work. Gomez takes care of Sean during the day while his spouse, Maryann, heads to her job as a senior administrator for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Gomez is part of a small, but growing number of fathers who care for
their children while their wives are at work. Though there are no hard
figures on the number of such men who forgo jobs to stay home, data
show that just over 20 percent of preschoolers in married-couple households
are cared for by their fathers--up from 17 percent in 1997, according
to the U.S. Census Bureau. And while at-home fathers still make up a
small percentage of fathers in the United States, they are finding each
other in playgroups and online.
For a copy of the complete article, visit the Women's
E-News web site.
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Poor Families in 2001: Parents Working Less and Children Continue
to Lag Behind, Child Trends, Richard Wertheimer, Child Trends
Research Brief, May 2003.
Overview:
The movement of parents in low-income families into the workplace
during the 1990s represents one of the most remarkable social changes
in our nation?s recent history. Of all children living in poverty
in 1995, 32 percent had a parent or parents who were making a substantial
work effort. By 2000, that percentage had risen to 43 percent. However,
in 2001, a year of rising unemployment, the percentage dropped to
40 percent, a statistically significant decline that reversed the
upward trend.
This Research Brief presents a statistical snapshot
of working poor families with children in 2001, updating and extending
a brief on this subject that Child Trends published two years ago.1
The current brief analyzes national survey data, first, to take a
broad look at working poor families, and, second, to focus in on some
of the characteristics of children in these families.
Child Trends'
analyses indicate that in 2001 children with parents making a substantial
work effort were seven times less likely to be poor than children
whose parents did not make a substantial work effort (8 percent versus
54 percent). Nonetheless, 5 percent of children in families headed
by married couples and 18 percent of children in families headed by
single mothers were poor even though their parents made a substantial
work effort.
Analyses of data from the late 1990s indicate that children
in poor families generally fare worse than children in families with
higher incomes, regardless of their parents' work effort. Compared
with children in families with higher incomes, for example, children
in poor families are more likely to repeat a grade or be suspended
from school and are less likely to be identified as gifted and to
participate in extracurricular activities.
The findings presented
in this brief suggest that some of the successes of welfare reform
may be put at risk by a weaker economy. They further suggest that,
regardless of the strength of the economy and regardless of parents'
work efforts, children in poor families may need extra help if they
truly are to thrive.
To obtain a complete copy of this Brief, visit the Child
Trend's web site.
New Citations from
NCOFF's FatherLit Database
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