Recent Research Reports and News: May
2004
Fathers—Research |
Children & Families |
Fathers/Mothers in Prison |
Census Data |
Systemic Barriers |
Welfare Reform
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Fathering at Risk, James R. Dudley and Glenn Stone, Prometheus
Books, 2004.
Prometheus's Press Release:
The decline of fatherhood is one of the most serious problems currently
facing our society. While in 1960 both fathers and mothers were present
in almost 81 percent of family households, by 1990 both parents were
present in only 58 percent of family households. Unfortunately, this
negative trend has continued into the new century.
This in-depth and informative study of fathering at risk emphasizes
the importance of a father's presence in a child's life, and then
concentrates on what society can do to reverse the dangerous trend
toward absentee fathers. Utilizing a strengths perspective, the authors
move beyond the realm of theory to present a selection of policy initiatives
and program strategies that have been successful in helping unmarried
fathers, teenage fathers, and divorced noncustodial fathers. These
include alternatives to welfare, initiatives to involve teenage fathers,
family-sensitive employment policies, innovative intervention models
for helping unmarried nonresidential fathers, and post-divorce educational
and mediation programs that stress the continuing cooperation of the
divorced partners for the sake of their children's welfare.
Complete with case studies, discussion questions at the end of each
chapter, an appendix of father's organizations and web sites, plus
numerous references for further reading, this thoroughly researched
and forward-looking discussion makes an excellent contribution to
addressing a serious social problem.
For futher information on this book, visit the publisher's
web site.
The
following articles are from Fathering, A Journal of Theory, Research,
and Practice about Men as Fathers, Vol. 1, No 3, October, 2003.
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Connection and Communication in Father-Child Relationships
and Adolescent Child Well-Being, Sean E. Brotherson, Takashi
Yamamoto, and Alan C. Acock.
Abstract:
Contemporary research on fathering emphasizes the significance of
a quality father-child relationship in a child’s development
and well-being. Scholars have suggested that connecting with and
communicating with children are critical to a healthy relationship.
This study explores the influence of communication and connection
on father-child relationships through a structural equation model
using the LISREL program. Data were taken from the National Survey
of Families and Households (NSFH) and a sample of 362 father-adolescent
dyads was studied. Results provide support for the importance of
connection in father-child relationships, and suggest relationship
quality affects adolescent child well-being for both father-son
and father-daughter dyads.
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African-American Fathering of Young Children in Violent Neighborhoods:
Paternal Protective Strategies and Their Predictors, Bethany
L. Letiecq and Sally A. Koblinsky.
Abstract:
Using an ecological framework, this study investigated African-American
fathers’ use of five protective strategies to keep their preschool
children safe from community violence. Father, child, and contextual
predictors of fathers’ protective strategies were also examined.
In-depth interviews with 61 African-American Head Start fathers
and father figures revealed that participants were most likely to
adopt the strategy of monitoring and teaching personal safety, followed
by teaching neighborhood survival tactics, reducing exposure to
violent media, engaging in community activism, and instructing children
to fight back. Overall, parenting practices, social support, and
psychological functioning were the best predictors of these strategies,
with one exception. Child’s gender was the best predictor of
the strategy “reduce exposure to violent media,” with
fathers of sons more likely to limit such exposure. Implications
of these findings for researchers and practitioners are discussed.
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Studying “Working Fathers”: Comparing Fathers’
and Mothers’ Work-Family Conflict, Fit, and Adaptive Strategies
in a Global High-Tech Company, E. Jeffrey Hill, Alan J. Hawkins,
Vjollca Märtinson, and Maria Ferris.
Abstract:
Working fathers are underrepresented—conceptually and empirically—in
work-family research. Using a global corporate sample of working
fathers from 48 countries (N = 7,692), this study compares working
fathers to working mothers on key work-family variables as suggested
by Voydanoff’s (2002) application of ecological systems theory.
It examines the direction and the path of the predictors of work-family
fit and whether a scarcity or expansion model better explains these
results. Finally, it considers what work-family adaptive strategies
may affect those relationships. Although fathers consistently reported
less family-to-work conflict than mothers, they reported equal amounts
of work-to-family conflict. That is, fathers struggled as much as
mothers to keep work from draining their energies at home. Similarly,
though fathers were less likely than mothers to have used most corporate
programs to help find harmony between work and family life, they
frequently chose options that provided flexibility in when and where
work was done. Overall use of any work-family programs by fathers,
including the specific use of flexi-time and flexi-place, were found
to be work-family adaptive strategies that predicted greater work-family
fit. Having a spouse as the primary caregiver did not predict greater
work-family fit for working fathers, but it did for working mothers.
Curiously, having greater responsibility for childcare predicted
greater work-family fit for fathers but less work-family fit for
mothers. These findings have implications for guiding further development
of work-family research and programs that include fathers.
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Promoting Children’s Mental Health in Disadvantaged
Areas: Profiles of Fathers, Sarah Dufour and Camil Bouchard.
Abstract:
Thirty inner-city fathers of preschoolers described how they see
their role in promoting their children’s mental health.
Fifteen were very involved fathers with a strong sense of competence
and 15 were uninvolved fathers with a weak sense of competence.
Through qualitative analysis of the interviews, we developed a typology
consisting of five profiles of fathers. The fathers had two contrasting
concepts of their children’s mental health: one focused on
fitting into society and meeting expectations, the other on expressing
individuality and independence. The implications for promoting fathers’
involvement and working with fathers are explored.
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Prenatal Involvement of Adolescent Unmarried Fathers,
Jay Fagan, Marina Barnett, Elisa Bernd, and Valerie Whiteman.
Abstract:
This study investigated factors associated with adolescent unmarried,
nonresident fathers’ prenatal involvement with the teenaged
mother. The sample consisted of 57 adolescent couples. Father characteristics
and social-context factors were expected to predict fathers’
prenatal involvement. Results of the multivariate analysis revealed
a significant relationship between romantic involvement and fathers’
prenatal involvement. Also, interparental conflict was negatively
associated with father’s prenatal involvement after controlling
for romantic involvement. In addition, teenage fathers were less
likely to be involved when the young mother had friends with children
born outside of marriage, when the adolescent father was unemployed,
and when the father scored lower on a measure of empathy.
For information on obtaining the fulltext of these articles,
visit the Men's
Studies Press web site.
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Some Reflections on the Social Interpretation of Male Participation
in Reproductive Health Processes, Juan Guillermo Figueroa Perea,
International Journal of Men's Health, Vol. 2, No. 2, May 2003.
The aim of this article is to identify analytical approaches to situate
men within the reproductive health processes. One approach is to identify
the circumstances under which men are considered in the reproductive
health discourse; the places in which they are absent and present
and how they condition favorable consequences for women’s and
children’s health. This can be achieved without necessarily challenging
the premise that women are the only ones who reproduce or questioning
the relationships of power that underlie the experience of sexuality
and reproduction. Another possibility is to explore the relational,
social, and potentially conflictive nature of sexualized reproduction.
This alternative means of analyzing reproduction as a gender relational
process rather than as isolated events, simultaneously recovers the
specific sexual and reproductive characteristics of men and women.
In the article we use the gender perspective in order to explore the
second approach, so as to imagine these processes without negating
the dimension of power.
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National Center for Children in Poverty Announces a New Child Care
and Early Education Research Web Site, NCCP Newsletter, April 2004.
In order to promote high quality research in child care and early education
and the use of that research in policymaking, the National Center for
Children in Poverty and its partners, the Inter-University Consortium
for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan, and
the Child Care Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
have launched the Child Care
and Early Education Research Connections web site.
Designed to serve researchers and policymakers, the Research
Connections web site is built on a relational database and includes
a searchable research collection, data sets for secondary analysis,
specially developed syntheses, and a 50-state data tool to compare
policies within and across states.
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Low-Income Children in the United States Fact Sheet, Ayana
Douglas-Hall and Heather Koball, National Center for Children in Poverty
May, 2004.
Overview Excerpt:
More than one-third of children in the United States live in low-income
families, meaning their parents earn up to double what is considered
poverty in this country. The federal poverty level for a family of four
(2004) is $18,850.
- 16% of American children—more than 11 million—lived in poor
families in 2002, meaning their parents' income was at or below the
federal poverty level. These parents are typically unable to provide
their families with basic necessities like stable housing and reliable
child care.
- 37% of American children—more than 26 million—lived
in low-income families in 2002. Their parents made less than 200%
of the federal poverty line (FPL). These families often face material
hardships and financial pressures similar to those families who
are officially counted as poor.
After a decade of decline, the rate of children living in low-income
families is rising again, a trend that began in 2000.
For the full text of the fact sheet in PDF format, visit the NCCP
web site.
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