Fatherhood and Television: An Evaluation of Fatherhood Portrayals on Prime Time Television, Wade Horn, Richard Weinert, Alan Hawkins, and Thomas Sylvester, National Fatherhood initiative, November 2000.

Press Release excerpt:

• How are fathers portrayed on television vis-à-vis mothers?
• Does a father's marital status affect how he is portrayed?
• Do some networks portray fathers more positively than others?
• What model of fatherhood is our culture passing on to children through television?

...

NFI taped and reviewed every prime time television show on the six major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, UPN, and WB) during the months of March and April 2000. To be included in the analysis, the television show had to have a father and/or a mother as a central, recurring character in at least two episodes of each show during this time period. Each show satisfying the inclusion criteria was then rated independently by at least three different raters on five dimensions of fatherhood/motherhood using a five point scale (five being the most positive):

• Involvement: The father/mother is involved with family activities such as eating dinner together, going to church, attending children's sporting events, and interacting with the child(ren)'s school.
• Engagement: The father/mother spends time interacting one-on-one with his/her child(ren).
• Guidance: The father/mother is a role model for his/her child(ren) and is concerned with the physical, spiritual, mental, emotional, and developmental growth of his/her children. The father/mother is also concerned with the moral and character development of his/her children.
• Competence: The father/mother is portrayed as capable and competent.
• Priority: The father/mother is portrayed as placing his/her family and role of father/mother at the top of his/her priority list and makes sacrifices for his/her family.

Shows scoring 20 to 25 were considered to offer a positive portrayal; shows scoring 15 to 19.9 were considered to offer a mixed portrayal; and shows scoring 14.9 or below offer a negative portrayal.

A total of 31 prime time television shows out of 103 total network shows (excluding news, sports, and local programming) satisfied the inclusion criteria. Of these shows, there were a total of 31 father characters and 30 mother characters, indicating that almost equal numbers of mothers and fathers were portrayed as central, recurring characters during the study time period.

...

To obtain the complete Press Release and a full copy of the report in PDF format, visit the NFI web site.

Children and Families

Children Cared for by Relatives: Who Are They and How Are They Faring?, Jennifer Ehrle, Rob Geen, and Rebecca Clark, Urban Institute, February, 2001.

Introduction - Excerpt:

These findings raise concerns about children living with kin and the environments in which they are being raised. A growing body of research by developmental psychologists suggests that separation from a parent or primary caretaker can be traumatic to a child (Bowlby, 1973, 1980). At the same time, the impact of a separation may be mediated by a host of factors innate to the child and by external factors such as the quality of the child's environment and the circumstances surrounding the separation (Fein and Maluccio, 1991). However, the findings in this brief suggest that many of these children live in poverty and are not receiving the services they need to overcome this hardship.

Despite this adversity, many experts believe that there are substantial benefits to placing children separated from their parents with kin rather than with unrelated foster parents. Specifically, research suggests kinship care placements may be preferable to nonkin foster care placements because they provide children with a sense of family support (Dubowitz et al. 1994). Research has also shown that children in kinship care have more frequent and consistent contact with birth parents and siblings than children in nonkin foster care (Chipungu et al. 1998). Yet it is still uncertain how the potentially damaging risks of poverty to children's development mitigate some of these benefits.

For a copy of the complete brief, visit the Urban Institute web site.

The Relative Importance of Wife Abuse as a Risk Factor for Violence Against Children, Emiko Tajima, Child Abuse & Neglect, 24 (11): 1383-1398 November, 2000.

Author Abstract:

Method: This study re-analyzed a sub-sample (N = 2,733) of data from the 1985 National Family Violence Survey. Hierarchical logistic regressions were conducted, using five different criterion variables measuring physical child abuse, physical punishment, and verbal abuse separately and in combination.

Results: Blocks of parent, child, and family characteristics were more important predictors of violence towards children than was wife abuse, though the presence of wife abuse in the home was a consistently significant specific risk factor for all Forms of violence against children. Of specific risk factors, a respondent's history of having been hit as an adolescent was a larger risk factor for physical child abuse than was wife abuse. Wife abuse was an important predictor of physical punishment. Non-violent marital discord was a greater factor in predicting likelihood of verbal child abuse than was wife abuse.

Conclusions: Though this study confirms the association between wife abuse and violence towards children, it cautions us not to overlook the contribution of other factors in our attempts to understand the increased risk attributed to wife abuse.

For a copy of the complete article, contact Dr. Tajima at University of Washington School of Social Work, 4101 15th Ave. NE, Seattle WA, 98105.

Identified Spouse Abuse as a Risk Factor for Child Abuse, Peter Rumm, Peter Cummings, Margot Krauss, Michelle Bell, and Frederick Rivara, Child Abuse & Neglect, 24 (11): 1375-1381 November, 2000.

Abstract:

Objective: To estimate the subsequent relative risk of child abuse in families with a report of spouse abuse compared with other families.

Design: Cohort study.
Setting: Analysis of a centralized US Army database.
Participants: Married couples with children with at least one spouse on active duty in the US Army during 1989-95.
Main Outcome Measures: The US Army Family Advocacy Program's Central Database was used to identify child and spouse abuse. The exposure was an episode of identified spouse abuse and the main outcome was a substantiated episode of subsequent child abuse.

Results: During the study period of an estimated 2,019,949 person years, 14,270 incident child abuse cases were substantiated. Families with an incident case of spouse abuse identified during the study period were twice as likely to have a substantiated report of child abuse compared with other military families, rate ratio, 2.0, (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.9-2.1). Young parental age had the highest rate ratio, 4.9 (95% CI 4.5-5.3) in the subgroup analysis controlling for rank. Identified spouse abuse was associated with physical abuse of a child, rate ratio 2.4 (95% CI 2.2-2.5), and with sexual abuse of a child, rate ratio 1.5 (95% CI 1.3-1.7). Identified spouse abuse was not associated with child neglect or maltreatment, rate ratio, 1.0 (95% CI 0.9-1.1).

Conclusion: An identified episode of spouse abuse in a family appears to be associated with an increased risk of subsequent child abuse and serves as an independent risk factor. Therefore, care providers should consider the potential risk to children when dealing with spouse abuse.

For a copy of this article contact, Dr. Rivara at Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, 325 Ninth Ave., Box 359960, Seattle, WA 98104.

New from Child Development, March - April 2001, Volume 72, Number 2 and January - February 2001, Volume 72 Number 1. Society for Research in Child Development.

• The Relations between Parental Friendships and Children's Friendships: Self-Report and Observational Analysis, Sandra D. Simpkins and Ross D. Parke, Child Development, April 2001, Vol. 72, no. 2.

  Abstract:
  The relationship between the quality of maternal and paternal friendships with their child's friendships was examined. One hundred twenty-five (125) fourth grade children (9-yearsold) completed the Friendship Quality Questionnaire. Observational measures of the target child playing with his or her self-selected friend were also collected. Mothers and fathers separately completed the Friendship Quality Questionnaire about their best friend. Results indicated that children's self-report and observational measures of friendship quality were not highly correlated for girls, but moderately associated for boys. The quality of mothers' and fathers' own friendships was related to the quality of children's friendships, but the nature of the relations with children's friendships differed for girls and boys. The implications of these findings for the socialization of friendship patterns and the assessment of children's friendships were noted.

• Antecedents and Behavior-Problem Outcomes of Parental Monitoring and Psychological Control in Early Adolescence,Gregory Pettit, Robert Laird, Kenneth Dodge, John Bates, and Michael Criss, Child Development, April 2001, Vol. 72, no. 2.

  Abstract:
  The early-childhood antecedents and behavior-problem correlates of monitoring and psychological control were examined in this prospective, longitudinal, multi-informant study. Parenting data were collected during home visit interviews with 440 mothers and their 13-year old children. Behavior problems (anxiety/depression and delinquent behavior) were assessed via mother, teacher, and/or adolescent reports at ages 8-10 and again at ages 13-14. Homeinterview data collected at age 5 were used to measure antecedent parenting (harsh/reactive, positive/proactive), family background (e.g., socioeconomic status), and motherrated child behavior problems. Consistent with expectation, monitoring was anteceded by a proactive parenting style and by advantageous family-ecological characteristics, and psychological control was anteceded by harsh parenting and by mothers' earlier reports of child externalizing problems. Consistent with prior research, monitoring was associated with fewer delinquent behavior problems. Links between psychological control and adjustment were more complex: High levels of psychological control were associated with more delinquent problems for girls and for teens who were low in pre-adolescent delinquent problems, and with more anxiety/depression for girls and for teens who were high in pre-adolescent anxiety/depression.

• The "Test-Tube" Generation: Parent-Child Relationships and the Psychological Well-Being of IVF Children at Adolescence, Susan Golombok, Fiona MacCallum, and Emma Goodman, Child Development, April 2001, Vol. 72, no. 2.

  Abstract:
  The introduction of in vitro fertilization [IVF] at the end of the 20th century constituted fundamental change to the way in which families could be created, and at the start of the new millennium an increasing number of children are born as a result of this procedure. Findings are presented of a longitudinal study of the first cohort of children conceived by IVF to reach adolescence. Thirty-four IVF families, 49 adoptive families and 38 families with a naturally conceived child were compared on standardized interview and questionnaire measures of parentchild relationships and children's psychological well-being. The few differences in parent-child relationships that were identified appeared to be associated with the experience of infertility rather than IVF per se. The lVF children were found to be functioning well and did not differ from the adoptive or naturally conceived children for any of the assessments of social or emotional adjustment.

• A Mediational Model for the Impact of Community Violence on Early Child Problems, L. Oriana Linares, Timothy Heeren, Elisa Bronfman, Barry Zuckerman, Marilyn Augustyn, and Edward Tronick, Child Development, April 2001, Vol. 72, no. 2.

  Abstract:
  This study examined the mediating role of maternal distress on the link between exposure to community violence (CV) and the development of early child problems among 160 children, 3.0-5.11 years old, who resided in high crime neighborhoods. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), latent variables were constructed to identify model components: maternal socioeconomic status (SES) and public assistance status, exposure to community violence (maternal perceptions of local violence, social disorder, fear of crime, and frequency of child co-witnessing violent events), family aggression (partner aggression to mother and partner aggression to child), maternal distress (global distress and PTSD symptoms), and early child problems (internalizing and externalizing). Bivariate correlations indicated that CV, maternal distress, and early child problems were significantly intercorrelated. A series of SEM models were specified to estimate the direct and indirect effect of CV on early child problems. A direct model indicated a significant path of CV to early child problems, after controlling for maternal SES and family aggression. However, the direct CV-early child problems path diminished when maternal distress was included in the model, after controlling for maternal SES and family aggression. Results are consistent with a mediation model of the impact of maternal distress symptoms on the linkage between CV and early child problems.

• Children's Social Reasoning About Inclusion and Exclusion in Gender and Race Peer Group Contexts, Melanie Killen and Charles Stangor, Child Development, January 2001, Vol. 72, no. 1.

  Abstract:
  This study investigated whether children's and adolescents' judgments about exclusion of peers from peer group activities on the basis of their gender and race would differ by both age level as well as the context in which the exclusion occurred. A sample of 130, middleclass, EuropeanAmerican children and adolescents were individually interviewed about exclusion in several different context. Younger children were expected to reject exclusion, basing their judgments on moral reasoning, regardless of the potential cost to group functioning, whereas older children were expected to condone exclusion based on group membership in cases in which the inclusion of these children might interrupt effective group functioning. On measures of judgments, justifications for those judgments, and ratings of the appropriateness of exclusion, the vast majority of children used moral reasoning and rejected exclusion in contexts in which only the presence of a stereotype justified it. However, as expected, older children (13 years) were more likely to allow exclusion than younger children (7 and 10 years) when group functioning was threatened, and they justified this exclusion using appeals to effective group functioning.

• Parental Sensitivity, Infant Affect, and Affect Regulation: Predictors of Later Attachment, Julia Braungart-Reiker, Molly Garwood, Bruce Powers, and Xiaoyu Wang, Child Development, January 2001, Vol. 72, no. 1.

  Abstract:
  This longitudinal study on 94 families examined the extent to which parent sensitivity, infant affect, and affect regulation at 4-months predicted mother-infant and father-infant attachment classifications at 1 year. Parent sensitivity was rated from face-to-face interaction episodes; infant affect and regulatory behaviors were rated from mother-infant and father-infant still-face episodes at 4 months. Infants' attachment to mothers and fathers were rated from the Strange Situation at 12 and 13 months. MANOVAs indicated that 4-month parent and infant factors were associated with infant-mother but not infant-father attachment groups. Discriminant Function Analysis further indicated that 2 functions, "Affect Regulation" and "Maternal Sensitivity", discriminated infant-mother attachment groups; As and B I -132s showed more affect regulation towards mothers and fathers than B3-134s and Cs at 4months, and mothers of both secure groups were more sensitive than mothers of Cs. Finally, the association between maternal sensitivity and infant-mother attachment was partially mediated by infant affect regulation.

• Work-Based Anti-Poverty Programs for Parents Can Enhance the School Performance and Social Behavior of Children, Child Development, January 2001, Vol. 72, no. 1.

  Abstract:
  We assess the impact of the New Hope Project, an anti-poverty program tested in a random assignment experimental design, on family functioning and developmental outcomes for preschool and school-aged children. New Hope offered wage supplements sufficient to raise family income above the poverty threshold and subsidies for child care and health insurance to adults who worked full-time. New Hope had strong positive effects on boys' academic achievement, classroom behavior skills, positive social behavior and problem behaviors, as reported by teachers, and on boys' own expectations for advanced education and occupational aspirations. There were not corresponding program effects for girls. The child outcomes may have resulted from a combination of the following: Children in New Hope families spent more time in formal child care programs and other structured activities away from home than did children in control families. New Hope parents were employed more, had more material resources, reported more social support, and expressed less stress and more optimism about achieving their goals than parents in the control sample. The results suggest that an anti-poverty program that provides supports for combining work and family responsibilities can have beneficial effects on the development of school-age children.

  Note: Above abstracts provided by SRCD. For further information on SRCD and the Journal of Child Development, visit the SRCD web site.

Welfare Reform

Why Are Welfare Caseloads Falling? Stephen H. Bell, Urban Institute, March 2001.

Executive Summary Exerpt:

Authors for all nine of the studies examined agree that the strong economy played a role in the caseload decline of the 1990s, reducing the number of AFDC and TANF recipients roughly 5 percent for every 1 percentage-point reduction in the nation's unemployment rate. There is less agreement on the influence of changes in welfare policy, including reforms initiated by states in the mid-1990s (known as the "waiver" reforms) and federal welfare reform legislated in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996. Most analyses show policy making a difference, albeit a smaller one than economic change.

However, three of the nine studies conclude that the association between policy reform and caseload change in the 1990s is misleading. They attribute caseload decline to two nonpolicy factors: lagged responses to economic growth and generally sluggish adjustment of welfare rolls to any change in external circumstances. This conclusion follows from the fact that, starting at least by the mid-1980s, sluggish caseload adjustment is evident throughout the observational period. Once the resulting "persistence effects" of past caseload levels are factored into the data through 1996, policy reforms in certain states and years no longer associate with lower caseloads. (These three studies do not look at the TANF years following 1996.)

The remaining studies-six of the nine reviewed-conclude that welfare reform did have an important downward influence on caseloads during the mid-1990s, effects that grew following the federal reforms of 1996. There, researchers did not posit sluggish caseload adjustment as a general phenomenon (although they did provide for delayed reactions to changes in economic conditions). At least one author justified this exclusion by suggesting that generalized "persistence effects" mask more important and fundamental factors at work in moving welfare caseloads up and down.

For a copy of the complete report in PDF format, visit the Urban Institute web site.

Wisconsin Works: Meeting the Needs of Harder to Serve Participants, Kelly S. Mikelson for State of Wisconsin Department Workforce Development, Urban Institute, March 2001.

Executive Summary Excerpt:

This paper examines the W-2 participants who have come within 3 months of the 24-month time limit in one of two paid employment categories-the W-2 Transitions and Community Service Jobs-and those who had an extension.1 Those who left before the 21 months or who moved to other W-2 employment positions by the end of the 24 months are not included in this analysis.

Through an analysis of Wisconsin's CARES administrative data, W-2 participant File data, and semi-structured interviews with several W-2 agencies, this paper describes the extension population. Data available from January 19993 through June 2000 indicate that 206 W-2 participants, of the 1,551 reaching 21 months, had extensions beyond the 24 months. Most of the remaining clients without extensions obtained employment, were determined not to qualify for an extension for one or more reasons, or moved to a different rung on the W-2 ladder.

Specifically, we examined the demographic characteristics, work activities, and barriers to self-sufficiency of the clients with and without an extension and why 1,345 clients did not have an extension. In addition, we present a logistic model that predicts the likelihood, controlling for several known characteristics, that clients in W-2 Transitions will have an extension. Finally, we discuss the extension process in the five W-2 agencies contacted and describe efforts at the state and local level to develop guidance on the process for extending the 60-month time limit for harder to serve clients.

For a copy of the complete report in PDF format, visit the Urban Institute web site.

The Relationship Between Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Locations, Changing Welfare Policies, and the Employment of Single Mothers, Signe-Mary McKernan, Robert Lerman, Nancy Pindus, and Jesse Valente, Urban Institute, February 2001.

Introduction - Excerpt:

This paper uses the nationally representative Current Population Survey to analyze the relationship between non-metro/metro locations, changing welfare policies, and the employment of single mothers. The paper÷s contributions to the rapidly growing welfare reform literature include: a focus on the employment effects of welfare reform rather than the effects on caseloads, use of a difference-in-difference approach rather than the commonly used deviations from time trend approach, the use of monthly rather than annual data, and the analysis of the differential effect of welfare reform in non-metro and metro areas. We find that welfare reform is playing a major role in raising the employment rates of single mothers, and that the gains are approximately as high in non-metro as in metro areas.

For a copy of the complete report in PDF format, visit the Urban Institute web site.

Census Data