This book offers chapters by different authors discussing their experiences with group therapy and interventions encouraging fathers to play a greater role in their children's lives and practice other positive family behaviors. Small groups have the greatest potential to affect such changes for a number of reasons, the editors write, possibly because most social behavior occurs in small groups. Such groups are more effective in enhancing learning and create positive interdependence among members, especially in faith-based interventions. The editors also recognize the importance of the…
In recent years a number of programs have been initiated to provide incarcerated fathers with education and training in parenting skills. This chapter reviews research, theory and the evolving practice of such programs, including experiences of 125 inmates who have participated in parenting classes while in prison. The psychosocial and social needs of incarcerated fathers; recruitment and barriers; program goals; evaluation strategies; and a summary of core information to guide program development are presented. Common characteristics of imprisoned fathers and various prison parenting…
This examination of Judeo-Christian faith-based initiatives promoting responsible fatherhood explores the basic values and assumptions of such interventions and the characteristics of several successful programs. A number of barriers and challenges exist to faith-based fatherhood programs focused on improving the father-child-family relationship. The basic assumption of such programs is that to be a good father a man must become a man of God, the authors explain, and scriptures provide many examples and moral lessons about the behavior and character of a good father. Evangelical Protestant…
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Journal Article Preliminary data from the National Evaluation of Early Head Start (NEEHS) program suggests that minority and lower income fathers are just as emotionally invested in their infants and toddlers as White middle-class fathers, this article reports. The data refutes generalizations that lower-income minority fathers are less involved than others in the early childhood development. Most published studies on the subject have relied disproportionately upon data from White middle-class fathers, according to the report. NEEHS provides a more racially and socioeconomically diverse examination of…
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Journal Article This study examined the effect of father-child interactions on the behavior and health of young children in a sample of 182 families reported to child protective services. Data were collected from interviews with the child and his or her caregiver and from reviews of child protective service records and teacher reports. Variables included child and family characteristics; parental and family functioning; extrafamilial relationships; community environment; religious affiliation; child outcomes; and service utilization. Whereas the presence or absence of a father or father figure seemed to make…
This prospective study of a birth cohort was conducted to identify the factors that predict the age at which young men make the transition to fatherhood and whether those characteristics predict how long young men live with their children. The research also examined the link between individual differences in the amount of time fathers spend living with their children and fathers' psychosocial characteristics in young adulthood. Data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study in New Zealand were analyzed for the project. Findings revealed that by age 26, 19 percent of the…
James M. Herzog's Father Hunger: Explorations with Adults and Children will quickly take its place both as a landmark contribution to development psychology and as an enduring classic in the clinical literature of psychoanalysis. We live in an era when a great many children grow up without a father, or, worse still, with fathers who traumatically abuse them. Yet, society continues to ignore the emotional price that children pay, and often continue to pay throughout their lives, for this tragic state of affairs. At the heart of this lack of compassionate responsibility is our collective…
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This book reminds parents of the challenges and stresses teens may be experiencing, and how these pressures influence teen behavior. The book reinforces the parenting skills that are essential to raising teenagers and keeping them out of trouble, and it explains exactly how to address challenging, risky, defiant, and anti-social behaviors. The book forcuses on effective communication: how to avoid making threats and put-downs, offer clear explanations, stick with the issues at hand, negotiate successfully, and stop interrogating or lecturing. The author uses examples from his practice to…
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Journal Article This article describes the development of solution-focused psychotherapy groups for incarcerated fathers at a medium security correctional facility. The solution-focused approach was implemented to avoid the strategies used by inmates to undermine insight-oriented and non-directive therapies. Emphasis was placed on the identification of problems, desired outcomes, and behaviors that would achieve the participant's goals. Program planners selected the cognitive-behavioral approach to group psychotherapy for its focus on the recognition of feelings and identification of successful methods of…
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Journal Article Research on child development has increasingly emphasized the complexity of developmental processes, and this reconceptualization is reflected in recent research on the effects of child maltreatment as well. The author illustrates the value of studying maltreatment in the context of children's relationships, not only with their biological mothers, but with biological fathers and father figures as well. Ambiguities remain, however, suggesting that more must be discovered about the quality and longevity of the relationships between these men and both their partners and surrogate children to…
