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Journal Article Father involvement is a salient predictor of children’s cognitive development and recent studies suggest that African American and Hispanic fathers, who are highly involved, have children who enter school more poised to succeed. Little is known, however, about contextual barriers to positive father involvement in ethnic minority families. This study examined prospective relations between fathers’ work characteristics (i.e., total work hours per week, job satisfaction, and work shift) and children’s cognitive development in preschool (i.e., reading and math scores). A total of 2,340 children…
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Journal Article The entry into fatherhood is a major life course transition involving the acquisition of new adult roles and responsibilities. This transition is rarely planned for young fathers, and may involve a range of challenges, not least their capacity to provide materially and financially for their child. Drawing on a Qualitative Longitudinal study of young fathers in the UK, this article charts their very different pathways through education, training and employment, showing how these are shaped by a constellation of life circumstances. The implications for policy are considered in the light of a…
Brief
A recent symposium on poor urban men began with a question: Why focus on men? Three reasons were cited. First, most men have children—nearly two-thirds of young low-educated men are fathers—and fathers represent an important potential source of family income and financial support for children. Second, since 2000, poor urban men have retreated en masse from employment as median wages for low-skilled workers have dropped and their incarceration rate has shot up. Third, much research on the 1990s' welfare reforms focused on poor single women with children, whereas relatively little attention has…
