Where and when during childhood and adolescence do people acquire the foundations of financial capability? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) researched the childhood origins of financial capability and well-being to identify those roots and to find promising practices and strategies to support their development. Our new report, “Building Blocks to Help Youth Achieve Financial Capability: A New Model and Recommendations,” illuminates critical attributes, abilities, and opportunities acquired during the years spanning preschool through young adulthood that support the development…
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Journal Article Recession-related increases in men's child care are well documented, but supporting evidence describes the last several decades of the 20th century. Changes in family life and in the association between families' economic conditions and the macro economy provide reason to question the continued existence of a “recession effect.” This article evaluates the frequency of married and cohabiting fathers' engagement in the day-to-day tasks of child care during the so-called Great Recession, using data from male respondents to the 2006–2010 National Survey of Family Growth. Results indicated an…
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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 In this article, we test how out-of-home placement affects men's labor market attachment, and in so doing we provide a novel parallel to existing research on how fatherhood affects men, which focuses almost exclusively on a child's arrival. Using population panel data from Denmark that include all first time fathers whose children were placed in out-of-home care from 1995 to 2005, we find that having a child placed in care is associated with up to a 4 percentage point increase in welfare dependency. Having a child placed in out-of-home care appear to aggravate conditions that likely…
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Journal Article Child maltreatment rates are strongly linked to adult male behavior, suggesting that labor market conditions, by influencing male behaviors, can influence maltreatment rates. Using the unemployment rate as the sole measure of labor market conditions, past studies generally conclude that employment conditions do not systematically influence child maltreatment rates. By contrast, this study found that state-level child maltreatment rates were statistically significant and inversely related to the state-level employment rates of men, aged 20 to 34 yrs old. It also found that the interaction of…
Brief
Employment Pathways for Boys and Young Men of Color: Solutions and Strategies That Can Make a Difference is part of a larger issue brief series aimed at identifying and disseminating best practices that support the well-being and empowerment of boys and young men of color. In particular, this brief discusses promising strategies to improve employment outcomes for young men of color and the role of public policy in dismantling discrimination and promoting pathways to work. (Author abstract)
The U.S. PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults was designed to provide policymakers, administrators, educators, and researchers with information to improve educational and training opportunities for incarcerated adults and foster skills they need in order to return to, and work successfully in, society upon release from prison. This report highlights data from the survey’s extensive background questionnaire and direct assessments of cognitive skills. It examines the skills of incarcerated adults in relationship to their work experiences and to their education and training in prison. Results for…
This study — mandated by Section 4022 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (PL 113-79) — reviews research on employment and training (E&T) program components and practices that: (1) assist members of households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to obtain regular employment; and (2) are best integrated with State workforce development systems. This review also included research on the effectiveness of E&T components offered to low-income individuals by other Federal and State agencies, and the private philanthropic sector. (Author abstract)
While the 2016 election brought to light the bleak employment picture for men in rural America, an analysis of Census data reveals similar numbers of out-of-work men in many major cities.
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Journal Article Social service organizations face significant challenges involving fathers. This study presents the findings of a project between a maternal and child health program and a school of social work aimed at enhancing the organization’s capacity for engaging fathers in services. Results revealed that staff expressed a willingness to engage fathers but felt unprepared to do so. In detailing their experiences with the organization, fathers discussed the ways in which they had been engaged and their recommendations for improving those efforts. We conclude by advocating for the adoption of a bottom-up…
