Brief
The social safety net is widely recognized as having been quite successful in providing major financial support to low-income families during the Great Recession, one of the most severe economic downturns in modern U.S. history. Safety net expenditures grew in aggregate and were widely distributed to all types of needy families. Before the recession, however, while aggregate transfers to the low-income population also exhibited steady growth, the growth was not equally shared across different types of families. Transfers grew much more for the elderly and disabled relative to the nonelderly…
The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the TYRO Dads program. They examined whether attending the TYRO Dads program increases two primary outcomes: the frequency of fathers doing things with their child (or, in short, father-child activities) and their satisfaction with parenting their child (or, in short, parenting satisfaction). Second, they investigated whether differences in the primary outcomes between treatment and control group are attributable to four secondary outcomes of the program: fathers’ parenting efficacy, parenting role identity, perceived…
This report describes and summarizes results from a study conducted to test the effectiveness of the DAD MAP curriculum (Developing All Dads for Manhood and Parenting) on key fatherhood outcomes. The DAD MAP curriculum is used to guide the parenting workshop component of CFUF’s Baltimore Responsible Fatherhood Program (BRFP). The DAD MAP curriculum was developed by CFUF practitioner staff, in collaboration with researchers to outline procedures for teaching skills, guiding discussion, and facilitating interactive activities, with the goal of promoting responsible parenting and healthy…
Brief
This brief addresses the problem of low attendance in programs for low-income fathers. We review approaches to measuring attendance, rates of attendance reported by programs, influences on attendance, the effects of attendance on fathers’ outcomes, and future directions for improving attendance and studying it. (Author abstract)
Other
This webinar focuses on participant attendance in fatherhood programs. Practitioners presenting discuss rates of attendance, factors that affect it and methods of increasing it. Featured researchers describe approaches to measuring attendance in fatherhood programs, the effects of attendance on fathers’ outcomes and future directions for studying it. (Author abstract modified)
This report provides an understanding of programmatic responsible fatherhood features that lead to strong engagement and participation by the fathers and provide context for the evaluation's forthcoming results on parenting, healthy relationships, and economic stability. This report specifically addresses three questions: 1) What were the circumstances, experiences, needs, and concerns of fathers at program entry? 2)To what extent and how did programs seek to address the needs, concerns, and circumstances presented by fathers; and 3) How did fathers respond to the offered programming in terms…
We study the sources of racial and ethnic disparities in income using de-identified longitudinal data covering nearly the entire U.S. population from 1989-2015. We document three sets of results. First, the intergenerational persistence of disparities varies substantially across racial groups. For example, Hispanic Americans are moving up significantly in the income distribution across generations because they have relatively high rates of intergenerational income mobility. In contrast, black Americans have substantially lower rates of upward mobility and higher rates of downward mobility…
Other
The economic convergence of American regions has greatly slowed, and rates of long-term non-employment have even been diverging. Simultaneously, the rate of non-employment for working age men has nearly tripled over the last 50 years, generating a terrible social problem that is disproportionately centered in the eastern parts of the American heartland. Should more permanent economic divisions across space lead American economists to rethink their traditional skepticism about place-based policies? We document that increases in labor demand appear to have greater impacts on employment in areas…
Led by Drs. Erin Holmes and Alan Hawkins, a team of Brigham Young University researchers conducted an FRPN-funded meta-analysis of studies of fatherhood programs targeting unmarried, never married and low-income fathers. A search of published and unpublished articles and reports from academic databases and government agencies yielded 270 studies that were potentially eligible for the analysis but only a fraction met the inclusion criteria. The researchers found that father involvement, parenting and co-parenting were significantly impacted, with the strongest effect in co-parenting skills…
Brief
This research brief examines two aspects of low-income, nonresidential fathers' commitment to the parenting role: self-reports of the importance of the father role and perceptions of validation from others for being a good parent. The findings of this study show that both types of commitment to the father role are associated with fathers' reports of having a close relationship with his child(ren). Only validation from others is related to fathers' engagement in child-related activities. The implications of these findings for fatherhood programs are discussed in the brief. (Author abstract…
