Being a father in this era of changing family structures and converging gender roles means more than bringing home a paycheck or delivering punishment to a misbehaving child. A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that Americans expect dad to be more of a moral teacher and emotional comforter than a breadwinner or disciplinarian. About six-in-ten Americans (58%) say it is "extremely important" for a father to provide values and morals to his children, the top ranked paternal role of the four tested in the survey. Roughly half say it is extremely important for a dad to provide emotional…
In our discussion, we review and synthesize research evidence on five identified domains of instability that have been well established in the literature: family income, parental employment, family structure, housing, and the out-of-home contexts of school and child care. In our review of the evidence, we also discuss some of the key pathways through which instability may affect development. Specifically, research points to the underlying role of parenting, parental mental health, and the home environment in providing the stability and support young children need for positive development. We…
According to this paper, the parenting gap is a big factor in the opportunity gap. The chances of upward social mobility are lower for children with parents struggling to do a good job -- in terms of creating a supportive and stimulating home environment. Children lucky enough to have strong parents are more likely to succeed at all the critical life stages, which means policies to help weaker parents do a better job can be investments in opportunity, and equality. Key findings indicate: 1) The quality of U.S. parenting, as measured on the HOME scale, strongly varies by income, family…
Brief
This policy brief provides an overview of the Child Support system, the barriers Child Support creates for low-income families, and the policy changes needed for it to effectively meet the collective needs of very low-income fathers, mothers and children. Drawing upon Women In Fatherhood Inc.'s (WIFI's) qualitative research with women, research on fragile families, and interviews with female experts in the fatherhood field, we provide suggestions for changes to Child Support that will better ensure children are cared for and supported by both parents while encouraging father involvement…
Qualitative research suggests that economically disadvantaged fathers experience considerable stress due to difficulty fulfilling the breadwinning ideal and workplace inflexibility that ignores their childcare responsibility. Yet, quantitative research on how employment and work-family conflict are related to fathers' parenting stress, especially in comparison with mothers', is limited. Analyses using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 3,165) show that current unemployment and greater work-family conflict, but not overwork, odd-jobs, and nonstandard hours, are…
