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Journal Article By age 3, children from privileged families have heard 30 million more words than children from underprivileged families. Longitudinal data on 42 families examined what accounted for enormous differences in rates of vocabulary growth. Children turned out to be like their parents in stature, activity level, vocabulary resources, and language and interaction styles. Follow-up data indicated that the 3-year-old measures of accomplishment predicted third grade school achievement.
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Journal Article This study examines the role of biological and social fathers in the lives of low-income African American adolescent girls (N= 302). Sixty-five percent of adolescents identified a primary father; two thirds were biological and one third were social fathers. Adolescents reported more contentious and less close relationships with biological than with social fathers. Multivariate regression analyses indicated that daughters' perceptions of anger and alienation from fathers was related to greater emotional and behavioral problems for adolescents, whereas perceptions of trust and communication…
This report provides findings from an assessment of eight fatherhood demonstration projects funded by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), within the Department of Health and Human Services. Following an introduction in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 discusses the importance of child support for low-income families and the special issues that make collecting child support from low-income parents problematic. Much of the current national discussion about responsible fatherhood activities has focused on low-income fathers and programs to serve them. Chapter 3 describes the eight…
This report examines the treatment of low-income fathers in the child support system in the U.S. and how the system could be improved. The report suggests that the time of establishment of the child support order and shortly thereafter is the key time for the child support agency to establish a more positive relationship with low-income fathers. Improving this "up-front" process could increase both financial and emotional support for children. The report analyzes default order practices, examines best state practices, and reviews and analyzes selected international practices. The report…
This report includes perspectives from domestic violence advocates, batterer program representatives, and fatherhood program representatives on the scope and challenges of fatherhood programs. Participants attended two meetings held in May 2001 and July 2002, to discuss the variety of issues confronting fatherhood programs. One of the key concerns discussed was the inclusion of domestic violence information in such programs. The report shares participants' views on the prevalence of domestic violence and the characteristics of fathers attending fatherhood programs, barriers to…
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Journal Article The purpose of this quantitative study is to examine the impact of a job-training program, the Georgia Fatherhood Program (GFP), on the employment levels and wages of low-income, non-custodial parents. A pretest/posttest design was created to compare GFP participants to a similar comparison group. Results of the research indicate that GFP participants experienced a significant increase in employment and gained wages similar to the employed comparison group. However repeated measures analysis revealed that previously employed GFP participants did not significantly increase their wages. The…
