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…
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This brief uses the 1997 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) to examine the characteristics of poor nonresident fathers who do not pay child support. We find that these fathers face similar labor market barriers to those faced by the poor mothers, but the fathers have far fewer opportunities to increase their chances of labor market success. We conclude with suggestions about ways to help redress the balance of opportunity.
Other
According to the 1997 National Survey of America's Families, 2.6 million nonresident fathers have family incomes below the poverty line and most of them face multiple employment barriers, including a criminal record, lack of a high school education, relatively little recent work experience, and poor health. Although these employment barriers are similar to those faced by poor custodial mothers, poor nonresident fathers are significantly less likely than poor custodial mothers to participate in training, education, and job search activities as well as income security programs. Given that…
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Journal Article
In this article, we use data on biological fathers (n = 597) and mothers (N = 1,550) from 12 sites of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHS study) to examine the type and frequency of father involvement. We use a three-part model of father involvement to examine whether fathers participating in the EHS study are accessible to, engaged with, and show responsibility for their two-year-old children. We also examine patterns of reported father involvement by relationship status and residency. We find that more than 80% of all two-year-old children in the EHS study have…
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Journal Article
This report examines the perspectives of fathers of low-income children about their needs and resources for support to help them with their parenting responsibilities. The data are taken from open-ended, qualitative interviews of 575 men as part of a comprehensive study of fathers related to the Early Head Start Longitudinal Study. The interviews, taken when the father or father figure's child was 24 months of age, asked fathers about the barriers they experienced to fathering, about the sources of support or help they had available, and about supports they thought might be useful. The…
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Journal Article
A qualitative inquiry in four Early Head Start Research sites explored the question of how low-income mothers and fathers view the role of fathers in their families. Role perceptions were gathered from a total of 56 parents of infants and toddlers across the four sites, using multiple data collection methods that included focus groups, open-ended interviews, and one case study. The data were analyzed to identify common themes across sites. The participants identified roles that included: providing financial support, "being there," care giving, outings and play, teaching and discipline,…
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Training Materials
Previous studies focused exclusively on fatherinvolvement and outcomes for U.S born adolescentsfrom white middle class populations. The present study explores how father involvement is related to adolescent risk behaviors among a wider classification of youth than previously examined.
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Journal Article
This study explores how father involvement is associated with adolescent risk behaviors among youth in first, second, and third-generation families in US. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1997 (Rounds One-Three), and discrete time logit regressions, we find that father involvement predicts a reduced likelihood of subsequent engagement in risky behaviors among adolescents. Being a first-generation immigrant youth is also associated with reduced risky behaviors. Two-way interaction models indicate that father involvement matters more for sons than for daughters. Two-way…
Almost half (46%) of high school-aged teens in the United States have had sexual intercourse. Because of continued concern about teenage sexual activity and support for messages that encourage young people to delay sexual debut, where and when teens first have sex is a matter of interest to those who run programs for teens, to policymakers, and to parents. This "Science Says" research brief uses data from a recent national survey to examine the time and place teens first have sex and provides recommendations based on these findings. (Author abstract)
This paper uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the frequency of parent-child interaction in several areas across a range of family types. Overall, we find that few individual characteristics of mothers or fathers are consistently associated with how often parents engage in activities with their one-year-old children. The nature of parents' relationship, however, does appear to be important for parenting. Non-resident fathers exhibit significantly lower levels of interaction with their children in activities such as care giving, playing and cognitive…
