This chapter describes a study that assessed whether the events of adult children's leaving and returning home, by themselves, affected the overall well-being of fathers, their family life satisfaction, the frequency of reported psychosomatic complaints, and their personal feelings about their child's leaving. Data were collected by mailed questionnaires from a two-State, stratified random sampling of 325 fathers living in Indiana and Michigan. Results provide support for Hill's A-B-C-X model of family stress, which suggests that it is the perception of the stressor event that determines if a…
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Journal Article The Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) enacted in many states removed the established difference in status between legitimate and illegitimate children, thus providing equal rights for all children despite the marital status of their parents. Birthfathers are categorized as "presumed" or "alleged." The presumed father falls under at least one of these categories: (1) He and the child's birthmother are or have been married to each other and the child was born during the marriage or within 300 days after its end. (2) He and the child's mother married before the child's birth although the marriage is…
This final report summarizes the results of an NCCAN-funded project designed to reduce child abuse and neglect among families with adolescent parents. The project consisted of group parenting education programs; peer supports; in-home intensive services when needed; and educational and support services for fathers. An evaluation of the program found that long-term, open-ended group intervention was more effective than a 12-week didactic group model. Recommendations include using a naturalistic evaluation instrument to assess the impact of the program on parent-child interactions and targeting…
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Journal Article Most previous research documenting the frequent abandonment by fathers of contact with their children has been based on survey responses of custodial mothers. The present survey of 220 divorcing couples revealed that the noncustodial parents reported significantly more visits with their children, as well as significantly more denial of visitation by their ex-spouses, than did the custodial parents. (Author abstract)
