Young Disadvantaged Men: Fathers, Families, Poverty, and Policy (Special Issue of The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science).

This special issue contains articles that explore how disadvantaged young men are faring in the face of low educational achievement, joblessness, out-of-wedlock childbearing, incarceration, and in the face of the Great Recession. An introductory article reviews social and economic forces facing young fathers, and the following four articles outline the economic status of low-income men and fathers. The deteriorating labor market prospects for low-skilled men in the United States is discussed, as well as young disadvantaged men as fathers, the relationship contexts of young disadvantaged men, and the influence of low-income fathers on children. Commentaries are included that address the impact of culture and race on the fathering of low-income men. Five policy papers are then provided that focus on child support policy; school-to-work transitions, dropouts, and work training; incarceration; family functioning, relationship, and parenting; and income-support policy. The issue concludes that young, undereducated and disconnected men need help acquiring skills as well as finding and keeping jobs, and that public policy needs to emphasize increased employment, training, and education, and spur on a more progressive incarceration policy for young offenders. It also calls for better efforts to support the incomes and employment of young men to allow more of them to support their families and meet their child support obligations. Finally, programs that are effective in preventing young and unintended out-of-wedlock births are recommended. Numerous references.