Father loss and father absence in preschool children

The role of the father in child development is discussed. Children's reactions to the death, separation, or divorce of their fathers are explored. Implications for diagnosis are stated along with specific recommendations for treatment. Crucial factors in diabnosis and treatment were concluded to be: the developmental stage of the child at the time of the loss, the reason for the father's absence, the state of the relationship with the father prior to the loss, the mother's reaction to the loss of her husband, and the environment provided for the child subsequent to the loss.     

Predictors of father-son communication about sexuality

Examining the factors that influence adolescents' sexual behaviors is crucial for understanding why they often engage in risky sexual behaviors. Using social cognitive theory, we examined predictors of father-son communication about sexuality. Fathers (N=155) of adolescent sons completed a survey measuring 12 variables, including self-efficacy and outcome expectations. We found that (a) son's pubertal development, father's sex-based values, father's education; father's communication with his father, outcome expectations, and general communication accounted for 36% of the variance in information sharing communication and (b) son's pubertal development, outcome expectations, general communication, and father-son contact accounted for 20% of the variance in values sharing communication. Study findings can aid professionals in designing guidelines for programs to promote father-son general communication and sex-based communication.     

The unwed adolescent father's perceptions of his family and of himself as a father

The study reported in this paper investigated how an adolescent father's relationship with his family of origin affects his relationship with his own child. The dependent variable was parental behavior. The adolescent father's perceived role conceptions of his parents and his feeling and attitudes toward his family were the independent variables. The study included a non-random sample of 43 African-American unwed adolescent fathers. The findings of the study indicated a father's parental behavior was influenced by his perceived role conceptions of his mother and his feelings and attitudes toward his family of origin.     

Exploring Ways to Get Divorced Fathers to Comply Willingly with Child Support Agreements

Most public policy attention given to the child support issue has focused on the impact of involuntaly measures rather than the factors that may encourage fathers to comply willingly with their child support agreements. In this study of 255 divorced fathers, the researcher examines several possible predictor variables of child support compliance, including the divorce proceedings, type of child support agreement, custody arrangements, and frequency of the father's contact with his children. Fathers with shared physical and shared legal custody, and fathers having more frequent contact with their children, were more likely to be in compliance. The results strongly suggest that more attention should be given in divorce agreements to provisions that will enhance the father's involvement in the physical and decision-making aspects of his children's lives so as to increase the likelihood of his involvement in the financial aspects.     

Assessing Psychological Separation and Academic Performance in Nonresident-Father and Resident-Father Adolescent Boys

This article initially reviews the psychoanalytic and empirical literature on the facilitative role that fathers play in children's development and functioning. Empirical evidence is presented comparing the academic performance of 25 nonresident-father boys and 25 resident-father boys between the ages of 14 and 17. The study also assesses whether the degree of psychological separation from mother and father, quality of mother–son/father–son relationship, and frequency of contact with father had a mediating effect on academic performance. The study found that boys living in nonresident-father homes were under-functioning when compared to boys living in father-resident homes. Results also showed that boys living in nonresident father homes who were more similar in regard to their father's attitudes and beliefs, performed better academically. In assessing the group as a whole, results revealed that academic performance improved when boys were more dependent on father in regard to having concrete needs met and when their attitudes and beliefs were similar to father's. In regard to the perceived quality of mother–son/father–son relationship, results for nonresident-father boys showed a positive correlation between the quality of relationship with father and academic performance. Similarly, when assessing the group as a whole, a positive correlation was found between the quality of father–son relationship and academic performance. Finally, for nonresident-father boys, a positive correlation was found between frequency of father–son contact and academic performance.     

Child support wage withholding and father–child contact: parental bargaining and salience effects

Past research on child support finds that father–child contact increases as support payments increase. Enforcement policies such as wage withholding also may affect father–child contact even when the amount of support paid is not affected if they change bargaining power between parents or the salience of fathers’ child support obligations. I develop a model of the salience of child support obligations which predicts that introduction of automatic withholding will reduce contact between noncustodial parents and children independent of payment amount. I then examine whether paying child support via wage withholding affects fathers’ frequency of contact with their children and their provision of in-kind support using instrumental variables and bounded OLS techniques for selection on unobservables. Withholding appears to decrease father–child contact. Withholding effects do not occur when payments are made to government agencies or courts but are present when payments go directly to the mother, consistent with bargaining models. More frequent payment schedules are associated with more contact, consistent with salience effects.     

Fathers' involvement and child behavior problems in poor African American single-mother families

The present study examined the effects of nonresident fathers' involvement-measured by the frequency of fathers' contact with their children and the quality of fathers' parenting-on their children's behavior problems. Using data from a subsample of African American single and non-cohabiting mothers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, results indicate that more frequent contact between fathers and their child and fathers' more adequate parenting were associated indirectly with fewer child behavior problems transmitted through more adequate parenting by mothers. The quality of mothers' parenting was associated positively with the quality of the mother-father relationship and with both the quality and the frequency of the fathers' contacts with their child. Policy and practice implications are discussed.     

Postdivorce Parent–Child Contact and Child Well‐being: The Importance of Predivorce Parental Involvement

Frequent parent–child contact after divorce is generally assumed to be in children's best interests, but findings are mixed. This study extends the small body of research about the conditions under which parent–child contact is more beneficial or less beneficial by examining the role of predivorce parental involvement. It is argued that the more a parent was involved in child rearing in the past, the more important postdivorce parent–child contact is for child well‐being. Data from the Netherlands (N = 3,694) show that when children live with the parent who was not the primary caretaker, child well‐being is lower. Similarly, the more the father used to be involved in child rearing, the more beneficial nonresident father–child contact is for children. These findings suggest that it is not so much the frequency of contact per se that matters for child well‐being but, rather, the extent to which postdivorce residence arrangements reflect predivorce parenting arrangements.     

The Influence of Parental Separation and Divorce on Father–Child Relationships

ABSTRACT

Using a risk and resilience theoretical framework, this study examined the influence of parental divorce during childhood on father–child relationship quality in young adulthood. Relationship quality was measured using nurturant fathering and modified father involvement scales, and self-reports of current amount of face-to-face and verbal father–child contacts. Comparisons on these measures were made between 107 young adults from intact and 96 from divorced family backgrounds. The divorce group was also examined in isolation to explore how divorce-related factors—including structural, early contact, and interparental relationship factors—predict young adults' perceptions of their father–child relationship. Results demonstrate young adults from intact family backgrounds report a comparatively stronger father–child relationship. Among divorce group participants, structural factors (higher father socioeconomic status and joint custody) and early contact (greater percentage of time spent with father postdivorce) were predictors of higher scores on combined nurturant fathering and involvement measures. Greater early contact and stronger interparental relationship factors (low conflict and high contact and cooperativeness) similarly predicted current contact.     

Unemployed fathers and their children: Implications for policy and practice

This paper reviews the literature on the family effects of unemployment in order to specify how changes in the economy might effect fathering during periods of unemployment. The purpose for doing so is to provide information to clinicians on how job loss effects family dynamics. This paper is organized around three variables that are seen as influencing the father and child relationship. These variables are: the father's reaction to job loss, the mother's reaction to job loss, and the characteristics of the child. The paper ends with a discussion of the policy and practice implications of the literature.     

Child Support,Father–Child Contact,and Preteens’ Involvement with Nonresidential Fathers: Racial/Ethnic Differences

This study examined how child support, frequency of contact with children, and the relationship between nonresidential parents influenced preteens’ reports of the involvement of fathers and mothers in their life. Data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) that has followed the children of NLSY mothers from birth into their twenties. Results showed that increases in child support and in contact with the child over time after separation are linked to a better coparental relationship when children are age 11 or 12. This better relationship between parents is, in turn, associated with greater involvement of both mothers and nonresidential fathers with their children.     

Child Abuse: A Cognitive Behavioral Intervention Model

The frequency of child abuse, together with its generational pattern of reocurrence, has created a need for additional models for child abuse treatment. Presented herein is a six-step child abuse intervention model based upon cognitive-behavioral change strategies. Allowing immediate alleviation of abuse when only one adult family member is in contact with the assisting agency, the proposed model provides for the restructuring of parenting style to increase the probabilities of permanent change.
This model is currently being utilized by one of the authors to assist self-referred abusive patients in a group setting.     

Effect of child protective services system factors on child maltreatment rereporting

This study examined how child protective services (CPS) systems respond to initial and subsequent reports in the context of child maltreatment rereporting and to what extent CPS system factors are associated with the risk of rereporting after controlling for abuse type and child and family factors. This study followed 67,243 families who were reported to the CPS agencies in seven counties in Florida for child abuse and neglect over a period of 5.4 years and found that 14,218 families had one or more child maltreatment rereports. Key findings include that CPS system factors were significantly different from initial report to subsequent reports. Five CPS system factors, reporting source, contact by CPS workers, investigative level at intake, postinvestigation services, and duration ofCPS involvement were significantly associated with the risk of child maltreatment rereporting. Multivariate analyses found that CPS system factors were substantially different for three categories ofrereporting, unsubstantiated rereports, substantiated rereports, and recurrence reports. Interpretations and implications for practice are discussed.     

Family Structure and Parent–Child Contact: A Comparison of Native and Migrant Families

This article is an investigation of the frequency of contact between parents and adult children in Germany. It compares Turkish immigrants and native Germans and includes both biological and step‐relations. After the United States and Russia, Germany reports the third highest proportion of immigrants internationally, but the extent to which results regarding natives are applicable to immigrant families remains unknown. Data are from the first wave of the German Generations and Gender Surveys (2005) and the supplemental survey of Turkish citizens living in Germany (2006). A total of 7,035 parent–child relations are analyzed. The frequency of parent–adult child contact is significantly higher for biological parents living with the child's other biological parent than for parents without a partner, parents with a new partner, or stepparents. Contact is more frequent for all Turkish families, but the pattern of variation by family structure is similar for both Germans and Turks.     

Characteristics of Four Kinship Placement Outcome Groups and Variables Associated with these Kinship Placement Outcome Groups

This study investigated factors that might be associated with the disrupted kinship care placements of abused and neglected children. Data were collected from face-to-face interviews of 130 kin caregivers who were randomly selected from lists provided by two child protection agencies and divided into four different outcome groups. Findings of the study revealed that characteristics of the children such as their health status, ages, and the extent to which they were getting into “trouble” were significantly associated with placement outcomes. The caregivers’ perceptions of the quality of relationships between themselves and the children in their care and the birth parents of those children were also associated with placement outcomes. Two other factors affecting outcomes were the frequency of contact between social workers and caregivers and the extent to which services plans were discussed. Practice implications related to these findings are discussed.     

The effects of child maltreatment on violent offending among institutionalized youth

While prior literature generally supports the connection between child maltreatment and violent offending in adolescence and early adulthood for general population samples, less is known about the relationship between child maltreatment and the frequency of violent offending among serious juvenile offenders. As a result, few studies have examined whether the effects of child maltreatment on the frequency of violent offending are mediated by other social processes, as developmental models of aggression and violence would suggest. To examine this issue, self-report data on child maltreatment, general delinquency risk factors, and violent offending were collected from 3,694 juveniles confined to 48 correctional institutions. Results from a series of negative binomial regression models indicated that the relationship between child maltreatment and the frequency of violent offending was mediated by social risk factors. The implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.     

Visitations and Transfers After Divorce

Recent research reveals that divorce negatively impacts children's welfare as a consequence of the reduction in monetary and time contributions of the non-custodial parent. After divorce, the variables that link the absent parent to the child are visitations, child support transfers, and direct expenditures the non-custodial parent makes on the child. In our framework parents constitute a bilateral exchange economy where the mother is endowed with control over visitations and the father has control over financial resources. We use data from National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (5th follow up) to estimate the parameters of the model. We then use the estimates to simulate the effects of alternative endowment levels (such as joint custody) on the proportion of time spent with the non-custodial parent and the ex post parental income distribution. The results indicate that an endowment of equal time for both parents, reducing time under the mother's control implies a reduction in the child support transfers from the father, and, therefore, a loss in the mother's consumption levels. However, a more equally shared time with the children also increases the father's direct expenditures on the child, with the effect of allowing the mother to spend less on child goods and partially compensate her consumption loss.     

‘Recovery’ after age 7 from ‘externalising’ behaviour problems: the role of risk and protective clusters

This study uses data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS) to track behaviourally disturbed children at 7 through to adolescence in order to assess the extent to which clusters of protective factors can offset the negative effects of clusters of risk factors. Behavioural measures at ages 7, 11 and 16 from NCDS were used to identify children with ‘externalising’ behaviour problems. Children whose scores fell into the top 20% of Rutter ‘A’ scores at 7 but not at age 11 and 16 were deemed to have ‘recovered’. Controlling for gender, social class, family structure, parental mental health, domestic tension at age 7 and a cluster of protective factors in childhood (high reading skills at 11, father's interest in child's education at 16, good relations with parents at 16, good school attendance at 16), a cluster of risk factors present as the child grew up (clumsiness, social services involvement, family involvement with police/probation, family mobility at 7) was significantly associated with lack of recovery from behavioural problems. Although individual protective factors were significantly associated with recovery in the bivariate analysis, their power was not strong enough in the multivariate model to overcome the strength of the risk factors.     

Financial oppression and post-separation child positions in Sweden

The present paper deals with post-separation child positions in two domains of practice in the Swedish welfare state: welfare benefits such as financial aid and child contact. The area of concern is financial oppression in the context of parental separation. Empirically, the study draws upon three types of material: interviews with victimised mothers, court orders in welfare benefit appeals and court orders in contested contact cases. Findings suggest that financial abuse in the context of parental separation is a non-question in the domain of welfare benefits, and in the domain of child contact framed as a conflict between equal parties. Object without voice and with needs ignored was the typical child position in welfare benefits cases, whereas incompetent subject was more prominent in child contact cases. Age order as a form of domination may be reinforced by the practice of both domains.     

Eliciting Accounts of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse: How Do Children Report Touch?

Investigative interviewers frequently question alleged victims of child sexual abuse about any touching or bodily contact that might have occurred. In the present study of forensic interviews with 192 alleged sexual abuse victims, between 4 and 13 years of age, we examined the frequency with which alleged victims reported bodily contact as “touch” and the types of prompts associated with “touch” reports. Even young alleged victims of sexual abuse reported bodily contact as “touch,” and they used the word “touch” more frequently in response to recall than recognition prompts. Regardless of age, children typically referred to “touch” before interviewers used this term, suggesting that even young children are able to report “touch” without being cued by interviewers.