Are All Dads Equal? Biology Versus Marriage as a Basis for Paternal Investment

The stepfather relationship provides a source of potential conflict in remarriage families, because the mother and partner may have different interests in the well‐being of children from a prior union. Using three different theoretical perspectives—biology, sociology, and selection—this paper examines the engagement, availability, participation, and warmth of residential fathers in married biological parent, unmarried biological parent, married stepparent, and cohabiting father families. The data come from 2,531 children and their parents who were interviewed during the 1997 wave of the Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Biology explains less of father involvement than anticipated once differences between fathers are controlled. Marriage continues to differentiate paternal investment levels, as do age of child and financial responsibility to nonresidential children.     

DISTANT PATRIARCHS OR EXPRESSIVE DADS? The Discourse and Practice of Fathering in Conservative Protestant Families

Despite the burgeoning research literature on paternal involvement, the relationship between religion and fatherhood has received remarkably little attention from empirical researchers. Our investigation illuminates this understudied dimension of fathering by examining how conservative Protestant gender ideologies impact paternal involvement in evangelical households. Our study begins with an examination of insider documents—nemely, gender and family advice manuals—written by conservative Protestant luminaries. One group of conservative Protestant advice authors argues that paternal involvement and masculine role modeling in the home is crucial to the proper formation of children's distinctive gender identities, while a rival coterie of authors advocates ungendered spousal roles and shared parenting responsibilities. We then turn to data from wave 1 of the National Survey of Families and Households to gauge the distinctiveness of parenting practices among conservative Protestant fathers. We find that conservative Protestant fathers are considerably more likely than their nonevangelical counterparts to engage in paternal supervision and affective parenting. Such findings underscore the complexity of fathering in conservative Protestant households and illuminate several fruitful directions for future research on the religious dimensions of paternal involvement.     

Fatherhood: Comparison Between Divorced Custodial Fathers,Married Fathers,and Divorced Non-Custodial Fathers in Israel

Paternal involvement and acceptance were compared among 218 custodial fathers, 222 married fathers, and 105 divorced noncustodial fathers. Findings show that the custodial fathers were more involved with their children, coordinated less with their children’s mother, and viewed their children as more difficult than the other fathers. Two regression analyses were conducted. One revealed that greater paternal involvement was predicted by greater self-differentiation, greater sense of having received care from one’s own father, and a less avoidant caregiving disposition. The other showed that greater paternal acceptance was predicted by greater self-differentiation, greater sense of having received care from one’s own father, and a less anxious caregiving disposition. Finally, the findings show that coparenting, social support, and sense of the child as difficult moderated the associations between the fathers’ personal variables and their involvement, but not their acceptance.     

The Prevalence and Correlates of Multipartnered Fertility Among Urban U.S. Parents

Recent trends in marriage and fertility have increased the number of adults having children by more than 1 partner, a phenomenon that we refer to as multipartnered fertility. This article uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the prevalence and correlates of multipartnered fertility among urban parents of a recent birth cohort (N = 4,300). We find that unmarried parents are much more likely to have had a child by a previous partner than married parents. Also, race/ethnicity is strongly associated with multipartnered fertility, as is mothers’ young age at first birth, and fathers’ history of incarceration. To the extent that childrearing across households diminishes parental resources, multipartnered fertility has important consequences for children’s well‐being.     

Whose child is it anyway? The negotiation of paternal entitlements within marriage

Based on qualitative research, this paper suggests that among some married/co‐habiting couples, where mothers are professionally employed and there are pre‐school children, fathers seek to enhance their paternal role. This contrasts with previous research, which indicates that married/co‐habiting men leave to mothers the responsibility for nurturing both maternal and paternal relationships with children. Using the notions of situational and debilitative power, it is shown how married/co‐habiting fathers developed strategies for augmenting paternal rights. While fathers' involvement with children was perceived as beneficial by some mothers, others regarded it as a threat to maternal status. The paper suggests that power relations between married/co‐habiting parents in the sample are similar to power struggles between couples who are separated or divorced. The possibility is raised that paternal strategies to diminish the maternal sphere of influence among both married/co‐habiting and divorced fathers may be symptomatic of wider male fears about the erosion of male hegemony. It is observed that the schemes employed by fathers in the sample to enhance the paternal role are similar to the approach advocated in policy statements of fathers' rights activists.     

Explaining fathers' involvement in childcare: an ecological approach

The study was conducted among a sample of 113 Israeli fathers, and aimed to examine the variables that explain paternal involvement in care of children between the ages of one and six. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological approach, the study examined the contribution of variables representing three ecological systems of the fathers: the ontogenic system – the fathers' background variables, and their childhood experiences with paternal involvement; the microsystem – children’s characteristics (age and temperament); and mothers' characteristics (education, hours of work outside of the home, and fathers' assessments of maternal gatekeeping); and the macrosystem – type of community of residence (rural or urban). Maternal gatekeeping most significantly explained paternal involvement in most of the domains of childcare that were examined. Fathers living in urban communities who assessed their wives' maternal gatekeeping as high tended to be more involved in the domain of physical care than their counterparts living in rural communities. The child’s temperament explained paternal involvement in the domains of showing love and playing with the children, whereas the fathers' childhood experiences with paternal involvement were related to their involvement in the domain of physical care. The implications of the findings for families and communities are discussed.     

Explaining the Long Reach of Fathers’ Prenatal Involvement on Later Paternal Engagement

The present study examined the association between unmarried fathers’ prenatal involvement and fathers’ engagement later in the child’s life. The study sample consisted of 1,686 fathers from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Findings using multiple regressions revealed that fathers’ prenatal involvement is significantly and positively associated with levels of fathers’ engagement at Years 1 and 3. This association was partially explained by fathers’ transitions from unemployment to employment and to a greater extent by fathers’ transitions from nonresidential to residential relationships with the child’s mother.     

Ambivalence Toward Adult Children: Differences Between Mothers and Fathers

The authors examined how ambivalence toward adult children within the same family differs between mothers and fathers and whether patterns of maternal and paternal ambivalence can be explained by the same set of predictors. Using data collected in the Within‐Family Differences Study, they compared older married mothers' and fathers' (N = 129) assessments of ambivalence toward each of their adult children (N = 444). Fathers reported higher levels of ambivalence overall. Both mothers and fathers reported lower ambivalence toward children who were married, better educated, and who they perceived to hold similar values; however, the effects of marital status and education were more pronounced for fathers, whereas the effect of children's value congruence was more pronounced for mothers. Fathers reported lower ambivalence toward daughters than sons, whereas mothers reported less ambivalence toward sons than daughters.     

Coparenting and Father Involvement in Married and Unmarried Coresident Couples

Children can benefit from involved fathers and cooperative parents, a benefit which may be particularly important to the growing population of children born to unmarried parents. This study observes father involvement and coparenting in 5,407 married and unmarried cohabiting couples with a 2‐year‐old child in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth Cohort (ECLS‐B). A link was found between cooperative coparenting and father involvement for all couples. Compared with married couples, couples who married in response to the pregnancy and couples who remained unmarried showed higher levels of father involvement and more cooperative coparenting, indicating a potentially greater child focus.     

Family Ties and Young Fathers' Engagement in Cape Town,South Africa

Young South African fathers are often engaged in their children's lives even if they do not live together. Using longitudinal data on children (n = 1,209) from the Cape Town area, the authors show that although only 26% of young fathers live with their children, 66% of nonresidential fathers maintain regular contact, and 61% provide financial support. The father–child relationship, however, is embedded in broader family ties. The type of father–mother relationship is strongly associated with whether fathers coreside with their children but not with fathers' contact with nonresidential children. Close mother and maternal grandmother bonds reduce the likelihood that fathers live with their children, whereas close ties between fathers and paternal grandmothers increase the chance that fathers visit nonresidential children. Family ties do not affect fathers' financial contributions, which are driven by men's current economic situation. These findings illustrate that father–child relationships are best understood in the context of interacting family systems.     

The Paradox of Protestantism and Women in Elected Office in the United States

ABSTRACT

In cross-national studies, scholars have found that wealthy countries and those with a Protestant tradition are more likely to have higher levels of women in elected office. Even though the United States should then be high in this domain, it lags behind many similarly situated countries. We posit that one reason for this paradox is that Protestantism in the United States is far more socially conservative than is typical in other Protestant countries. To test our argument, we use state-level data on the proportion of women in elected office from 2002 to 2004 and survey data on church membership. We find a negative relationship between the percentage of Protestants belonging to churches associated with the National Association of Evangelicals, a lobbying group representing socially conservative Protestant denominations, and the proportion of women in elected office.     

He Said,She Said: Comparing Mother and Father Reports of Father Involvement

This study compares mother and father reports of fathers’ involvement, including frequency of involvement and emotional involvement, with their child and examines demographic and social factors that predict the discrepancy in father and mother reports. Using matched pairs of parents (n = 2,058) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing data, this study finds that father and mother reports of fathers’ involvement differ significantly. For example, fathers report spending 17.6% more time engaged in 11 activities with their young children than mothers report. How parental disagreement is measured yields starkly different results given the underlying distribution of these data. The paper also provides insight into what data issues should concern researchers studying fathers’ involvement and contributes to the growing literature on fathers’ involvement.     

Fathers as ‘core business’ in child welfare practice and research: An interdisciplinary review

This literature review draws from a wide array of interdisciplinary research to argue that fathers need to be included in child welfare practice and research to the same extent as mothers. Social work and child maltreatment literature highlight that fathers are often overlooked and viewed more negatively than mothers in child welfare practice. There are noteworthy theoretical and practical reasons for this poor engagement of fathers in practice. However, advances in attachment theory and recent research findings from developmental and fathering literature indicate that fathers influence their children independently from mothers and equally strongly. Further research demonstrates that fathers and father figures can be both potential risk factors and protective factors in the lives of vulnerable children. Therefore, children are placed at increased risk if dangerous fathers are not engaged, and are also significantly disadvantaged if supportive fathers are not engaged. The review concludes with practical implications for child welfare practice and research.     

Children's Affection Toward Fathers: A Comparison between Japan and the United States

Abstract Previous studies on fatherhood have focused primarily on the extent of paternal involvement from fathers' point of view and the impact of such involvement on children. These studies report that the level of paternal involvement varies depending on such factors as the fathers' ages, and the mothers' employment hours and income, and that the active participation by fathers has a positive impact on children's emotional and cognitive development. The current study not only focuses on paternal involvement but also on questions rarely addressed in the previous studies. How do children perceive the extent of fathers' involvement with them? Are their perceptions highly correlated with the report made by fathers? Further, how does paternal involvement influence children's affection toward fathers? In this paper, these questions are examined using a cross-national data collected in Japan and the United States. The major findings of the survey indicate that the levels of paternal involvement perceived by children and fathers are not as strongly correlated as were expected both in Japan and the United States. In both countries, children who spend more time with their fathers and who are younger and girls express more affection toward fathers. A cross-national difference was found with respect to the impact of social network on children's affection toward fathers.     

Marital and Cohabitation Dissolution and Parental Depressive Symptoms in Fragile Families

The consequences of divorce are pronounced for parents of young children, and cohabitation dissolution is increasing in this population and has important implications. The mental health consequences of union dissolution were examined, by union type and parental gender, using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n= 1,998 for mothers and 1,764 for fathers). Overall, cohabitation and marital dissolution were both associated with increased maternal and paternal depressive symptoms, though for married mothers, depressive symptoms returned to predissolution levels with time. Difference‐in‐difference estimates indicated no differences in the magnitude of the increase in depressive symptoms by type of dissolution, though pooled difference models suggested that married fathers increased in depressive symptoms more than cohabiting fathers. Potential time‐variant mediators did not account for these associations, though greater family chaos was associated with increased maternal depressive symptoms, and decreased social support and father–child contact were associated with increased paternal depressive symptoms.     

Paternal Incarceration and Children’s Social-Emotional Functioning at Age Nine: Why Fathers’ Violence Matters

Research documents the consequences of parental incarceration for children’s well-being, and studies have begun to explore heterogeneity in parental incarceration’s influence on child outcomes. This study investigates the effect of paternal incarceration on children’s social competence. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal study of new parents in urban areas, I examine (1) the effect of recent paternal incarceration on multiple measures of children’s social-emotional functioning, including children’s social competence, and (2) whether fathers’ violence against mothers and children weakens the effect of recent paternal incarceration on children’s social-emotional functioning. The results from propensity score and multivariate regression analyses show that recent paternal incarceration is detrimental to children’s social-emotional functioning, in general. However, for some indicators of children’s social-emotional functioning, the effects of recent paternal incarceration depend on whether fathers are abusive.     

Japanese Fathers of Preschoolers and Their Involvement in Child Care

We examine how relative resources, time availability, gender ideology, living arrangement, child‐care demand, and job satisfaction are associated with the levels of younger Japanese fathers’ involvement in child care for preschoolers. A theoretical model that includes these factors is tested using 1994 data collected from Japanese fathers and mothers with preschool children (N = 442 couples). We find that practical considerations such as fathers’ shorter work hours, mothers’ full‐time employment, fewer adults and more children in households, and younger ages of children are associated with higher levels of paternal involvement. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of attention to ways to encourage Japanese men's sharing of child‐care responsibilities with their wives.     

Paternal dimensions and complexities: Understanding the relationships between parental dyads and fathers’ involvement among Black fathers with criminal records

ABSTRACT

The benefits of fathers’ involvement in their children’s lives are well documented. However, the effect of incarceration, especially among Black families, has contributed to disbanded family bonds. Spells of incarceration disrupt family relationships and having a criminal record, results in formerly incarcerated men being jobless and unable to financially contribute to their families. Fatherhood encompasses more than being the sole household income earner and father involvement is complex, particularly, within contemporary family structures (Jones & Mosher, 2013). Incarceration, especially, among Black fathers has been associated with family dissolution and reduced financial wellbeing (Oliver, 2001; Roberts, 2004; Western & Wildemann, 2009).This study analyzed factors associated with fathers’ involvement with their children among Black fathers with criminal records. Fathers’ involvement was conceptualized using Lamb, Pleck, and Levine’s (1985) Threefold Typology, which included fathers’ level of engagement, accessibility, and responsibility with their children. These three components of father involvement were the dependent variables. This study utilized secondary analysis of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) or “Fragile Families” study. Among Black fathers with criminal records, this study explored relationships among fathers’ involvement, sociodemographic characteristics, and parental dyads. This study found variations among factors associated with three dimensions of father involvement.     

Does Engagement Matter? Marital Intentions and Relationship Quality Among Cohabiting African Americans

Despite growing cohabitation rates, few studies have examined the relationship between engagement status and relationship quality among cohabiting couples, especially among Black Americans. This study used data from 30 cohabiting Black couples (n = 60) to examine whether perceptions of love, commitment, relationship satisfaction, and intimacy problems differ by whether cohabitors are engaged to be married. Results indicated that engaged Black cohabitors reported higher love scores than non-engaged Black cohabitors. They also had slightly more intimacy problems, but only in bivariate models. There were no significant differences in commitment or satisfaction between engaged and non-engaged Black cohabitors. Additional analyses revealed no variation in effect of engagement on relationship quality by gender. Results suggest that practitioners and policymakers should be careful not to make assumptions about relationship quality according to engagement status or gender in cohabiting Black relationships. The meaning and implications of engagement among cohabiting Black Americans may be changing.     

Understanding Men’s Prenatal Experience and the Father Involvement Connection: Assessing Baby Steps

Cabrera, Fagan, and Farrie’s research provides a useful springboard to encourage scholars to think broadly and productively about theoretical, substantive, methodological, and social intervention issues related to men’s prenatal experiences, transitional life course events, and subsequent engagement with their young children. To their credit, the authors have taken valuable “baby steps” on the path to building a more nuanced understanding of the conditions and processes comprising this complex matrix of phenomena. The authors make a unique contribution to the literature by using panel data to examine how three factors, defined as “life transitions” (father identity salience, fathers’ relationship quality and residential status with the child’s mother, fathers’ employment status), might mediate the link between unmarried prospective fathers’ prenatal and postnatal experiences. In the spirit of advancing a research agenda in this area, I stress the merits and limitations of the data Cabrera and her colleagues use while elaborating conceptual and methodological themes to guide future research.