Research That Matters (January 17 - 20, 2008)

Overview The federal mandate to involve men in research on male fertility, family formation, and fatherhood recommended that the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSREP) be used as a laboratory for conducting basic theoretical research on the meaning and nature of fathering for low-income men and their children. The EHSREP studies and the Fragile Families and Child Well-being (FFCW) study are part of a set of studies that could produce new data on how men father, the investments they make on behalf of their children, the determinants of father involvement, the influence of this involvement on their children's development, and the barriers and challenges fathers face. Although these studies vary in terms of their design and purpose, the measures used to assess father involvement share commonalities of constructs and survey questions. To date there has been little effort in exploring the fathering data across these studies. Current Study Given that the current Census data suggest that more than 49% of African-American children reside in households without their father, this study compares fathering in African-American families using the EHSREP and FFCW data sets. This is important in that combining these data gave the researchers access to the largest sample of low-income African-American fathers to date. Particular attention was given to comparing the paternal demographic profiles, reported fathering activities and parenting attitudes, along with child outcomes across these two data sets. Specific measures examined were fathering relationships and residential status, reported mental and physical health, and the developmental status of their children. The findings from these analyses will expand our understanding of paternal involvement among African American fathers during their child-bearing years. ¬Results Descriptive results support national trends that there are significant numbers of African-American children residing in homes without fathers. Although a number of African American fathers reported not residing with their child, they reported being involved on some level with their children. Results show that these men are actively engaged in cognitive, physical play, socialization and cognitive activities with their children. This is especially true as these fathers reported high levels of caregiving activities with their child. In addition, fathers also indicated high levels of authoritarian parenting attitudes. Demographic results showed that most of these fathers reported being employed (72%) and over 13% of these African-American fathers reported having some college. Multivariate analysis shows that various fathering activities were significantly correlated ranging from .43 - .66, suggesting that these fathers participated in various activities with their children. In addition, there was a significant correlation between cognitive activities and Bayley scores (r = .33, p<.01). Implications The results support that many African-American fathers are involved in their child's life. Practitioners should be aware that although fathers are not residing with their child they may in fact have a presence in their child's life. The results should encourage the profession to assist these men in maintaining a long term relationship with their child. Lastly, the study confirms that positively involved fathers are beneficial for African-American children.