Head Start's Impact on African-American Fathers' Involvement on Children's School and Its Consequences on Children's Developmental Outcomes

Background/Purpose: Established in 1965, Head Start is a federal program that promotes the wellness of low-income children and families through a variety of services aimed at improving learning skills, social skills and overall health of children.  Head Start encourages family involvement, and has launched many initiatives to encourage or increase the participation of fathers. These initiatives include a federal mandate to involve fathers in research, programs, and services.  Recent attention has been placed on father involvement which has been shown to boost children’s well-being. Children whose fathers are involved had greater school readiness, cognitive development increased, more empathy was present, and other characteristics were increased. In particular, African American father’s involvement with their children has been increasing over the years. This demonstrates that these programs have made a large impact on overall father’s involvement and in particular to African American father’s involvement. Based on Head Start Impact Study data, the current study examined 1) whether Head Start enhance African-American fathers' involvement on children's schooling,  2 ) whether fathers' involvement affect developmental outcomes for African-American children, and 3) whether Head Start’s effect differ depending on family characteristics (particularly, resident vs non-resident father).

Methods: Using the Head Start Impact Study data, out of 4442 children, 1,254 African-American families were selected based on a child’s race category at age 3. Among these children, 813 (60%) children participated in Head Start and 541 (40%) children were in non-Head Start group.  Fathers’ involvement were measured whether fathers are attending school meetings, attending teacher conferences, attending school events, or volunteer at school events. Fathers who have ever involved these activities were counted as ever involved (73%) and those who have never involved any of these activities (27%). Children’s cognitive outcome was measured by Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement, Oral Comprehension. Children’s socio-emotional outcome was measured by Robert Pianata scale measuring child-teacher relationship. Child characteristics (ages at the enrollment, gender, special needs, children’s cognitive skills measured prior to Head Start enrollment) and family characteristics (maternal age, education, marital status, family income, and status of resident and non-resident father) were included in the study. Logistic regression and ordinary regression analyses were used to answer research questions.

Results:  Fathers who participated in Head Start were likely to involve more on children’s schooling than non-Head Start fathers. This effect was greater for non-resident fathers.  Children’s cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes did not differ between Head Start and non-Head Start children.  Fathers’ involvement directly affects children’s socio-emotional outcomes but not cognitive outcomes.   However, Head Start children whose fathers are involved in schooling had higher cognitive scores than non-Head start children whose fathers are involved in schooling. Conversely, for children of fathers who were not involved in schooling, Head Start children had lower cognitive test scores than non-Head Start children.

Implications: Head Start has significant positive effects on African-American fathers’ involvement on children’s schooling, which in turn contributes positively on children’s cognitive and socio-emotional developmental outcomes, both directly and indirectly.  Head Start should continue to include and evaluate fathers’ involvement in children’s development.