Fathers' Involvement with Their Nonresident Children and Material Hardship

Latent classes and longitudinal patterns of material hardship as predictors of child well-being

This study examined the associations of multifaceted material hardship measured cross-sectionally and longitudinally with children's wellbeing in the United States. Results from linear regression and child fixed effects models indicated that more intense material hardship had consistent, detrimental associations with child health status and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. More intense longitudinal patterns of material hardship were consistently associated with behaviors only. These findings examine new, multifaceted measures of material hardship and suggest associations between child wellbeing, particularly behavior challenges, and exposure both to multiple forms of material hardship and to more intense long-term patterns of hardship.

Marital Status, Father Acknowledgement, and Birth Outcomes: Does the Maternal Education Matter?

We evaluated whether the maternal marital status and father acknowledgement (proxy for paternal presence) affect birth weight, and if so, whether the maternal educational attainment modifies this effect. The growing tendency of alternative forms of family structure affects maternal well-being and pregnancy outcome. However, it is not known whether poorer birth outcomes of out-of-wedlock childbearing can be overcome or compensated by maternal education. Using birth registry data, we assessed the impact of maternal civil status and child recognition by the father on birth-weight-for-gestational age (BWGA) z-scores, with respect to maternal education, among Polish mothers (N = 53,528). After standardization, the effect of being unmarried with father acknowledgement (UM-F) vs. married with father acknowledgement (M-F) reduced the BWGA z-score of 0.05 (p < 0.001), irrespective of educational attainment (p for interaction = 0.79). However, education differentiated the effect of father acknowledgement across unmarried mothers. BWGA z-scores were significantly lower among the low-educated unmarried group without father acknowledgment (UM-NF) as compared to UM-F (equaled -0.11, p = 0.01). The same effect among the higher-educated group was non-significant (p = 0.72). Higher maternal education can compensate for the negative effect of a lack of father acknowledgement, but it does not help to overcome the effect of out-of-wedlock stress exposure.

Longitudinal Patterns of Material Hardship among US Families

Material hardship has emerged as a direct measure of deprivation in the United States and an important complement to income poverty, providing different evidence about the ways in which deprivation may affect wellbeing. This study addresses gaps in our knowledge about deprivation as the first to examine patterns of material hardship over time. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, this study examined five material hardship types (food, housing, medical, utility, and bill-paying) experienced at five timepoints over 15 years. Employing latent class analysis and latent transition analysis, this study identified six longitudinal patterns of material hardship experience, characterized by trajectories of stability or movement and relative severity of material hardship experience over time. These findings improve our conceptual understanding of deprivation and move us towards understanding the impacts of material hardship on wellbeing and identifying policy approaches to prevent deprivation or mitigate negative consequences.

Does Time with Dad in Childhood Pay Off in Adolescence?

OBJECTIVE

We aim to understand the association between father involvement in middle childhood and adolescent behaviors and whether the relationship differs by father residence.

BACKGROUND

Internalizing and externalizing behaviors in adolescence can trigger a cascade of negative outcomes later in life, including lower educational attainment, criminal justice involvement, and future psychological distress. Evidence, largely focusing on nonresidential fathers and older cohort, suggests that father involvement-particularly closeness and engagement-may reduce adolescents' internalizing and externalizing behaviors.

METHOD

We use data six waves of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth cohort survey representative of births in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000, to estimate OLS regression models examining (a) whether father involvement in middle childhood is associated with fewer problem behaviors at Age 15, (b) if the salience of father involvement differs depending on whether the father was present in the home (i.e., was married to or living with his child's mother) in middle childhood, and (c) whether father involvement matters differently based on the child's sex.

RESULTS

We find protective associations between father involvement and adolescent behavioural outcomes that persist even among children who were not living with their fathers. In models stratified by the child's sex, father involvement matters for both boys and girls. In all models, father presence alone, apart from active involvement, is not significantly associated with behavioral outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Father involvement protects against negative adolescent behaviors even among children with nonresidential fathers and for both boys and girls.

IMPLICATIONS

These results suggest that policies that promote greater father involvement and father-child bonds, rather than other options such as promoting marriage, may be more effective in reducing behavioral problems among adolescents.

High financial hardship and mental health burden among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men

Prior research has documented the ways in which financial hardships negatively impact health, particularly mental health. However, this association between financial hardships and mental health outcomes has rarely been examined in sexual minorities. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between financial hardships and mental health burdens among a sample of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in Paris, France. Participants (n = 580) completed a cross-sectional survey advertised on a geosocial networking application. Participants responded to measures of mental health, financial hardship, and socio-demographics. Modified Poisson models were used to estimate risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations between financial hardship and the following outcomes: 1) depressive symptoms, 2) anxiety symptoms, and 3) psychological distress. After adjusting for socio-demographics, high financial hardships were associated with depressive symptoms (aRR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.11) and psychological distress (aRR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.09, 2.23). Analyses also demonstrated that stress acts as a mediating variable. These preliminary results suggest that future interventions to reduce financial hardships may have positive effects on the mental health of such a population.

Advancing Research and Measurement on Fathering and Child Development

Fathers are more than social accidents. Research has demonstrated that fathers matter to children's development. Despite noted progress, challenges remain on how best to conceptualize and assess fathering and father-child relationships. The current monograph is the result of an SRCD-sponsored meeting of fatherhood scholars brought together to discuss these challenges and make recommendations for best practices for incorporating fathers in studies on parenting and children's development. The first aim of this monograph was to provide a brief update on the current state of research on fathering and to lay out a developmental ecological systems perspective as a conceptual framework for understanding the different spaces fathers inhabit in their children's lives. Because there is wide variability in fathers' roles, the ecological systems perspective situates fathers, mothers, children, and other caregivers within an evolving network of interrelated social relationships in which children and their parents change over time and space (e.g., residence). The second aim was to present examples of empirical studies conducted by members of the international working group that highlighted different methods, data collection, and statistical analyses used to capture the variability in father-child relationships. The monograph ends with a commentary that elaborates on the ecological systems framework with a discussion of the broader macrosystem and social-contextual influences that impinge on fathers and their children. The collection of articles contributes to research on father-child relationships by advancing theory and presenting varied methods and analysis strategies that assist in understanding the father-child relationship and its impact on child development.

Intimate Partner Violence and Material Hardship Among Urban Mothers

Using a longitudinal population-based sample (n = 4,234), this study explored the association of intimate partner violence (IPV) with material hardship. We found that women who experienced IPV are substantially more likely to experience material hardship, even after controlling for a comprehensive set of static and time-varying characteristics, including material hardship at the prior wave and individual fixed effects. Associations were strongest for experiences of physical abuse (the least prevalent type of IPV) and controlling abuse (the most prevalent type of IPV) but were weaker for emotional abuse. Results suggest that IPV increases the probability of material hardship by 10-25%.

Fathers' Criminal Behavior and Involvement With Children: The Moderating Role of Family Relationships

OBJECTIVE

Research indicates that fathers' criminal behavior can be problematic for children through multiple pathways, yet few studies have examined the effect of fathers' kinship networks in this process. This study examines the association between fathers' criminal behavior and involvement with their children and the extent to which a father's relationships with individuals in his extended family network moderate this association.

METHOD

Hierarchical linear modeling was used to predict fathers' involvement using data from a longitudinal intergenerational study of 335 children and 149 low-income, minority fathers. Measures included 8 father-involvement outcomes, a measure of fathers' criminal behavior, and 2 moderator variables.

RESULTS

High-quality relationships between fathers and their male relatives moderated the negative effect of criminal behavior on measures of fathers' involvement. Criminal behavior was only associated with decreasing levels of father involvement when fathers had low-quality relationships with male relatives.

CONCLUSIONS

Strong and affirmative relationships-with male relatives specifically-may attenuate the adverse effects of antisocial and criminal behavior on fathers' involvement in at-risk families. Implications for tailoring practice to improve relationships between fathers and male relatives and to enhance fathers' prosocial involvement are noted.

Paternal Multiple Partner Fertility and Environmental Chaos Among Unmarried Nonresident Fathers

This study examined the association between paternal multiple partner fertility (MPF; having children with two or more partners) and indicators of environmental chaos (partnership instability, residential instability, work stability, material hardship, and perceived social support) among unmarried, non-resident fathers. Survey data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 873) were used to compare unmarried non-resident fathers who experienced MPF to those who had children with one partner. Results show that paternal MPF is associated with most indicators of environmental chaos (greater partnership instability, residential instability, work instability, material hardship), but not social support. Results suggest that fathers who experience MPF face challenges beyond those of other non-resident fathers. Policies and interventions should address aspects of instability and hardship that are unique to paternal MPF in order to encourage fathers' positive contributions to children and families. Directions for future research are discussed.

How Much In-Kind Support Do Low-Income Nonresident Fathers Provide? A Mixed-Method Analysis

Past child support research has largely focused on cash payments made through the courts (formal support) or given directly to the mother (informal support), almost to the exclusion of a third type: non-cash goods (in-kind support). Drawing on repeated, semistructured interviews with nearly 400 low-income noncustodial fathers, the authors found that in-kind support constitutes about one quarter of total support. Children in receipt of some in-kind support receive, on average, $60 per month worth of goods. Multilevel regression analyses demonstrated that children who are younger and have more hours of visitation, as well as those whose father has a high school education and no current substance abuse problem, receive in-kind support of greater value. Yet children whose fathers lack stable employment, or are Black, receive a greater proportion of their total support in kind. A subsequent qualitative analysis revealed that fathers' logic for providing in-kind support is primarily relational, and not financial.

PROGRESS ON THE PATERNAL BRAIN: THEORY, ANIMAL MODELS, HUMAN BRAIN RESEARCH, AND MENTAL HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

With a secure foundation in basic research across mammalian species in which fathers participate in the raising of young, novel brain-imaging approaches are outlining a set of consistent brain circuits that regulate paternal thoughts and behaviors in humans. The newest experimental paradigms include increasingly realistic baby-stimuli to provoke paternal cognitions and behaviors with coordinated hormone measures to outline brain networks that regulate motivation, reflexive caring, emotion regulation, and social brain networks with differences and similarities to those found in mothers. In this article, on the father brain, we review all brain-imaging studies on PubMed to date on the human father brain and introduce the topic with a selection of theoretical models and foundational neurohormonal research on animal models in support of the human work. We discuss potentially translatable models for the identification and treatment of paternal mood and father-child relational problems, which could improve infant mental health and developmental trajectories with potentially broad public health importance.

Poverty as a predictor of 4-year-olds' executive function: new perspectives on models of differential susceptibility

In a predominantly low-income, population-based longitudinal sample of 1,259 children followed from birth, results suggest that chronic exposure to poverty and the strains of financial hardship were each uniquely predictive of young children's performance on measures of executive functioning. Results suggest that temperament-based vulnerability serves as a statistical moderator of the link between poverty-related risk and children's executive functioning. Implications for models of ecology and biology in shaping the development of children's self-regulation are discussed.

Black adolescent mothers' perspectives on sex and parenting in nonmarital relationships with the biological fathers of their children

OBJECTIVE

To understand single Black adolescent mothers' perspectives on the sexual and parenting-related aspects of their relationships with the biological fathers of their children.

METHODS

The study was a qualitative description of perspectives from a convenience sample of Black single (nonmarried) adolescent mothers. Data were generated through focus groups and interviews. Participants were recruited using self-referral and health provider referrals.

SETTING

The study was conducted in a county public health department sexually transmitted diseases clinic in Rochester, New York.

PARTICIPANTS

Single mothers (N = 31) ages 15 to 19 participated in the study. The mean age of participants was 17.5 years (SD = 1.4).

FINDINGS

Four themes were identified that reflected the major characteristics of the relationships between the mothers and the biological fathers of their children: (a) You will always care about your "baby daddy" because of your child, (b) Negative behavior is tolerated to keep the family together, (c) The "baby daddy" can get sex as long as we are not on bad terms, and (d) He will always be part of our lives.

CONCLUSION

Black adolescent mothers have complex relationships with the biological fathers of their children that may include ongoing sexual activity. The intersection of coparenting and sexual health needs among adolescent mothers highlights the importance of integrating sexually transmitted infections prevention with perinatal health programs. It is important to consider this unique coparenting relationship when providing risk-reduction counseling to young mothers.

The Great Recession, Public Transfers, and Material Hardship

Economic downturns lead to lost income and increased poverty. Although high unemployment almost certainly also increases material hardship, and government transfers likely decrease hardship, the first relationship has not yet been documented and the second is poorly understood. We use data from five waves of the Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study to study the relationships between unemployment, government transfers, and material hardship. The latest wave of data was collected during the Great Recession, the worst recession since the Great Depression, providing a unique opportunity to look at how high unemployment rates affect the well-being of low income families. We find that the unemployment rate is associated with increased overall material hardship, difficulty paying bills, having utilities disconnected, and with increased usage of TANF, SNAP, UI and Medicaid. If not for SNAP, food hardship might have increased by twice the amount actually observed.

Material Hardship and Child Socioemotional Behaviors: Differences by Types of Hardship, Timing, and Duration

Child behavior problems are associated with long-term detrimental effects. A large body of literature looks at the association between income and child behavior but few studies examine this association with material hardship, an alternative economic indicator. We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to examine the following questions: (a) Is material hardship associated with child socioemotional behavior and are there differences by developmental timing, (b) Are particular hardships (bills, utilities, food, housing, medical) more strongly associated with child behavior, and (c) Are there differences in the association between short-term and long-term material hardship and child behavior? We find that children in households experiencing material hardship score significantly higher on externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Additionally, we find that a mother's inability to pay bills, experience of utility interruption, and housing instability are adversely related to child behavior. We also find that the association between material hardship and child behaviors is stronger at age 5 and that chronic aggregate hardship has a stronger association with child behavior.