Exploring Fathering Roles in Low-Income Families: The Influence of Intergenerational Transmission

Abstract

In 1995, President Clinton requested that federal agencies assume greater leadership in promoting father involvement. As a result, federal agencies were asked to review their programs and policies with an eye to strengthening the role of fathers in families and highlighting fathers' contributions to their children's well-being. In addition, federal agencies were instructed to improve their data collection on fathers. Concurrently, the federal Fatherhood Initiative began to take stock of the research conducted on fathers since the 1960s. It found that there were some limitations to the available fathering data. Most of the existing work had been done on middle-class samples; used mothers as proxy for fathers; and focused on one dimension of fathers' involvement at a single point in time. The Fatherhood Initiative led to recommendations for improving data collection on the nature and outcomes of father involvement. These recommendations, found in the Nurturing Fatherhood report, were based in part in the realization that the household survey-the basic data gathering tool for demographic and behavioral science research on the family, labor force, and fertility-was based on outdated assumptions about the stability of the household (Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1998b). This methodological problem resulted in a "male undercount" problem. Researchers and policy makers were urged to expand their perspective: to attend to both marital and nonmarital relationships from the vantage points of women and men; to conduct longitudinal studies that follow the process of fertility and family formation across the life span; and to improve data gathering on the motivations, attitudes, and intentions underlying childbearing of men and women in all types of relationships. The Nurturing Fatherhood report also highlighted the need to further investigate the meaning of fatherhood and the motivations underlying fatherhood. Tanfer & Mott (1997) had also reported that there was widespread reliance on

“I Want Child Care He's Gonna Be Happy In”: A Case Study of a Father's Child Care Experiences

“…It is important to understand that fathers, just as mothers, are attentive and skillful in their parenting (Shears, Summers, Boller, & Barclay-McLaughlin, 2006). A number of studies have suggested that fathers are very involved in their young children's lives in a variety of ways, including as play mates, providers, socializers, and role models (Lamb, 1997(Lamb, , 2002Shears & Robinson, 2005).…”

Intergenerational pathways leading to foster care placement of foster care alumni's children

“…This included activities such as nurturing (feeding, diapering), playing together and providing emotional support and affection (Shears et al . ).…”

L’expérience des futurs jeunes pères durant la période prénatale

“…En effet, au rôle traditionnel de pourvoyeur s'ajoutent chez eux des aspects interpersonnels et émotifs, entre autres, la relation avec la mère de leur enfant (Shears, et collab., 2006). À ce sujet, la bonne entente ou le conflit entre les deux parents semble être le facteur le plus lié à l'engagement ou au désengagement paternel (Fagan, et collab., 2003).…”