Jay Fagan

Father Involvement Program Effects on Fathers, Father Figures, and Their Head Start Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

An evaluation study was conducted to examine the effects of participation in a Head Start-based father involvement intervention program for fathers and their children. The study used a quasi-experimental research design that compared pretest and post-test measures for participants in four intervention sites against nonparticipants in geographically and demographically matched comparison (control) sites. The treatment and comparison groups were further divided into dosage groups based on the amount of time that fathers were involved in the program. The results suggest a positive association between high dosage participation in the intervention and increased father involvement with children at post-treatment. The children of high dosage intervention fathers also showed higher mathematics readiness change scores. Children in the low dosage comparison group showed a significant increase in behavior problems.

Head Start Fathers' Daily Hassles and Involvement With Their Children

This study of Head Start fathers and father figures examined the relationship between mens daily hassles and their involvement with children. Fathers completed a shortened version of a daily hassles scale and a father involvement measure on two weekdays and one weekend day. The father involvement instrument used a modified time-diary strategy to assess amount of involvement with all children in the family. The findings indicated a significant but negative relationship between daily hassles and amount of accessibility and play interaction with children after statistically controlling for child- and father-related variables.

Multirater congruence on the social skills rating system: mother, father, and teacher assessments of urban head start children’s social competencies

Abstract This study examined the relationships between parent and teacher and between mother and father SSRS reports of 134 urban Head Start children to assess the cross-informant capacity of the SSRS. The findings documented an insignificant relationship between parent and teacher SSRS ratings of children’s social competence. The results revealed significant congruence between SSRS ratings of mothers and fathers. Mothers and fathers who reported higher levels of sharing childcare responsibilities evidenced higher levels of agreement on SSRS ratings of children. This study discusses the importance of Head Start staff, parent, and research partnerships for developing scales that have the capacity to foster home-school communications about children.

Father involvement in early childhood programs: review of the literature

Father involvement in early childhood programs (ECPs) has increased rapidly during the past 10–15 years. This review of our understanding of the current state of father involvement in ECPs employs two theoretical frameworks: ecological perspective and situated fathering. We draw from the research and practice literature to understand the current levels of father involvement in early education programs, the factors that support this type of father involvement, the barriers to father involvement, and strategies for increasing father involvement in ECPs. Recommendations for future research on father involvement initiatives are also discussed.

Perceptions and Satisfaction with Father Involvement and Adolescent Mothers’ Postpartum Depressive Symptoms

This study examined the associations between adolescent mothers’ postpartum depressive symptoms and their perceptions of amount of father care giving and satisfaction with father involvement with the baby. The sample included 100 adolescent mothers (ages 13–19; mainly African-American and Latina) whose partners were recruited for a randomized study for fathers only. Controlling for prenatal depressive symptoms and other prenatal and postpartum variables, we found that higher levels of mothers’ satisfaction with father involvement rather than perception of amount of fathers’ care giving was significantly associated with fewer postpartum depressive symptoms. The relationship between satisfaction with father involvement and depressive symptoms was partially mediated by mothers’ sense of parenting competence and not by mothers’ parenting stress. Policy and programs should place greater emphasis on early support for adolescent mothers and their partners, particularly when mothers desire the involvement of the father with his child.

Child Care, Work, and Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income Mothers

Focusing on social factors associated with increased depressive symptoms among working mothers living in poor urban neighborhoods, this study investigates the effects of welfare participation, employment conditions, and child care on womens emotional well-being. The authors use new data from the Philadelphia Survey of Child Care and Work. Hierarchical regression analyses reveal minimal effects of welfare participation on depressive symptoms. However, womens employment characteristics and child care problems were significantly related to emotional well-being. Interaction effects between child care and employment were also explored. Mothers who had concerns about child care were more likely to report depressive symptoms when they had good-quality jobs (higher wages) or when they had only one job or were not unemployed.

The Effect of Cumulative Risk on Paternal Engagement: Examining Differences among Adolescent and Older Couples.

This study examined the association between fathers’ and mothers’ risk factors and paternal engagement 1 and 3 years postbirth. Distinguishing between new and persistent risk factors, we tested whether cumulative risk has unique effects on couples where one or both parents are adolescents at birth. Results indicated that although fathers’ and mothers’ risk factors affected levels of paternal engagement with 1-year-olds, these effects did not differ among couples with at least one adolescent and older couples. However, when the child was 3, fathers’ risk factors were stronger predictors of decreased engagement for couples with at least one adolescent partner, but mothers’ risk factors increased engagement only for adolescent fathers with older mothers. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Mother and Father Involvement in Day Care Centers Serving Infants and Young Toddlers.

This study compared the involvement of 28 mothers and their spouses in day care centers serving infants and toddlers. The sample consisted of parents who work at varying distances from the center. Parents were interviewed ten times each to determine the amount of time they spend in the center, frequency of communication with care providers, mid‐day visits to the center, playing with the child, and holding the child in the center. Factor analysis reduced these variables to one parental involvement factor. Mothers were significantly more involved than fathers in the center, after statistically controlling for distance to the workplace and occupational status.

Adolescent Parents’ Partner Conflict and Parenting Alliance, Fathers’ Prenatal Involvement, and Fathers’ Engagement With Infants

The present study modeled the associations between adolescent mothers’ and young fathers’ perceptions of partner conflict, parenting alliance, fathers’ prenatal involvement, and father engagement with infants using a sample of 127 adolescent mothers and their partners. This study hypothesized that (a) higher quality parenting alliances would be associated with increased father engagement with infants, (b) prenatal partner conflict would have a negative spillover effect on the parenting alliance and father engagement during infancy, and (c) fathers’ prenatal involvement would be positively associated with parenting alliance and engagement during infancy. The results showed that mothers’ perceptions of parenting alliance during infancy were robust correlates of father engagement, mothers’ perceptions of prenatal partner conflict had a negative spillover effect on parenting alliance and father engagement with the infant as perceived by mothers, and fathers’ and mothers’ perceptions of fathers’ prenatal involvement were directly linked to engagement with infants.

Effects of Divorce and Cohabitation Dissolution on Preschoolers’ Literacy

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey–Birth cohort (N = 6,450), the present study hypothesized that 48-month-old children of divorced mothers would score lower on emerging literacy than the children of formerly cohabiting mothers, compared with the children of mothers in stable marriage. The children of mothers who divorced or exited cohabitation but then remained single did not have significantly lower literacy than children of mothers in stable marriage. The children of divorced parents who then cohabited with another man fared significantly more poorly on literacy tests than children of continuously married parents. The children in the divorce → cohabitation group also had significantly lower literacy than the children in the divorce → noncohabitation and cohabitation → noncohabitation groups. Mothers in consistent cohabiting relationships were also more likely than mothers in stable marriage to have children with low literacy. The association between stable cohabitation and child literacy was mediated by change in socioeconomic status.