Outreach to fathers is critical to improve outcomes for children. One of the most effective ways to reach fathers is through local schools and Head Start programs. This session drew upon the experience of Strong Fathers-Strong Families, LLC, which has worked with more than 220,000 fathers of…
Exploring fathering roles in low-income families: the influence of intergenerational transmission.
This study explores the meaning of fathering among men identified as fathers or father figures of 24-month-old children enrolled in Early Head Start research sites. Fathers were asked open-ended questions about their experiences of being fathers and their relationships with their own fathers. These men spoke of how important "being there" was for them in their relationship with their child as well as how the relationship with their own fathers influenced them as a parent. This study supports the theory of intergenerational parenting and furthers our knowledge and understanding of what some…
Financial Knowledge of the Low-Income Population: Effects of a Financial Education Program.
This study examines the effects of one large financial management training program for low-income people. The data are from tests of pre- and post-training financial knowledge of 163 participants. The test was designed to measure basic knowledge of participants in five content areas: predatory lending practices, public and work-related benefits, banking practices, savings and investing strategies, and credit use and interest rates. The findings demonstrate that substantial pre-training knowledge deficiencies existed on basic financial management issues, especially on public and work-related…
Implementing Healthy Marriage Programs for Unmarried Couples With children : Early Lessons From the Building Strong Families Project. Final report.
The Building Strong Families (BSF) project originated from these bodies of research, and is one of the centerpieces of a broader policy strategy to support healthy marriage. BSF is a multi-year, multi-site project sponsored by USDHHS/Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Its goal is to learn whether well-designed interventions can help interested, romantically involved, unwed parents to build stronger relationships and fulfill their aspirations for a healthy marriage if they choose to wed. This report comprises four chapters. Following an introduction, Chapter II, Implementation…
Predictors of paternal involvement for resident and nonresident low-income fathers.
In a sample of low-income families (N = 239), structural equation models assessed predictors of fathers' involvement with preschool-aged children in instrumental, behavioral, and emotional realms. Results suggest that parental conflict has a strong negative relation with father involvement. Fathers' human capital characteristics, healthy psychosocial functioning, and past stability in family relationships all predicted greater father involvement directly and/or indirectly through parental conflict. Numerous differences emerged in the predictive models between resident and nonresident fathers…