Exploring Fathers’ Engagement With Home Visiting: The Tennessee Dad Project

This study explores fathers’ engagement with home visiting in the “Tennessee Dad” project, a cluster randomized-controlled trial of an in-home parenting education program for fathers delivered alongside a primary home visiting curriculum. Results from three mixed models using data from 2,916 visits with treatment ( n = 113) and control ( n = 117) condition families indicated that visits to treatment condition families were more likely to have a father present than visits to control condition families, but there were no differences between conditions on participation minutes or level of interest. Nonresidential fathers did not differ from married and cohabiting fathers on presence at home visit, controlling for covariates. Implications are discussed, including the need for father-specific materials and father-inclusive funding.

Fatherhood after Union Breakup in Uruguay: Transitory or Life-Long Commitment?

Rising union dissolution in Latin America—and in much of the world—has increased public concern over the involvement of nonresidential fathers in the lives of their children. At the same time, social norms about post-separation fatherhood have changed, increasingly favoring not only economic support, but also participation in child-rearing. In this article, we (a) examine several dimensions of nonresidential fathers’ involvement with their children, (b) test whether there is a link between pre-separation and post-separation fathering practices, and (c) explore which dimension of pre-separation fathering practices—engagement, accessibility, and responsibility—is more influential on post-separation paternal behavior. The study is based on two waves of a longitudinal national survey carried out in Uruguay. Empirical findings suggest that fathers’ pre-separation involvement in child-rearing affects their post-separation parenting behavior, although results are not conclusive in all aspects of post-separation involvement, and father’s educational attainment tends to have a more influential role.

Maternal Gatekeeping

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study ( N = 3,605), the present study examined two aspects of maternal gatekeeping in relation to low-income predominantly nonresidential fathers’ engagement with young children: facilitation and encouragement. The results showed that maternal encouragement when children were 3 years old was positively and longitudinally related to higher levels of paternal engagement with 5 year old children. However, maternal facilitation at age 3 was negatively associated with later levels of paternal engagement. Moreover, the coresidential status of mothers and fathers did not influence the relationship among facilitation, encouragement, and paternal engagement. Implications for future research and practice are discussed in this article.