Low-Income Fathers' Involvement in Their Toddlers' Lives: Biological Fathers From the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Study

Abstract

In this article, we use data on biological fathers (n = 597) and mothers (N = 1,550) from 12 sites of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHS study) to examine the type and frequency of father involvement. We use a three-part model of father involvement to examine whether fathers participating in the EHS study are accessible to, engaged with, and show responsibility for their two-year-old children. We also examine patterns of reported father involvement by relationship status and residency. We find that more than 80% of all two-year-old children in the EHS study have accessible biological fathers, with the majority of nonresident boyfriends and nonresident friends and more than a third of fathers in no relationship with the mother seeing their children at least once in three months. These accessible fathers are engaged in a range of activities and show responsibility for their children, although patterns vary by the father-mother relationship status and father residency. More specifically, fathers who had at least a romantic relationship with the mother were more involved with their children across types of involvement than those in no relationship. Associations between relationship status and father engagement and responsibility remained after controlling for demographic variation among fathers in different relationship groups. A significant proportion of fathers who had no relationship with the mother of their child had some contact with the child, suggesting that the relationship between mother and father is not the only factor helping fathers stay involved in their children’s lives. Finally, fathers report doing a lot more caregiving than has been suggested by other studies.