Young Nonresident Biological Fathers

Abstract

This paper summarizes research, policies, and pro- grams related to nonresident, adolescent and young adult biological fathers and outlines avenues for future initiatives in these areas. The discussion is informed by a conceptual model that illustrates how a set of interrelated macro and micro factors affect the way young fathers respond to their paternity and father roles. Research on nonresident young fathers is limited because it is largely based on data from small convenience samples. While sev- eral studies use national survey data to address issues relevant to young fathers, they are restricted because the samples are not repre- sentative of those who have fathered a child, many young men are unwilling or unable to provide an accurate report of their paternity history, surveys either omit or include only cursory measures of key concepts that address fatherhood issues, data are not collected as part of a larger conceptual framework, and data are based on older co- horts of youth. Survey data do indicate that young unwed fathers are generally less well educated, have lower academic abilities, commit more crimes, and are more likely to have been raised in a family that was economically disadvantaged compared to other young men, with these differences being much larger among white than black unwed fathers. The discussion focuses on how social agents have expanded their efforts to establish paternity for births to unmarried parents and havealso begun to apply a long term perspective to the child support issue. To date, paternity establishment efforts have achieved limited success. However, a number of innovative strategies have been pro- posed that would enable most young fathers to develop a pattern of support from the outset irrespective of their educational and finan- cial resources. The discussion also speculates on how these strate- gies could be enhanced if insights are gleaned from social psycho- logical scholarship on identity processes and the commitment concept.