Teenage Fathers Research Articles

Teenage Fatherhood as a Potential Turning Point in the Lives of Delinquent Youth

The present study examines whether fatherhood, generally, and residential fatherhood, specifically, predicts desistance from criminal behavior and reduced contact with the criminal justice system among delinquent teens. Using multiple waves of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, two models were estimated and analyzed via fixed-effects negative binomial regression comparing periods of residential fatherhood to periods of non-residential fatherhood and non-fatherhood. Results indicated that nonresidential fatherhood placed delinquent teens at greater odds for future arrest compared to residential fatherhood. Further, delinquent teens when residing with their children reported less offending behaviors, such as marijuana use and drug distribution, compared to periods when they did not reside with their children.

When African teenagers become fathers: culture, materiality and masculinity

Between 1996 and 2010, the percentage of African children living with their fathers in South Africa dropped from 44% to 31%, with only a third of preschool children living with their parents. Concern about the spate of father absence and its effects on children's well-being has led to a growing focus on fathers in family interventions, although there is relative silence on teenage fathers. In this paper, we draw on an interview-based study with teenage fathers living under conditions of poverty to show how their understandings of fatherhood and constructions of provider masculinity intersect with cultural demands that express both weakness and power. In expressing the desire to care and be involved with their children, and aligning with patterns of masculinity that sought enhanced options for contraceptive use based on gender-equitable relationships, we show a new direction in the making of teenage fatherhood, diverging from hierarchical gender relations where men make the decisions. These changes, however, are limited by constructions of masculinity that contradictorily reinforce provider status, gender inequalities and male patterns of sexual entitlements within a context where teenage fathers are unable to achieve the cultural status of provider masculinity. Implications are discussed in the conclusion.

Delivering services to incarcerated teen fathers: A pilot intervention to increase the quality of father–infant interactions during visitation.

The absence of a father figure has been linked to very poor developmental outcomes for the child. During incarceration, there are limited opportunities for visitation between fathers and their children. The Baby Elmo Program provides incarcerated teen fathers with parenting training and visitation with their children with the stated goal of enhancing father-child interactional quality. Forty-one incarcerated teen fathers and their infants ranging from 1 to 15 months of age participated in the present study. During individual sessions, a trained facilitator prepared fathers for visits with their children by introducing key concepts such as following the child's lead, using developmentally appropriate media to illustrate those concepts. After each training session, the incarcerated teen father interacted with his infant and the visit was video recorded. Analysis of the visit sessions focused on father's time use on different activities, the quality of father-infant interactions, and father's integration of target skills introduced in the intervention. The time-use analysis revealed that time use changed as a function of infant age. Growth linear modeling indicated that there were significant positive increases in the amount of parent support and infant engagement as a function of the number of sessions. Follow-up analyses indicated that changes between specific sessions mapped onto the target skills discussed during specific training sessions. This study's preliminary findings suggest that an intervention integrating visitation and appropriate media may be effective for incarcerated teen fathers. Due to the lack of a randomized control group, the present findings are exploratory and are discussed with a focus on further program development.

Mapa mínimo das relações sociais no exercício da paternidade na adolescência

Aim: to identify the support network to teenage fathers through the Minimum Map of Relationships, which consists of a registering of personal social network, in which included all the individuals interacting with it. Method: study of qualitative, exploratory and descriptive approach, a clip from the data of the multicenter research Social Networks of Support to Teenage Parenthood. It was developed with teenage parents in the period June 2009 to June 2010, six months after the birth of (a) child (a). Result: it was possible to observe that there were weaknesses in the social support network, as the family constituted the main source of support of the teenage father. Conclusions: it is important that the teenage father can count on a diversified net of support, including family, friends and health services so that the paternity can be lived in the healthiest way possible.

Paternal Age and General Cognitive Ability—A Cross Sectional Study of Danish Male Conscripts

ObjectivesOffspring of older men have impaired cognitive ability as children, but it is unclear if this impairment persists into adulthood. The main objective of this study was to explore the association between paternal age at offspring birth and general cognitive ability as young adults.DesignPopulation-based cross-sectional study with prospectively collected data on obstetric factors and parental education.SettingNationwide Danish sample.ParticipantsMale conscripts (n = 169,009).Primary and secondary outcome measuresGeneral cognitive ability as assessed by the Børge Priens test score, an intelligence test with components related to logical, verbal, numerical and spatial reasoning.ResultsWe observed an inverse U-shaped association between paternal age and general cognitive ability (slightly lower test scores in the offspring of fathers aged less than 25 years and older than 40 years, compared with fathers aged 25 to 29 years). However, after adjustment for maternal age, parental education and birth order the shape of the association changed. Offspring of fathers younger than 20 still showed slightly lower cognitive ability (-1.11 (95% CI -1.68 to -0.54)), but no significant impairments were identified in the men whose fathers were older than 29 years at the time of their birth (e.g. the mean difference in test score in the offspring of fathers aged 40 to 44 years were -0.03 [95% CI (-0.27 to 0.20)] compared with fathers aged 25 to 29 years).ConclusionsWe did not find that the offspring of older fathers had impaired cognitive ability as young adults. Whereas, we found a tendency that the offspring of teen fathers have lower cognitive ability. Thus, our results suggest that any potentially deleterious effects of older fathers on general cognitive ability as young adults may be counter-balanced by other potentially beneficial factors.

African American Paternal Grandmothers’ Satisfaction With the Fathering Practices of Their Teenage Sons

African American paternal grandmothers serve an important role in influencing teenage fathers’ involvement with their children in that grandmothers’ support of their sons’ fathering practices is associated with increased father involvement. We used qualitative data from 53 paternal grandmothers to compare satisfaction with teenage sons’ fathering practices with their expectations for ideal fathering and identify reasons for inconsistencies between the two. Paternal grandmothers characterized three practices (providing financial support, being attentive, and performing day-to-day care) that were key to their satisfaction with their sons’ fathering practices. These characterizations mostly overlapped with their expectations for ideal practice. When inconsistencies between expectations and satisfaction were noted, we identified three ways grandmothers interpreted satisfaction with fathering practices. These results have implications for research on teenage fatherhood and interventions meant to enhance teenage fathers’ involvement in rearing their children.

Do as you’re told! Facets of agreeableness and early adult outcomes for inner-city boys

With data from the middle cohort of the Pittsburgh Youth Study, a prospective longitudinal study of inner-city boys, we examined whether Big Five agreeableness facets could be reliably recovered in this sample, and whether facets predicted educational, occupational, social, and antisocial life outcomes assessed a decade later. Caregivers described their adolescent boys’ personalities using the Common California Q-Set; twelve years later, participants were interviewed and court records were obtained. Factor analyses recovered two facets: compliance and compassion. Compliance predicted more schooling and lower risk of unemployment, teenage fatherhood, and crime; compassion related to longer committed relationships. Findings highlight the value of studying personality at the facet level.

Genogram: a tool for characterizing the families of adolescents parents in João Pessoa, Paraíba State, Brazil

The study aimed to characterize the family composition of adolescent fathers in the city of João Pessoa, Paraíba State. This is a part of a multicenter survey developed in the states of Paraíba, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. The population was composed of ten teenage fathers living in the urban area of João Pessoa. Data collection occurred from December 2008 to October 2010 through semi-structured interview and construction of the genogram and eco-map. Participants' age ranged from 16 to 19 years. They all lived with his partner and most had low education. The unemployed and those with income below one minimum wage indicated the family as the keeper of the home. Most fathers also depended on other family housing, and the amount of people living in the same house ranged from three to seven. Despite the existence of conflicting and/or distant relationships, all respondents reported that seek emotional and financial support in their own family. Fatherhood and motherhood in adolescence had already been experienced by some families. Understanding adolescent parents requires a broader view about composition and family dynamics, a task to be faced by health professionals committed to the care, being the genogram a viable and important tool in this process.

Becoming Teen Fathers

Drawing on in-depth interviews, I analyze how teen fathers talk about the responsibility for having a baby at a young age. In addition to negotiating the stigma often associated with teen pregnancy, teen fathers also confront stereotypes that label them as selfish and uncaring. In telling their stories of “what happened,” they utilize three gendered discourses to deny responsibility for the pregnancy: the feminization of birth control, a discourse of uncontrollable male sexual desire, and love. Their narratives also reveal the ways in which gendered norms can solve some problems while creating others. Aligning themselves with certain notions of masculinity can serve as a resource for denying responsibility for the pregnancy while also signifying their manhood, but these same discourses are also constraining in that they reinforce stereotypes of teen fathers as selfish, even predatory. While these approaches may allow teen fathers to claim masculine identities, they also stigmatize them as the wrong kind of men. In short, teen fathers are not only negotiating the potential stigma of teen pregnancy, they are also negotiating their identities as men.

Genogram: a tool for characterizing the families of adolescents parents in João Pessoa, Paraíba State, Brazil - 10.4025/actascihealthsci.v34ispec.11263

The study aimed to characterize the family composition of adolescent fathers in the city of Joao Pessoa, Paraiba State. This is a part of a multicenter survey developed in the states of Paraiba, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. The population was composed of ten teenage fathers living in the urban area of Joao Pessoa. Data collection occurred from December 2008 to October 2010 through semi-structured interview and construction of the genogram and eco-map. Participants' age ranged from 16 to 19 years. They all lived with his partner and most had low education. The unemployed and those with income below one minimum wage indicated the family as the keeper of the home. Most fathers also depended on other family housing, and the amount of people living in the same house ranged from three to seven. Despite the existence of conflicting and/or distant relationships, all respondents reported that seek emotional and financial support in their own family. Fatherhood and motherhood in adolescence had already been experienced by some families. Understanding adolescent parents requires a broader view about composition and family dynamics, a task to be faced by health professionals committed to the care, being the genogram a viable and important tool in this process.

Ready or Not: Predicting High and Low School Readiness Among Teen Parents' Children.

Past research has documented compromised development for teenage mothers' children compared to others, but less is known about predictors of school readiness among these children or among teenage fathers' children. Our multidimensional measures of high and low school readiness incorporated math, reading, and behavior scores and parent-reported health. Using parent interviews and direct assessments from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, we predicted high and low school readiness shortly before kindergarten among children born to a teenage mother and/or father (N≈800). Factors from five structural and interpersonal domains based on the School Transition Model were measured at two time points, including change between those time points, to capture the dynamic nature of early childhood. Four domains (socioeconomic resources, maternal characteristics, parenting, and exposure to adults) predicted high or low school readiness, but often not both. Promising factors associated with both high and low readiness among teen parents' children came from four domains: maternal education and gains in education (socioeconomic), maternal age of at least 18 and fewer depressive symptoms (maternal characteristics), socioemotional parenting quality and home environment improvements (parenting), and living with fewer children and receiving nonparental child care in infancy (exposure to adults). The findings preliminarily suggest policies that might improve school readiness: encouraging maternal education while supplying child care, focusing teen pregnancy prevention efforts on school-age girls, basic socioeconomic supports, and investments in mental health and high-quality home environments and parenting.

THE EFFECTS OF TEENAGE FATHERHOOD ON YOUNG ADULT OUTCOMES

This paper uses national longitudinal data and several new empirical strategies to examine the consequences of teenage fatherhood. The key contribution is to compare economic outcomes of young fathers to young men whose partners experienced a miscarriage rather than a live birth. The results suggest that teenage fatherhood decreases years of schooling and the likelihood of receiving a high school diploma and increases general educational development receipt. Teenage fatherhood also appears to increase early marriage and cohabitation, and has mixed short-term effects on several labor market outcomes.

Perceived Fatherhood Roles and Parenting Behaviors Among African American Teen Fathers

Despite the growing body of research on the topic of adolescent parenthood, few studies have examined the perceptions and lived experiences of African American teen fathers. The primary aim of this study was to examine how this group defines and performs the father role. In-depth interviews were conducted with 30 African American fathers aged 14 to19 years old. Three themes emerged from the data: provider role, nurturer role, and autonomous fathers. The study results generate important questions that require further research. Information from African American teens in particular could be used to develop and evaluate interventions.

Effect of teenage parenthood on mental health trajectories: does sex matter?

Rates of teenage pregnancy and parenthood in the United States remain high. Although many consequences of teenage parenthood have been well studied, little prospective research has examined its effect on mental health. This study aims to better understand the impact of teenage parenthood on mental health and to determine whether sex modifies this relation. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 (1997-2006), and a matched cohort design, the authors compared changes in the mental health of parenting teenagers and nonparenting teenagers over 6 years of follow-up with mixed-effects regression. The results indicate that mental health improved for all teenagers over 6 years of follow-up. Furthermore, overall, teenage parenthood was not associated with changes in mental health; however, sex modified this relation. Although the mental health of teenage fathers improved at a faster rate compared with nonparenting teenage males, teenage mothers improved at a slower rate compared with nonparenting teenage females. Psychological health has important implications for both the teenage parent and the child. Future studies should aim to better understand the mechanisms through which teenage parenthood impacts mental health among both males and females, and interventions should be developed to ensure mental health among young parents.

Book Reviews: Being Normal is the Only Way to Be, Sperm Counts: Overcome by Man's Most Precious Fluid, Voices of African-American Teen Fathers: “I'm Doing What I Got to Do”, Dying to Be Men: Youth, Masculinity, and Social Exclusion

Book Reviews: Being Normal is the Only Way to Be, Sperm Counts: Overcome by Man's Most Precious Fluid, Voices of African-American Teen Fathers: “I'm Doing What I Got to Do”, Dying to Be Men: Youth, Masculinity, and Social Exclusion

How Teenage Fathers Matter for Children: Evidence From the ECLS-B.

Much is known about how having a teenage mother influences children's outcomes, but the relationship between teenage fatherhood and children's health and development is less well documented. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, the authors investigated how teenage fathers matter for children. They expected teenage fathers' influence on children to differ from adult fathers' in three domains: the household context, the father-mother relationship, and the father-child relationship. Teenage fathers were less often married and more often cohabiting or nonresident, and their children experienced a variety of social disadvantages in their household contexts. The quality of the father-child relationship did not often differ between adolescent and adult fathers. Fathers' marital status and children's household contexts each fully explained the negative relationship between having a teen father and children's cognitive and behavior scores at age 2. These findings suggest that policy interventions could possibly reduce these children's developmental gaps in the critical preschool years.

Pushy parents make for later grandparents: parents’ educational expectations and their children’s fertility among two British cohorts

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The Effects of Teenage Fatherhood on Young Adult Outcomes

This paper uses national longitudinal data and several new empirical strategies to examine the consequences of teenage fatherhood . The key contribution is to compare economic outcomes of young fathers to young men whose partners experienced a miscarriage rather than a live birth. The results suggest that teenage fatherhood decreases years of schooling and the likelihood of receiving a high school diploma and increases GED receipt. Teenage fatherhood also appears to increase early marriage and cohabitation, and has mixed short-term effects on several labor market outcomes.

Why Young Men in South Africa Plan to Become Teenage Fathers: Implications for the Development of Masculinities within Contexts of Poverty

Drawing on in-depth interviews with young fathers (n=37) aged 14 to 20 in impoverished communities in South Africa, this study focuses on the young men who intentionally planned to have children while still teenagers. It interrogates their reasons for doing so, as well as their responses to their impending fatherhood and reactions after the birth of their child. Reasons such as wish-fulfillment, leaving a legacy, wanting to keep a partner, and wanting to be seen as ‘fashionable’ amongst their peers are discussed. An analysis is provided of the relationship between young fatherhood, poverty and masculinities. Key to the discussion are the interrelated notions of ownership and responsibility, and the ways in which impoverished young men find young fatherhood to be a powerful mediator in contexts where alternative pathways to exhibiting dominant masculinities are scarce.

Early fatherhood: a mapping of the evidence base relating to pregnancy prevention and parenting support

Teenage pregnancy prevention programmes targeted at young women have received considerable attention from researchers and programme developers. However, to date, relatively limited information is available on preventing teenage fatherhood or improving outcomes for young fathers. A notable gap is concerned with understanding the forms of sexual health programmes that are most effective from the perspective of young men. We conducted a systematic mapping to identify studies involving young men aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy, improving outcomes for teenage fathers or exploring the perspectives of young men around pregnancy and fatherhood. We searched a wide range of electronic databases from January 1996 to August 2008. Three quantitative and 15 qualitative studies were identified, of which nine were UK based. Key themes related to the inappropriateness of current sexual health promotion to respond to the needs of young men. While young men often possessed very similar ideals to young women, existing programmes were problematic when they negatively stereotyped young men and ineffectively addressed models of masculinity or the difficulties young men may have forming meaningful relationships. Further investigations are required on programme development for young men, particularly on sexual health promotion interventions for 'looked-after' young men and those from unstable childhoods.