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Unmarried, nonresident fathers' involvement with their infants: a risk and resilience perspective

Jay Fagan1, Rob Palkovitz

  • 1School of Social Administration, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA. jfagan@temple.edu

Journal of Family Psychology : JFP : Journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43)
|September 19, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Unmarried, nonresident fathers

Area of Science:

  • Family Studies
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Sociology

Background:

  • Nonresident fathers' involvement is crucial for child wellbeing.
  • Understanding factors influencing paternal involvement is essential for effective interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To examine risk and resilience factors affecting unmarried, nonresident fathers' involvement with their infants.
  • To test additive, multiplicative, and moderating models of risk and resilience.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of a subsample (n=652) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study at 1-year follow-up.
  • Examined paternal involvement in relation to fathers' relationship with the child's mother, risk, and resilience factors.

Main Results:

  • Fathers in acquaintance relationships and those with higher additive risk scores showed less involvement.
  • Higher additive resilience scores were associated with greater paternal involvement.
  • A multiplicative effect was found between relationship status and the risk index on paternal involvement.

Conclusions:

  • Interventions should address risk and resilience factors impacting nonresident fathers.
  • The quality of fathers' relationships with their children's mothers is a key moderating factor.
  • Programs supporting nonresident fathers need to consider these complex interactions.

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