Claiming Fatherhood: Race and the Dynamics of Father Involvement among Unmarried Men

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Claiming Fatherhood Race and the Dynamics of
Father Involvement among Unmarried Men
The Moynihan Report Revisited Lessons and
Reflections after Four Decades September 28, 2007
Ron Mincy Columbia University

• Kathryn Edin
• Laura Tach
• Harvard University

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Background

• Nonmarital childbearing and total breakdown
• Was Moynihan right to worry?
• Two opposing views
• Conventional wisdom Hit and Run Fathers
• Moyers (1986)
• Blankenhorn (1995)
• Bennett (2001)
• Cosby (2004)
• Obama (2007)
• View from Ethnographers Do Right Daddies
• Hamer (2001)
• Sullivan (1993)
• Waller (2002)
• Young (2006)
• Exceptions - Anderson (1993) but see Anderson
  (1995) Bell Kaplan (1997)
• The answer depends on who we believe

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Goals

• Provide a dynamic, up-to-date portrait of father
  involvement during first five years of life
• Lerman (1993) Lerman and Sorensen (2000)
• Examine the determinants of Father Involvement
• Our Goal To test the notion of the package
  deal (Fustenberg and Cherlin 1991 Townsend
  2002)..
• Predicts a fall off after relationship ends and
  further fall off when fathers and mothers
  transition into new partner and parenthood roles
• and Mincy and Pouncys (2007) claim that the NRF
  role is more institutionalized among blacks
• Less susceptible to these threats to involvement
• Explore why transitions into subsequent
  relationships loom so large

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Two Sources of Data

• Quantitative
• Fragile Families Child Wellbeing Study
• 5,000 children born in 20 U.S. cities between
  1998-2000
• Interviews at birth, 1, 3, and 5 years
• Qualitative
• In-depth interviews with 150 low income fathers
  who had at least one non-marital child under 18
  between 1995-2001 in the Philadelphia Metro area
• Sample stratified by race and age

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A Portrait of Father Involvement for Nonmarital
Children

• Intensive Involvement several times weekly

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Father Involvement at 1 Year for Children Born to
Unmarried Parents
Non-Resident Fathers
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Intensive Non-Residential Father Involvement at
1, 3, and 5 Years for Children Born to Unmarried
Parents
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Determinants of Father InvolvementA Package
Deal? Less so for Blacks?
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Intensive Involvement for Non-Marital Children
by Time since Father lived with Mother
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Intensive Involvement for Non-Marital Children
by Time since Parents Were Romantically Involved
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Intensive Non-Residential Father Involvement for
Non-Marital Children by Parents Subsequent
Relationship Status at 5 Years
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Qualitative Results
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Summary