Predictors of Social and Emotional Involvement of Non?Residential Fathers

Abstract

Public policy initiatives to promote nonresidential father involvement tend to focus on economic involvement over social and emotional involvement. The 2006 reauthorization of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) included funding for ‘responsible fatherhood’ programming and the recently introduced Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2009 (RFHFA) would increase this funding. Using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing dataset, this paper hypothesized that paternal, maternal, child and relational factors would predict non-residential father social and emotional environment by building on a model by Coley and Hernandez (2006). Instead, only paternal and relational factors were significant. Findings suggest a need for more policy initiatives that address fathers involved in the criminal justice system, increasing the early involvement of fathers in their infants’ lives and the need for increased attention toward domestic violence. If passed, RFHFA would address each of these factors.marriage, unwed mothers, births, father involvement, Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act