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Child Gender and Father Involvement in Fragile Families (PDF)
By Shelly Lundberg, Sara McLanahan, Elaina Rose, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University
October 2005

Summary: This study examined the involvement of both married and unmarried fathers with their children at birth and one year later using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Findings show some substantial differences in measures of fathers’ attachment to sons and daughters. In general, sons are more likely to receive the father’s name at birth and receive substantially more caretaking from both married and unmarried fathers. Fathers are more likely to play with, diaper, and feed sons than daughters. Mothers’ interactions with one-year-old sons and daughters are essentially identical. Although child gender has no impact on the likelihood that a mother has a new partner one year after the child’s birth, sons of mothers who do have new partners receive substantially more attention from their potential step-fathers than daughters receive. Contains 20 references.

Index Terms: At Risk Families, Early Childhood Education, Family Support, Fathers Involvement, Child Advocacy, Partnerships, Social Policies

Publisher: Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University

Publication Type: Reports (Research/technical)

Pages: 28 pages
Language: English
URL: http://www.econ.washington.edu/user/Lundberg/frag.pdf

Availability
Center for Research on Child Wellbeing
Princeton University
Wallace Hall
Princeton, New Jersey 08544
609-258-5894
FAX: 609-258-5804
crcw@opr.princeton.edu
http://crcw.princeton.edu/

 
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