IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v34y2013i3p253-264.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Big Brother: New Findings on How Low-Income Fathers Define Responsible Fatherhood

Author

Listed:
  • Monika Myers

Abstract

I interviewed 57 low-income fathers about how they define responsible fatherhood. Unlike findings from previous research, their definition did not include financial provision or daily caregiving. Instead, their definition included six dimensions, some of which resemble a “Big Brother”: spending time in non-caregiving activities; avoiding harm by voluntarily distancing from the child when it is in the child’s best interest; acknowledging paternity in non-legal forums; spending money on gifts, joint activities, and special needs; monitoring the child’s home for trouble; and minimizing absences in the child’s life. Because these fathers do not emphasize traditional breadwinning or primary caregiving, their responsible fathering beliefs and behavior may be unappreciated by academics, practitioners, and policy makers. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Monika Myers, 2013. "A Big Brother: New Findings on How Low-Income Fathers Define Responsible Fatherhood," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 253-264, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:34:y:2013:i:3:p:253-264
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-012-9327-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10834-012-9327-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-012-9327-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sandra Hofferth & Angela Pinzon, 2011. "Do Nonresidential Fathers’ Financial Support and Contact Improve Children’s Health?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 280-295, June.
    2. Brandeanna Allen & John Nunley & Alan Seals, 2011. "The Effect of Joint-Child-Custody Legislation on the Child-Support Receipt of Single Mothers," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 124-139, March.
    3. Sandra Hofferth & Nicole Forry & H. Peters, 2010. "Child Support, Father–Child Contact, and Preteens’ Involvement with Nonresidential Fathers: Racial/Ethnic Differences," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 14-32, March.
    4. Alisha Coleman-Jensen, 2011. "Working for Peanuts: Nonstandard Work and Food Insecurity Across Household Structure," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 84-97, March.
    5. Reichman, Nancy E. & Teitler, Julien O. & Garfinkel, Irwin & McLanahan, Sara S., 2001. "Fragile Families: sample and design," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4-5), pages 303-326.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yoshie Sano & Sheila Mammen & Myah Houghten, 2021. "Well-Being and Stability among Low-income Families: A 10-Year Review of Research," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 107-117, July.
    2. Sharon M. Danes & Antonio Alba Meraz & Ashley L. Landers, 2016. "Cultural Meanings of Resource Management for Mexican–Americans," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 37(4), pages 607-623, December.
    3. Andrew Beauchamp, 2016. "Abortion Costs, Separation, and Non-marital Childbearing," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 182-196, June.
    4. Sangeetha Madhavan & Linda Richter & Shane Norris & Victoria Hosegood, 2014. "Fathers’ Financial Support of Children in a Low Income Community in South Africa," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 452-463, December.
    5. Robin S. Högnäs & Heidi Williams, 2017. "Maternal Kinship Involvement and Father Identity in Fragile Families," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 249-262, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kristin Mammen, 2020. "Children’s Gender and Investments from Nonresident Fathers," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 332-349, June.
    2. Chen, Yiyu & Meyer, Daniel R., 2017. "Does joint legal custody increase child support for nonmarital children?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 547-557.
    3. Heather H. Kelley & Ashley B. LeBaron & E. Jeffrey Hill, 2021. "Family Matters: Decade Review from Journal of Family and Economic Issues," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 20-33, July.
    4. Benjamin Foster, 2011. "Norms and Costs of Government Domestic Violence Policies: A Critical Review," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 140-151, March.
    5. Sangeetha Madhavan & Linda Richter & Shane Norris & Victoria Hosegood, 2014. "Fathers’ Financial Support of Children in a Low Income Community in South Africa," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 452-463, December.
    6. Sandra Hofferth & Angela Pinzon, 2011. "Do Nonresidential Fathers’ Financial Support and Contact Improve Children’s Health?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 280-295, June.
    7. Calvina Ellerbe & Jerrett Jones & Marcia Carlson, 2014. "Nonresident Fathers’ Involvement after a Nonmarital Birth: Exploring Differences by Race/Ethnicity," Working Papers 14-07-ff, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    8. Tracey, Marlon R. & Polachek, Solomon W., 2018. "If looks could heal: Child health and paternal investment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 179-190.
    9. Allison Dwyer Emory, 2019. "Unintended Consequences: Protective State Policies and the Employment of Fathers with Criminal Records," Working Papers wp19-04-ff, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    10. Julia S. Goldberg, 2011. "Identity Salience and Involvement among Resident and Nonresident Fathers," Working Papers 1323, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    11. McGovern, Mark E. & Rokicki, Slawa & Reichman, Nancy E., 2022. "Maternal depression and economic well-being: A quasi-experimental approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    12. Kelly Noonan & Nancy E. Reichman & Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave, 2007. "Prenatal drug use and the production of infant health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(4), pages 361-384, April.
    13. Guarin, Angela & Costanzo, Molly, 2020. "Noncustodial fathers’ financial contributions to children in three-generation households," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    14. Lee, Shawna J. & Altschul, Inna & Gershoff, Elizabeth T., 2015. "Wait until your father gets home? Mother's and fathers’ spanking and development of child aggression," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 158-166.
    15. Terry-Ann Craigie, 2008. "Effects of Paternal Presence and Family Stability on Child Cognitive Performance," Working Papers 1015, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    16. Rachel A. Razza & Anne Martin & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, 2011. "ATTENTION AND SCHOOL SUCCESS: The Long-Term Implications of Attention for School Success among Low-Income Children," Working Papers 1330, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    17. Chelsea R. Miller & Kaylee B. Crockett & Karen L. Cropsey & Jamie M. Gajos, 2024. "The association between criminal legal attitudes and healthcare utilization among adolescents: differences by gender and race," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-4, December.
    18. Charles Courtemanche & Art Carden & Xilin Zhou & Murugi Ndirangu, 2019. "Do Walmart Supercenters Improve Food Security?," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 177-198, June.
    19. Swann, Christopher A., 2017. "Household history, SNAP participation, and food insecurity," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 1-9.
    20. Nancy E. Cohen, 2003. "Unmarried African American Fathers' Involvement with Their Infants: The Role of Couple Relationships," Working Papers 954, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:34:y:2013:i:3:p:253-264. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.