The researchers examined childhood family structure, age, and race/ethnicity as correlates of paternal relationships using the Father Presence Questionnaire. The sample consisted of 788 adult women aged 18 to 88 years from ethnically diverse backgrounds. The most consistent finding was the effect of family structure on participants' evaluations of…

The article reconceptualizes father presence as the psychological presence of the father in the child. The article explicates the components of father presence as comprised of the following: (a) an inner sense of father in the child that orients him or her to the father; (b) the child's relationship with the personal father; (c) other family…

This article examines the role of the African American uncle as a vital yet overlooked form of social support and social capital in the lives of adolescent African American male sons living in single-female-headed households. Research rarely examines the affective roles and functions of men in Black families; moreover, poor urban Black male youth…

The purpose of this article is to examine work-family conflict among low-income, unmarried mothers. Analyzing the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national sample of nonmarital births, I examine how social capital affects work-family conflict and how both social capital and work-family conflict affect employment. Results show that…

Presents theory to explain why fathers remove themselves from children's lives after divorce. Bases theory on potential for change in salience of man's identity as father postdivorce. Propositions and hypotheses are derived from symbolic interaction and identity theories. Defines and interrelates concepts of identity, saliency, commitment, and…

Examines why older, single women become mothers and how their premotherhood motivation and experience compare to those of demographically-similar married mothers. The composite picture that emerged from the single mothers was one of ambivalence toward marriage: a combination of an idealized image of marriage and an unwillingness to accept…

Presents the view that the family is in trouble and discusses three symptoms of that trouble: no-fault divorce, fatherless families, and childlessness. Considers the role of individualism in causing symptoms and offers recommendations for changes in child support laws and parent responsibility. (NB)

Examined educational outcomes for eighth graders: 409 in single-father, 3,483 in single-mother, and 14,269 in biological 2-parent families. Found that children from single-father and single-mother families performed roughly the same in school, but both were outperformed by children from two-parent families. Intervening processes explaining school…

Notes that children whose parents divorce will experience a decline in the quality of their relationship with the noncustodial parent and that many children from divorced families will spend a significant amount of time without an adult male present. Calls for research to examine effects of weakened child-father bond. (NB)

Used data from National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 to examine extent to which absent fathers provided assistance to their children. Results indicated that absent fathers were much more likely to make child support payments than to provide other forms of assistance. Gender of children did not influence provision of most…

Examined impact of biological father on young children's (n=1,688) cognitive and behavior adjustment. Used data from 1986 Child Supplement of National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to assess relationship between father's coresidence in household over child's first three years and adjustment. Findings suggest that father-effects operated through…

Among women divorcing before age 25, being childless increased the likelihood of remarriage; among women divorcing at 35 or older, having no children decreased it. For women divorcing at age 25 to 34, there was no effect. (Author)

Sociologists have linked black family structure to persisting disadvantage. This study employs data from the 1990 Public Use Microdata Samples to compare the rural African American family to its urban counterpart. Results from the logistic regression analysis reveal that for rural blacks, family structure is less important than community type and…

Examined single mothers' well-being and perceptions of their preschoolers' behavior. Findings from 76 single, employed mothers indicated that variables reflecting interface between work and family roles were important for well-being and perceptions of children's behavior. Depression appeared allied with stability and resources in mothers' lives;…

Used data from National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to examine extent to which presence or absence of biological fathers from home was associated with gender difference in presence or absence of children and gender differences in home environment encountered by children. Results for black children were less systematic than those for white…