Journal of Family Issues

Mothers' and children's reports of closeness to father are examined using an approach for reconciling discrepant survey responses. This approach is based on a model for the measurement of latent traits. When both mothers and children are asked to report on the closeness of the child to his or her father, tabulations of survey responses show substantial disagreement in the reported evaluation. We adopt a model that explains this disagreement in terms of (a) constant differences between mothers and children, and (b) variability within the sampling population in the actual closeness of father to child. Closeness appears to have an entirely different meaning when fathers are resident than when they are nonresident. But the meaning does not seem to vary (even if feelings do) when the resident father is a stepfather or whether the focal child is a son or a daughter.

Using a representative sample of Japanese and American fathers and their adolescent children, this cross-national study examines the extent of paternal involvement and fathers' and children's perception toward their relationships. Consistent with the media image of involved fathers, we found that American fathers spend more time with their children than their Japanese counterparts. However, although American children's perception toward their fathers is associated with such interaction, Japanese children's views toward their fathers are not strongly related to the quantity of father-child interaction. Concerning fathers' evaluations, both American and Japanese men consider themselves understanding and feel closer to their children when they interact more frequently with their offspring. We conclude that a cross-national comparison of paternal involvement and perception toward fathers' roles must take into account different types of activities rather than aggregate time of father-child interaction. Several explanations for the observed findings are discussed and suggestions for future cross-national research on fatherhood are offered.

This article examines the potential impact of nonresponse on information about paternal involvement after separation by comparing the sample of mothers whose children have a nonresident father to the sample of nonresident fathers in the National Survey of Families and Households. We show that when the samples are restricted to parents of children who were born in a first marriage, resident mothers and nonresident fathers are similar on a variety of demographic characteristics, including racial composition, family size, and duration of separation. Although resident mothers and nonresident fathers in the restricted sample report more similar levels of paternal involvement after divorce than in the comparison of the unrestricted samples, fathers still report greater involvement than do mothers. Whether the respondent is the mother or father does not affect the factors that predict variation in child support receipts or payments or visits between nonresident fathers and children. The last part of the article examines nonresident fathers' attitudes toward their role as a parent. Fathers' evaluations of their role depend more on their remarriage and characteristics of the children in their new household than on involvement with children from a previous relationship.

Using data from the child supplement to the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a series of multivariate regression models were tested to determine whether father visitation or the payment of child support are significantly associated with several measures of child welleing. The results indicate that there is limited evidence to support the hypothesis that nonresident father involvement has positive benefits for children. The strongest evidence is for the effect of child support in the domain of academics.

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this research examines the extent to which the presence or absence of biological fathers from the home is associated with gender differences in the presence or absence of children and gender differences in the home environment encountered by children. For a large national sample of children between the ages of 5 and 9, the results suggest that for White families: (a) fathers are more likely to be present in the home if the child is male; and (b) home environmental advantages that boys appear to have in two-parent households are not apparent in female-headed households. For White families, White single parenthood is clearly linked with a poorer quality environment; nonetheless, it is more equalitarian in terms of boys and girls being similarly socialized. The results for Black children are less systematic, although there is some suggestion that girls lose a modest relative advantage in home environment that they have over boys in father-present homes.

Very little is known about the academic performance of children from single-father families. How do they achieve in school relative to children from single-mother and two-parent families? Do the same processes posited to explain the school performance of children from single-mother households account for the educational performance of children in single-father homes? These questions are addressed using a nationally representative sample of 8th graders from the National Longitudinal Study of 1988. Eight different educational outcomes are compared for 409 children in single-father, 3,483 in single-mother, and 14,269 children in biological two-parent families. Children from single-father and single-mother families perform roughly the same in school, but both are outperformed by children from two-parent families. The intervening processes explaining school performance for children from single-father and single-mother families are somewhat different, however. Economic deprivation, or the lack of economic resources, is more useful for understanding the school difficulties of children from single-mother families, whereas interpersonal deprivation, or the lack of interpersonal parental resources, provide a more accurate description for why children from single-father families do poorly in school.

This article uses longitudinal data from the National Survey of Children to examine parent-child relationships in middle childhood and early adolescence. It analyzes parental nurturance, closeness, discipline, and authoritativeness by gender of parent and child. Logistic and OLS regression models of supportive parenting are also presented. Fathers are much more involved with sons and tend to concentrate on more instrumental facets of support, whereas mothers tend to be more supportive across genders in the traditional, affective sense. Results also suggest that children's, mother's, and couple/spouse's characteristics are robust predictors of supportive parenting. Fathers' traits are related only to relations with daughters. This article specifies further theoretical and substantive implications such as the relative influence of formal versus informal marital power and the distinction between child rearing and housework in examining the household division of labor. It also suggests areas for future research, including the implications of parent-child relations for marital and sibling relations.