P R A A Qualitative Study of the Meaning of Fatherhood ...

Public Health Nursing Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 221–231

0737-1209/r 2010, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1446.2010.00847.x

POPULATIONS AT RISK ACROSS THE LIFESPAN: CASE REPORTS

A Qualitative Study of the Meaning of

Fatherhood Among Young Urban Fathers

Celeste A. Lemay, Suzanne B.Cashman, Dianne S. Elfenbein, and Marianne E. Felice

ABSTRACT Objective: To explore the beliefs, attitudes, and needs young men have regarding their
role as a father. Design and Sample: Exploratory, descriptive, qualitative design. Young fathers/young ex-
pectant fathers were recruited from service sites within a city in Massachusetts. Men were considered
young fathers/young expectant fathers if they were or would be o20 years old at the birth of a first child
or the mother of their baby was or would be o20 years old at the baby’s birth and the young man was o25
years old. Measures: Participants were interviewed utilizing open-ended questions, which included the
following: the characteristics of good fathers, goals/needs for self and child, and whether or not they
planned to raise the child as their father raised them and why. Results: Responses regarding fathering
clustered into the following themes: being available; providing support; and self-improvement, including
completing education and becoming a positive role model. Forty-seven percent believed that being em-
ployed or finishing school would help them be better fathers; 77% reported they would not raise their child
as their own father had raised them, citing physical and/or emotional abuse/abandonment. Conclu-
sions: Young men in this study identified several challenges to being ‘‘good’’ fathers. These included lack
of employment, education, and positive role models.

Key words: adolescent fatherhood, adolescent pregnancy, attitudes, beliefs.

Adolescent and young fathers represent a vulnerable employment opportunities than peers who are not
population, with many characteristics similar to those fathers. Adolescent and young fathers are also likely
of adolescent mothers, including low socioeconomic to have experienced greater psychological and emo-
status, lower educational attainment, and fewer tional difficulties and to have a history of delinquent
behavior than their nonparenting peers (Bunting &
Celeste A. Lemay, R.N., M.P.H., is Research Nurse Coor- McAuley, 2004; Jaffee, Caspi, Moffitt, Taylor, & Dick-
dinator, Of¢ce of Community Programs, University of son, 2001; Pears, Pierce, Kim, Capaldi, & Owen, 2005;
Massachusetts Medical School,Worcester, Massachusetts. Tan & Quinlivan, 2006). Additionally, young fathers
Suzanne B. Cashman, Sc.D., is Associate Professor, De- are more likely than older fathers to report early child-
partment of Family Medicine and Community Health, hood exposure to domestic violence and parental
University of Massachusetts Medical School,Worcester, separation or divorce, thus limiting their contact with
Massachusetts. Dianne S. Elfenbein, M.D., is the Direc- positive paternal role models (Tan & Quinlivan,
tor of Adolescent Medicine, St. Louis University School 2006). Compounding these disadvantages, the
of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. Marianne E. Felice, primary focus of family-centered child welfare
M.D., is Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, services continues to be oriented toward the child’s
University of Massachusetts Medical School,Worcester, mother (Franck, 2001; National Child Welfare
Massachusetts. Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice,
Correspondence to: 2002). Recent studies have found that health care
Celeste A. Lemay,Of¢ce of Community Programs, Uni- providers and social workers generally direct their
versity of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Ave- attention to the mother as the primary parent and
nue North, Benedict Building, Room A3-110,Worcester, caseworkers do not identify the absence of paternal
MA 01655-0002. E-mail: [email protected] involvement as an important issue (Bunting, 2005;
Franck, 2001; National Family Preservation Network,

221

222 Public Health Nursing Volume 27 Number 3 May/June 2010

2001; O’Donnell, 1999). Young fathers reportedly young fathers identified their experiences with their
often view service providers and social institutions own fathers as influencing the type of father they
not only as unsupportive, but as an actual barrier to wanted to become (Glickman, 2004; Nelson et al.,
parental involvement, with many believing that the 2002). Despite the recent increased interest in ado-
staff of hospitals, schools, and social service agencies lescent and young fathers, researchers have continued
hinder rather than facilitate their efforts to support to pay little attention to young fathers. The reasons
their child (Allen & Doherty, 1996; Bunting, 2005; cited for this omission include difficulty in identifying,
Speake, Cameron, & Gilroy, 1997). Additionally, some contacting, and recruiting these young men for stud-
of those who work to assist mothers and their children ies (Thompson & Walker, 2004). Consequently, little
have asserted that nonresident fathers are potentially is known regarding the attitudes and beliefs pertain-
dangerous and including them could result in an ing to the parental role of adolescent and young fa-
unsafe environment for the mother and the child thers, particularly self-identified needs required to be
(Fragile Families Research Brief, 2000). Results a ‘‘good’’ father.
from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study,
a large, multicity research project, do not support Research questions
this assertion, however. The majority (93%) of single The present study was designed to explore the beliefs,
mothers interviewed for this study reported a attitudes, and needs that current and expectant ado-
desire to have the father of their child involved in rais- lescent fathers and young men who are fathers of chil-
ing him or her; only a small percentage (5%) reported dren born to adolescent mothers have regarding their
physical abuse (Fragile Families Research Brief, role as a father. Understanding young fathers’ views of
2000). their roles, their goals, their needs, and the difficulties
they encounter, as well as their hopes for themselves
Research on the effect of paternal involvement and their children, can increase the likelihood that
has shown improvement in children’s development programs will help these young men play a positive
and behavior (Black, Dubowitz, & Starr, 1999; Furs- role in their children’s growth and development. This
tenberg & Harris, 1993). For adolescent and young fa- may improve the likelihood that children born to ad-
thers, involvement with their children may help olescents will develop into healthy and well-developed
promote the fathers’ psychological development, con- adults.
tribute to the fathers’ self-esteem, and strengthen the
father-child relationship (Foster, 2004; Glickman, Methods
2004). Since few adolescent and young fathers share
a household with their children and since nonresiden- Design and sample
tial paternal involvement is known to decline over A descriptive phenomenological, qualitative design
time, adolescent and young fathers are frequently less guided this study. Phenomenology enhances the un-
involved with their children than more mature fa- derstanding of the context of the lived experience of
thers, particularly as their children age (Furstenberg the individual as well as what that experience means
& Harris, 1993; Johnson, 2001; Lerman, 1993). to him or her (Husserl, 1970). Additionally, phenom-
enology incorporates the concept of bracketing, re-
In the last decade, several studies have explored quires the setting aside of preconceived notions,
the experiences of low-income, young fathers (Dallas stereotypes, or biases in an attempt to collect infor-
& Chen, 1998; Foster, 2004; Gavin et al., 2002; Glick- mation, and analyze data without prejudice (Porter,
man, 2004; Nelson, Clampet-Lundquist, & Edin, 1998). This approach also calls for data collection to
2002; Rhein et al., 1997). However, the majority of be conducted through individual interviews (Issel,
these studies exclusively reported the experiences of 2004). These facts, coupled with the knowledge that
African American fathers (Dallas & Chen, 1998; Gavin using interviews can meet the challenges of engaging
et al., 2002; Nelson et al., 2002; Rhein et al., 1997). young men in the research process, resulted in our se-
Themes related to fathers’ perceptions of the respon- lecting the individual interview as our data collection
sibilities of fatherhood, as identified in these studies, approach (Thompson & Walker, 2004).
included the concept of accountability, expressed as
‘‘being there’’ for their child and of providing finan- The study protocols and consent procedures were
cially for their child (Foster, 2004; Glickman, 2004; approved by the University of Massachusetts Medical
Nelson et al., 2002; Rhein et al., 1997). In two studies,

Lemay et al.: Beliefs and Attitudes of Young Father 223

School Committee for the Protection of Human Sub- A registered nurse with over 25 years of experi-
jects in Research. Men were considered young fathers ence interviewing individuals in both clinical and re-
if (1) they were o20 years old at the birth of their first search environments conducted the interviews face to
child or (2) the mother of their baby was o20 years face in a neutral public venue. Before the interview,
old at the baby’s birth and the young man was o25 she reviewed the consent form with the participant,
years old. Men were considered young expectant fa- who was asked to provide written consent. In an effort
thers if (1) they would be o20 years old at the birth of to establish trust, increase the comfort level for this
their child or (2) the mother of their baby would be vulnerable population, and encourage candid feed-
o20 years old at the infant’s birth and the young man back, we elected not to audiotape the interviews. Ad-
was o25 years old. Additional criteria for inclusion in ditionally, to further increase trust between the
the sample included the ability to speak English. interviewee and the interviewer, only limited demo-
graphic information was collected; personal questions
From March 2005 to May 2006, young fathers or pertaining to education, income, and living arrange-
young expectant fathers were recruited from multiple ments are often viewed as sensitive to members of a
health and human service sites within a city in central population who may be receiving public assistance
Massachusetts. Flyers with information regarding the and for whom the possibility that disclosing domicile
research study, incentives/thank yous, and method information and income can jeopardize living ar-
for self-referral to the research associate were posted rangements. Thus, we did not ask these questions.
at sites that included a national job training facility; The researcher took extensive verbatim notes during
an adolescent clinic of a community health center; a each interview and then read back responses to the
youth center; the Massachusetts Society for the Pre- participant so that he could provide additional com-
vention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) office, a social ments and clarifications. Interviews lasted approxi-
service agency; the School Age Mothers (SAMS) Pro- mately 30 min. Participants received an incentive and
gram, an educational program for teen mothers in the appreciation gift of US$20.
public school system; and the Teen Tot Connection
Clinic, a medical services facility for adolescent moth- Measures
ers and their children. Flyers alone did not result in Before the initiation of this study, MSPCC case work-
any potential subjects contacting the research asso- ers administered a Likert scale questionnaire to young
ciate for further information. Consequently, we con- fathers receiving services at the MSPCC. This baseline
tacted and provided key outreach staff at each site survey was utilized to measure father/child interac-
with detailed information regarding the project. We tion before participation in a Fathers’ Group. The re-
asked site staff to distribute flyers about the research sults of this questionnaire revealed high self-reported
project to adolescent mothers and pregnant youth as father/child interaction, with more than half (51%) of
well as young fathers receiving services; we also peri- these young fathers reporting contact with their child
odically contacted staff via e-mail and/or telephone to four to seven times per week. These results led to
remind them of the research project. As a result, over questions regarding reporting bias (social acceptance)
the course of approximately 1 year, 30 young men and concerns about the feasibility of utilizing MSPCC
were self-referred from three sites: a young father’s case workers to collect data pertaining to father/child
support group sponsored by the Teen Tot Connection interaction. As a consequence, we decided to develop
Clinic and facilitated by the MSPCC (n 5 17), the the current study as a way to better understand the
SAMS Program (n 5 11), and the Teen Tot Connection experiences of young fathers.
Clinic (n 5 2). Young fathers who contacted the re-
search associate received a full explanation of the After a literature search that failed to identify a
study over the telephone. Once participant eligibility suitable, validated instrument that we could use or
was determined, we scheduled a face-to-face inter- revise, in consultation and collaboration with MSPCC
view. All young men who contacted the research asso- Father’s Group leaders and the research team, we
ciate (N 5 30) met the inclusion criteria and were elected to develop an eight-question individual inter-
included in the study. Recruitment was suspended view guide (Table 1). This research team included an
after 4 months had elapsed and no additional poten- adolescent medicine physician with several decades of
tial study participants had contacted the research experience working with adolescents, a social worker,
associate. a registered nurse, and a researcher with extensive

224 Public Health Nursing Volume 27 Number 3 May/June 2010

TABLE 1. Individual Interview Guide Questions

1. What do you think makes a man a good father? What characteristics would a man who is a good father have?
2. Who, in your view, are good fathers? Can you give examples? What makes these men good fathers?
3. What are your goals as a father?
4. What are your hopes and dreams for your child?
5. What do you like about being a father?
6. What do you find difficult about being a father?
7. What would you need to do or to have in order to be a better father than you are now?
8. Do you plan to raise your child like your father raised you? In what ways?

Why?

experience in conducting evaluations of community- sponses at the end of the interview and had the
based projects. They developed interview questions MSPCC Fathers’ Group leaders review the coding
that were tailored to explore issues of concern to scheme and themes.
young fathers and young expectant fathers, including
self-identified needs. Additionally, they designed the Results
questions to elicit information related to the young
fathers’ experiences of fatherhood and their under- Selected sociodemographic characteristics of the sam-
standing of what it means to be a ‘‘good’’ father. ple are summarized in Table 2. Young and adolescent
Throughout question development, members of the fathers’ mean age at their first child’s birth or ex-
research team, MSPCC Fathers’ Group leaders, and pected birth was 18.4 years (SD 2.4, median 18); the
MSPCC outreach workers reviewed drafts for appro- mean age of their oldest child at the time of the inter-
priateness, relevance, and comprehension and then view was 23.14 months (SD 21.8, median 18 months).
revised questions in response to feedback. Limited Nine participants were expectant fathers; four re-
demographic information was collected at the begin- spondents had two or more children. Although no
ning of the interview. young or expectant fathers reported being married to
the mother of their baby, 77% (n 5 23) reported being
Analytical strategy in a relationship with the baby’s mother at the time of
Data were categorized using content analysis tech- the interview.
niques. This research method uses a set of coding pro-
cedures for making replicable inferences from data to Characteristics of a good father
their context and identifying emergent themes (LoB- When young and young expectant fathers were asked
iondo-Wood & Haber, 2002). After repeated readings to describe the characteristics of a good father, one
of the participants’ responses, the research associate overriding theme—the concept of availability, primarily
developed a coding scheme based on the original in- expressed as ‘‘being there’’—emerged. These young
terview questions and respondents’ spontaneously of- men thought that the primary characteristic of a good
fered comments. Verbatim responses were father was being available to one’s child when that
independently coded by two investigators, and the in- child needed him; they included this as a goal they
tercoder agreement was calculated (k .73). Disputed themselves hoped to achieve and used it to describe
responses were reviewed and discussed until 100% how they viewed whether or not an individual, including
agreement was reached. Subsequently, emergent their own father, was a ‘‘good’’ father.
themes were identified and exemplar quotes were se-
lected. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize He has to like be there for his son or daughter, ’cause
the study sample. a lot of fathers may get their girlfriend pregnant, but
they aren’t there. Maybe they are there financially,
We used several methods to assure the reliability but not supportive, to like make that bond.
of the findings. These included developing the inter-
view guide utilizing counsel and advice from an expert Other themes characterizing a good father that
panel with multiple investigators and using only one emerged included the following: providing financial
researcher to conduct interviews. Additionally, to verify and emotional support; teaching, including lessons
data accuracy, we asked participants to review re- and values; and assuming responsibility for one’s
child (Table 3).

Lemay et al.: Beliefs and Attitudes of Young Father 225

TABLE 2. Selected Characteristics of the Study Participants (N 5 30)

Variables n (%) M SD Median (range)

Race/ethnicity 9 (30) 19.73 3 20 (14–25)
White 3 (10) 18.4 2.4 18 (14–24)
Black 15 (50)
Hispanic 1 (3) 17.57 2.5 17 (15–27)
Native American 2 (7) 23.14 21.8 18 (4–84)
Multiracial
9 (30)
Age at interview (in years) 17 (57)
Age at infant’s birth/expectant birth (in years) 4 (13)
Number of children

Expecting first child
One child
Two or more children
Partner’s age at infant’s birth/expectant birth (in years)
Age of oldest child (in months)

Note. ‘‘Age of oldest child’’ includes 21 children.

Examples of good fathers anyone; and two (7%) used themselves as examples.
Asked to give an example of someone they believed to One young expectant father provided a celebrity as an
be a good father, 11 (37%) participants noted male rel- example of a good father:
atives other than their own fathers. As expressed by
one young father: Bill Cosby, he’s experienced, very funny. He has a lot
of character. He has charisma. He cares a lot about
My uncle because, well for one, his kids, one is nine his children.
and one is seven, and they respect him and do
everything he says. He doesn’t beat them, he gets Fatherhood: goals and needs
their attention just by talking to them. He works When the young men were questioned about their
hard for them and he stays home for their attention, goals as fathers, many recognized that in order to be-
so when they need him, he’s there. He also cooks and come better fathers, changing previous and current
cleans for them and buys them the things that they patterns of behavior would be necessary, ‘‘Part of the
want. He makes sure they do good in school. He goes things I need to do to show him a good example, so he
to all those meetings. He puts them in sports. don’t feel that there’s no hope for him.’’

Two (7%) gave examples of female relatives: Self-improvement changes these fathers dis-
cussed included furthering their education, becoming
My grandmother, ’cause sometimes ladies can be a positive role model, and obtaining employment.
fathers. ’Cause when I was young, my father was When asked what they would need to do or to be in
never there for me. My grandmother, she was my order to become better fathers, themes that emerged
backbone. She made sure I had clothes on my back from their comments dovetailed with the goals they
and food and made sure I went to school everyday had identified, that is, 14 (47%) young men, regardless
and did my homework before hanging with my of age, stated that being employed or finishing school
friends. would help them be better fathers and 10 (30%) be-
lieved that changing their current lifestyle would be
Seven (23%) cited their own fathers; as expressed helpful (Table 4).
by one young father to be:
Fathers’ hopes and dreams for child
My father, he was always there for us no matter how Most young and expectant fathers expressed hopes
tough things got, he never left us. He taught me how and dreams for their child’s future that included a de-
to be responsible and to make the right decisions and sire that their child surpass their own achievements,
if I mess up how to fix them. He always set the right often expressed as the wish that their child would
example. He never did anything to take me away
from school or to end up in jail.

Four (13%) mentioned male acquaintances, in-
cluding friends; three (10%) were unable to think of

TABLE 3. Characteristics of a Good Father 226 Public Health Nursing Volume 27 Number 3 May/June 2010

Characteristic Selected comments
Availability
‘‘A good father is someone who’s there.’’
Financial support ‘‘You need to be there for both the mother of your baby and the baby.’’
Emotional support ‘‘Being there no matter what happens.’’
Teaching ‘‘You need to be there for your child everyday.’’
Assuming ‘‘My mom is both mom and dad. She showed love and was always there, still is.’’
‘‘I’m looking forward to being there.’’
responsibility ‘‘(To) always be available to your kids.’’
‘‘You need to take care of them financially.’’
‘‘Take care by working, giving the mother money to buy things they need.’’
‘‘Giving them what they need, diapers, clothes, crib, everything.
You need to be supportive through goods.’’
‘‘To be a good father you need to have a big heart.’’
‘‘He shows him love.’’
‘‘Caring and loving, hugging them and all that. Showing affection, not neglecting them.’’
‘‘To love my child.’’
‘‘Teach him right from wrong and teach him to be a good kid.’’
‘‘When she gets of age to let her know right from wrong and let her know it’s not gonna be easy, that she’ll still have to work hard.’’
‘‘The morals I show him he will pass these morals to his kids.’’
‘‘My father taught me that to be successful in life you have work for it. I want to teach those values to him.’’
‘‘To be able to take responsibility for being a father. To accept the challenge.’’
‘‘I think the first thing is being responsible. If you were responsible enough to create a baby, you should be responsible enough to take care of

it.’’
‘‘Being able to admit and own up to it.’’
‘‘A good father needs to be responsible.’’

TABLE 4. Fatherhood: Goals and Needs Selected comment Lemay et al.: Beliefs and Attitudes of Young Father 227
Goals/needs
Completing education ‘‘Eventually, I would like to finish school and get an education.’’
‘‘I’m trying to complete school right now. That’s my main goal.’’
Employment ‘‘I plan to go to college and the purpose is for my baby.’’
‘‘I think the better education is the most so I can do better. That’s why I’m back in school now.’’
Becoming a role model/changing patterns of behavior ‘‘I need to get a good education and a college degree.’’
‘‘To get a job and take care of my son the best I can.’’
‘‘A job, ’cause I’ve been looking for a job but it’s hard when you don’t have no experience.’’
‘‘To be able to provide for her, what she needs. Have a job to buy things.’’
‘‘A job or I won’t be able to take care of him.’’
‘‘Get a good job and be able to support my family.’’
‘‘Get my life together. I want to show my son I’m a good person, not a bad person.’’
‘‘Teach him that I can be something, too.’’
‘‘Have her look up to me as a role model.’’
‘‘I need more morals.’’
‘‘Part of the things I need to do to show him a good example, so he don’t feel that there’s no hope for him.’’
‘‘To not sell drugs anymore.’’
‘‘I would need to stop hanging around with the wrong people.’’

228 Public Health Nursing Volume 27 Number 3 May/June 2010

‘‘turn out better than me.’’ Young fathers hoped that have to take care of myself, my daughter, and my
their children would not repeat the mistakes they had daughter’s mother.
made, including ‘‘not to have kids at a young age’’ and
completing their education, ‘‘stay in school and go Young fathers discussed child care issues, partic-
to college, that’s mandatory.’’ As one young father ularly getting up in the night and caring for the infant
stated: when sick. Their relationship with the mother of their
baby was also identified as one of the difficulties of fa-
To make sure he graduates school and to not go therhood:
through what I went through [foster care, group
homes and lock-up]. I want him to be happy. Make Sometimes you got problems with the baby’s mother
sure he makes the right decisions in the future. Try and you don’t know if you’re gonna stay with her and
not to rush into things like I did. Make better you think about that, your son not having a father.
decisions, not to have a kid as early as I did.
Plans to emulate own father
Additionally, young fathers hoped that life would Seventy-seven percent (n 5 23) of young or expectant
treat their children well and that their children would fathers reported that they would not raise their child
achieve financial and educational success. as their own father had raised them, often citing phys-
ical and/or emotional abuse or abandonment. As ex-
I hope he goes to college. Finds a good woman when pressed by one participant:
he gets older and gets married and not divorced. I
hope he gets a good job and gets all his wishes and My father was never there for me, even though I
dreams. know who my father is and I’ve seen him in my life,
he’s never done anything to take care of me like a
Rewards and challenges of fatherhood loving, caring father would. I love him to death, but I
When participants whose partners had given birth don’t like him. He made choices in his life and I think
(n 5 21) were asked what they liked about being a fa- if he had been around I would have turned out a
ther, the majority (81%) commented on the joy and better man. That’s why you need two parents in your
happiness fatherhood brought them: life. ’Cause a woman can’t teach you how to be a man,
but they have no choice.
I love when I play with her, when I feed her. When
we listen to music together, she dance and stuff. My Two young men who responded that they would
daughter is like half my heart, like my whole heart as not raise their child as their father raised them com-
a matter of fact. She is my heart. mented that they would try to emulate their stepfather:

As expressed by additional participants: Not like my real dad because he was not around. Like
my stepdad, because he was there for me. He was the
Everything about it, from first being in the hospital only one who could work and brought food into the
and holding him to that first smile. Everything about house.
him, him right now is the best thing that ever
happened. He brings the joy back into my life. Just Discussion
seeing him happy. Just everything.
Becoming a father appears to be a powerful motivator
and: for the young men in this study to want to improve
themselves through education, employment, and
My son’s smile, he makes me laugh. Everything, changing how they have been or are currently living
man. Just waking up in the morning and seeing their lives. Consequently, engaging young fathers dur-
him. He looks up to me, even though he’s only 7 ing the mother’s pregnancy or as quickly as possible
months old, he’s always looking for me. after the birth of an infant may encourage a positive
father-child relationship and facilitate positive pater-
Several also mentioned the gratification they felt nal behavior change. Given that this desire may wane
regarding the responsibility of fatherhood and the sat- if not supported, it is likely that engaging young fa-
isfaction of producing a living legacy. thers should occur as early as feasible. Such engage-
ment may lessen the likelihood that, as documented
In contrast, the difficulties these young fathers in several studies, young fathers become less involved
identified included the burden of responsibility, par-
ticularly regarding finances:

The money situation, worrying about day to day
money for milk for her and PampersTM. It’s a lot
different from me just taking care of myself. Now I

Lemay et al.: Beliefs and Attitudes of Young Father 229

with their children over time (Carlson, McLanahan, & Affirming the results of the previous research, the
Brooks-Gunn, 2008; Fragile Families Research Brief, majority of young men in this study reported negative
2000; Furstenberg & Harris, 1993; Johnson, 2001; experiences with their own fathers as well as a desire
Lerman, 1993). to fulfill the paternal role differently (Allen & Doherty,
1996; Tan & Quinlivan, 2006). These results reveal a
Historically, the majority of attention regarding gulf between the goals these young men have regard-
adolescent pregnancy has been focused on maternal/ ing fatherhood and paternal examples available for
child health. The desire and importance that young modeling appropriate behavior. This discrepancy sug-
fathers and young expectant fathers in this study ex- gests that young fathers could benefit from mentoring
pressed pertaining to being good fathers for their chil- programs aimed at addressing this gap. Mentoring
dren supports a move toward care that is parent/child has been successful in helping to decrease problem-
centered. This shift should not diminish support for atic behaviors among adolescent and young men, sug-
mothers and children; rather, it should complement gesting that exposure to caring adults can help youths
and enhance it. Given that paternal involvement has feel better about themselves and engage in less de-
been shown to improve children’s behavior and devel- structive behaviors toward themselves and others
opment, helping young fathers become involved in (Keating, Tomishima, Foster, & Alessandri, 2002;
their children’s lives may result in a more effective Powelson, 2004; Sheehan, DiCara, LeBailly, & Christ-
family dynamics (Black et al., 1999; Furstenberg & offel, 1999). Additionally, the results of a small 2-year
Harris, 1993). Since young fathers represent a high- demonstration project, Step-Up With Mentoring for
risk group with multiple challenges, interventions Young Fathers, revealed that providing appropriate
aimed at increasing and sustaining fathers’ involve- mentors assisted young men in accomplishing their
ment in their children’s lives must take into account goals as fathers, including obtaining employment
the consequences of poverty and ensure the existence (73% of mentored fathers were employed vs. 48% of
of an adequate safety net as a way of mitigating these the control group) and improving family relationships
consequences and breaking the well-known results of (71% of mentored fathers vs. 41% of the control group)
the cycle of poverty. (‘‘Step-Up With Mentoring for Young Fathers,’’ n.d.).

As demonstrated in previous studies, financial This study has several limitations. Because of dif-
support is related to how and whether a young father ficulties in identifying our target population, we had a
can be available for his child (Gavin et al., 2002; modest sample size. Our method of in-depth, face-to-
Rhein et al., 1997). Possessing the ability to provide face interviews, however, encouraged lengthy re-
financial support particularly affects the relationship sponses to open-ended questions, thereby permitting
with the mother of the baby. This in turn influences a greater understanding of the complex issues young
the father-child relationship, since young mothers men who become fathers face. Our decision to not au-
may deny access to the child based on not having this diotape the interviews may have resulted in missed
support (Coley, 2001; Rozie-Battle, 2003; Saleh, Buzi, information as a consequence. However, we believe
Weinman, & Smith, 2005). Some studies have related we obtained more candid responses from the young
the inability of a young father to contribute financially men we interviewed by utilizing the note-taking
to a decrease in child contact (Dallas & Chen, 1998; method. Our results may reflect participation bias,
Rhein et al., 1997). Additionally, contributing finan- since recruitment for some of the young fathers was
cially appears to increase a young man’s self-esteem accomplished either through contact with teen moth-
and self-efficacy regarding fatherhood (Foster, 2004; ers or an organized service provider. Consequently,
Glickman, 2004). The young men in our study fathers in this study may have expressed beliefs and
strongly felt that employment and education would attitudes regarding fatherhood that differ from young
assist them in being better fathers. Since young fathers in general. Nevertheless, since identifying,
fathers experience multiple barriers to obtaining contacting, and recruiting young fathers for research
employment, including incomplete education and studies can be problematic, the findings from this
lack of vocational training and/or experience, pro- study contribute useful insights that can be used as a
grams and interventions aimed at assisting young basis upon which to build future research and develop
families must include strategies that help young men effective interventions. Moreover, participants were
succeed in overcoming these barriers (Elfenbein & confidentially interviewed and questions were framed
Felice, 2003).

230 Public Health Nursing Volume 27 Number 3 May/June 2010

to reduce potential response bias. Finally, since our Meghan E. McGuirk at the Massachusetts Society for
study was conducted in only one geographic area, the
ability to generalize is limited. the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

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