Enhancing Father Involvement in Low-Income Families: A Couples Group Approach to Preventive Intervention

Authors

Marsha Kline Pruett, Smith CollegeFollow
Kyle Pruett, Yale School of Medicine
Carolyn Pape Cowan, University of California, Berkeley
Philip A. Cowan, University of California, Berkeley

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2017

Publication Title

Child Development

Abstract

To address the problem of fathers’ absence from children’s lives and the difficulty of paternal engagement, especially among lower income families, government agencies have given increasing attention to funding father involvement interventions. Few of these interventions have yielded promising results. Father involvement research that focuses on the couple/coparenting relationship offers a pathway to support fathers’ involvement while strengthening family relationships. Relevant research is reviewed and an exemplar is provided in the Supporting Father Involvement intervention and its positive effects on parental and parent-child relationships and children’s outcomes. The article concludes with policy implications of this choice of target populations and the need to develop new strategies to involve fathers in the lives of their children.

Volume

88

Issue

2

First Page

398

Last Page

407

DOI

10.1111/cdev.12744

ISSN

00093920

Comments

Archived as published. Open access article.

Recommended Citation

Pruett, Marsha Kline; Pruett, Kyle; Cowan, Carolyn Pape; and Cowan, Philip A., "Enhancing Father Involvement in Low-Income Families: A Couples Group Approach to Preventive Intervention" (2017). School for Social Work: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/ssw_facpubs/66