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 expectant 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 employed 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. Conclusions: 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
population, with many characteristics similar to those
of adolescent mothers, including low socioeconomic
status, lower educational attainment, and fewer
Celeste A. Lemay, R.N., M.P.H., is Research Nurse Coordinator, Of¢ce of Community Programs, University of
Massachusetts Medical School,Worcester, Massachusetts.
Suzanne B. Cashman, Sc.D., is Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health,
University of Massachusetts Medical School,Worcester,
Massachusetts. Dianne S. Elfenbein, M.D., is the Director of Adolescent Medicine, St. Louis University School
of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. Marianne E. Felice,
M.D., is Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics,
University of Massachusetts Medical School,Worcester,
Massachusetts.
Correspondence to:
Celeste A. Lemay,Of¢ce of Community Programs, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Benedict Building, Room A3-110,Worcester,
MA 01655-0002. E-mail: [email protected]
employment opportunities than peers who are not
fathers. Adolescent and young fathers are also likely
to have experienced greater psychological and emotional difficulties and to have a history of delinquent
behavior than their nonparenting peers (Bunting &
McAuley, 2004; Jaffee, Caspi, Moffitt, Taylor, & Dickson, 2001; Pears, Pierce, Kim, Capaldi, & Owen, 2005;
Tan & Quinlivan, 2006). Additionally, young fathers
are more likely than older fathers to report early childhood exposure to domestic violence and parental
separation or divorce, thus limiting their contact with
positive paternal role models (Tan & Quinlivan,
2006). Compounding these disadvantages, the
primary focus of family-centered child welfare
services continues to be oriented toward the child’s
mother (Franck, 2001; National Child Welfare
Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice,
2002). Recent studies have found that health care
providers and social workers generally direct their
attention to the mother as the primary parent and
caseworkers do not identify the absence of paternal
involvement as an important issue (Bunting, 2005;
Franck, 2001; National Family Preservation Network,
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Number 3
2001; O’Donnell, 1999). Young fathers reportedly
often view service providers and social institutions
not only as unsupportive, but as an actual barrier to
parental involvement, with many believing that the
staff of hospitals, schools, and social service agencies
hinder rather than facilitate their efforts to support
their child (Allen & Doherty, 1996; Bunting, 2005;
Speake, Cameron, & Gilroy, 1997). Additionally, some
of those who work to assist mothers and their children
have asserted that nonresident fathers are potentially
dangerous and including them could result in an
unsafe environment for the mother and the child
(Fragile Families Research Brief, 2000). Results
from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study,
a large, multicity research project, do not support
this assertion, however. The majority (93%) of single
mothers interviewed for this study reported a
desire to have the father of their child involved in raising him or her; only a small percentage (5%) reported
physical abuse (Fragile Families Research Brief,
2000).
Research on the effect of paternal involvement
has shown improvement in children’s development
and behavior (Black, Dubowitz, & Starr, 1999; Furstenberg & Harris, 1993). For adolescent and young fathers, involvement with their children may help
promote the fathers’ psychological development, contribute to the fathers’ self-esteem, and strengthen the
father-child relationship (Foster, 2004; Glickman,
2004). Since few adolescent and young fathers share
a household with their children and since nonresidential paternal involvement is known to decline over
time, adolescent and young fathers are frequently less
involved with their children than more mature fathers, particularly as their children age (Furstenberg
& Harris, 1993; Johnson, 2001; Lerman, 1993).
In the last decade, several studies have explored
the experiences of low-income, young fathers (Dallas
& Chen, 1998; Foster, 2004; Gavin et al., 2002; Glickman, 2004; Nelson, Clampet-Lundquist, & Edin,
2002; Rhein et al., 1997). However, the majority of
these studies exclusively reported the experiences of
African American fathers (Dallas & Chen, 1998; Gavin
et al., 2002; Nelson et al., 2002; Rhein et al., 1997).
Themes related to fathers’ perceptions of the responsibilities of fatherhood, as identified in these studies,
included the concept of accountability, expressed as
‘‘being there’’ for their child and of providing financially for their child (Foster, 2004; Glickman, 2004;
Nelson et al., 2002; Rhein et al., 1997). In two studies,
May/June 2010
young fathers identified their experiences with their
own fathers as influencing the type of father they
wanted to become (Glickman, 2004; Nelson et al.,
2002). Despite the recent increased interest in adolescent and young fathers, researchers have continued
to pay little attention to young fathers. The reasons
cited for this omission include difficulty in identifying,
contacting, and recruiting these young men for studies (Thompson & Walker, 2004). Consequently, little
is known regarding the attitudes and beliefs pertaining to the parental role of adolescent and young fathers, particularly self-identified needs required to be
a ‘‘good’’ father.
Research questions
The present study was designed to explore the beliefs,
attitudes, and needs that current and expectant adolescent fathers and young men who are fathers of children born to adolescent mothers have regarding their
role as a father. Understanding young fathers’ views of
their roles, their goals, their needs, and the difficulties
they encounter, as well as their hopes for themselves
and their children, can increase the likelihood that
programs will help these young men play a positive
role in their children’s growth and development. This
may improve the likelihood that children born to adolescents will develop into healthy and well-developed
adults.
Methods
Design and sample
A descriptive phenomenological, qualitative design
guided this study. Phenomenology enhances the understanding of the context of the lived experience of
the individual as well as what that experience means
to him or her (Husserl, 1970). Additionally, phenomenology incorporates the concept of bracketing, requires the setting aside of preconceived notions,
stereotypes, or biases in an attempt to collect information, and analyze data without prejudice (Porter,
1998). This approach also calls for data collection to
be conducted through individual interviews (Issel,
2004). These facts, coupled with the knowledge that
using interviews can meet the challenges of engaging
young men in the research process, resulted in our selecting the individual interview as our data collection
approach (Thompson & Walker, 2004).
The study protocols and consent procedures were
approved by the University of Massachusetts Medical
Lemay et al.: Beliefs and Attitudes of Young Father
School Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects in Research. Men were considered young fathers
if (1) they were o20 years old at the birth of their first
child or (2) the mother of their baby was o20 years
old at the baby’s birth and the young man was o25
years old. Men were considered young expectant fathers if (1) they would be o20 years old at the birth of
their child or (2) the mother of their baby would be
o20 years old at the infant’s birth and the young man
was o25 years old. Additional criteria for inclusion in
the sample included the ability to speak English.
From March 2005 to May 2006, young fathers or
young expectant fathers were recruited from multiple
health and human service sites within a city in central
Massachusetts. Flyers with information regarding the
research study, incentives/thank yous, and method
for self-referral to the research associate were posted
at sites that included a national job training facility;
an adolescent clinic of a community health center; a
youth center; the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC) office, a social
service agency; the School Age Mothers (SAMS) Program, an educational program for teen mothers in the
public school system; and the Teen Tot Connection
Clinic, a medical services facility for adolescent mothers and their children. Flyers alone did not result in
any potential subjects contacting the research associate for further information. Consequently, we contacted and provided key outreach staff at each site
with detailed information regarding the project. We
asked site staff to distribute flyers about the research
project to adolescent mothers and pregnant youth as
well as young fathers receiving services; we also periodically contacted staff via e-mail and/or telephone to
remind them of the research project. As a result, over
the course of approximately 1 year, 30 young men
were self-referred from three sites: a young father’s
support group sponsored by the Teen Tot Connection
Clinic and facilitated by the MSPCC (n 5 17), the
SAMS Program (n 5 11), and the Teen Tot Connection
Clinic (n 5 2). Young fathers who contacted the research associate received a full explanation of the
study over the telephone. Once participant eligibility
was determined, we scheduled a face-to-face interview. All young men who contacted the research associate (N 5 30) met the inclusion criteria and were
included in the study. Recruitment was suspended
after 4 months had elapsed and no additional potential study participants had contacted the research
associate.
223
A registered nurse with over 25 years of experience interviewing individuals in both clinical and research environments conducted the interviews face to
face in a neutral public venue. Before the interview,
she reviewed the consent form with the participant,
who was asked to provide written consent. In an effort
to establish trust, increase the comfort level for this
vulnerable population, and encourage candid feedback, we elected not to audiotape the interviews. Additionally, to further increase trust between the
interviewee and the interviewer, only limited demographic information was collected; personal questions
pertaining to education, income, and living arrangements are often viewed as sensitive to members of a
population who may be receiving public assistance
and for whom the possibility that disclosing domicile
information and income can jeopardize living arrangements. Thus, we did not ask these questions.
The researcher took extensive verbatim notes during
each interview and then read back responses to the
participant so that he could provide additional comments and clarifications. Interviews lasted approximately 30 min. Participants received an incentive and
appreciation gift of US$20.
Measures
Before the initiation of this study, MSPCC case workers administered a Likert scale questionnaire to young
fathers receiving services at the MSPCC. This baseline
survey was utilized to measure father/child interaction before participation in a Fathers’ Group. The results of this questionnaire revealed high self-reported
father/child interaction, with more than half (51%) of
these young fathers reporting contact with their child
four to seven times per week. These results led to
questions regarding reporting bias (social acceptance)
and concerns about the feasibility of utilizing MSPCC
case workers to collect data pertaining to father/child
interaction. As a consequence, we decided to develop
the current study as a way to better understand the
experiences of young fathers.
After a literature search that failed to identify a
suitable, validated instrument that we could use or
revise, in consultation and collaboration with MSPCC
Father’s Group leaders and the research team, we
elected to develop an eight-question individual interview guide (Table 1). This research team included an
adolescent medicine physician with several decades of
experience working with adolescents, a social worker,
a registered nurse, and a researcher with extensive
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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 communitybased projects. They developed interview questions
that were tailored to explore issues of concern to
young fathers and young expectant fathers, including
self-identified needs. Additionally, they designed the
questions to elicit information related to the young
fathers’ experiences of fatherhood and their understanding of what it means to be a ‘‘good’’ father.
Throughout question development, members of the
research team, MSPCC Fathers’ Group leaders, and
MSPCC outreach workers reviewed drafts for appropriateness, relevance, and comprehension and then
revised questions in response to feedback. Limited
demographic information was collected at the beginning of the interview.
Analytical strategy
Data were categorized using content analysis techniques. This research method uses a set of coding procedures for making replicable inferences from data to
their context and identifying emergent themes (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2002). After repeated readings
of the participants’ responses, the research associate
developed a coding scheme based on the original interview questions and respondents’ spontaneously offered comments. Verbatim responses were
independently coded by two investigators, and the intercoder agreement was calculated (k .73). Disputed
responses were reviewed and discussed until 100%
agreement was reached. Subsequently, emergent
themes were identified and exemplar quotes were selected. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize
the study sample.
We used several methods to assure the reliability
of the findings. These included developing the interview guide utilizing counsel and advice from an expert
panel with multiple investigators and using only one
researcher to conduct interviews. Additionally, to verify
data accuracy, we asked participants to review re-
sponses at the end of the interview and had the
MSPCC Fathers’ Group leaders review the coding
scheme and themes.
Results
Selected sociodemographic characteristics of the sample are summarized in Table 2. Young and adolescent
fathers’ mean age at their first child’s birth or expected birth was 18.4 years (SD 2.4, median 18); the
mean age of their oldest child at the time of the interview was 23.14 months (SD 21.8, median 18 months).
Nine participants were expectant fathers; four respondents had two or more children. Although no
young or expectant fathers reported being married to
the mother of their baby, 77% (n 5 23) reported being
in a relationship with the baby’s mother at the time of
the interview.
Characteristics of a good father
When young and young expectant fathers were asked
to describe the characteristics of a good father, one
overriding theme—the concept of availability, primarily
expressed as ‘‘being there’’—emerged. These young
men thought that the primary characteristic of a good
father was being available to one’s child when that
child needed him; they included this as a goal they
themselves hoped to achieve and used it to describe
how they viewed whether or not an individual, including
their own father, was a ‘‘good’’ father.
He has to like be there for his son or daughter, ’cause
a lot of fathers may get their girlfriend pregnant, but
they aren’t there. Maybe they are there financially,
but not supportive, to like make that bond.
Other themes characterizing a good father that
emerged included the following: providing financial
and emotional support; teaching, including lessons
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
Race/ethnicity
White
Black
Hispanic
Native American
Multiracial
Age at interview (in years)
Age at infant’s birth/expectant birth (in years)
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)
n (%)
M
SD
Median (range)
19.73
18.4
3
2.4
20 (14–25)
18 (14–24)
17.57
23.14
2.5
21.8
17 (15–27)
18 (4–84)
9 (30)
3 (10)
15 (50)
1 (3)
2 (7)
9 (30)
17 (57)
4 (13)
Note. ‘‘Age of oldest child’’ includes 21 children.
Examples of good fathers
Asked to give an example of someone they believed to
be a good father, 11 (37%) participants noted male relatives other than their own fathers. As expressed by
one young father:
My uncle because, well for one, his kids, one is nine
and one is seven, and they respect him and do
everything he says. He doesn’t beat them, he gets
their attention just by talking to them. He works
hard for them and he stays home for their attention,
so when they need him, he’s there. He also cooks and
cleans for them and buys them the things that they
want. He makes sure they do good in school. He goes
to all those meetings. He puts them in sports.
Two (7%) gave examples of female relatives:
My grandmother, ’cause sometimes ladies can be
fathers. ’Cause when I was young, my father was
never there for me. My grandmother, she was my
backbone. She made sure I had clothes on my back
and food and made sure I went to school everyday
and did my homework before hanging with my
friends.
Seven (23%) cited their own fathers; as expressed
by one young father to be:
My father, he was always there for us no matter how
tough things got, he never left us. He taught me how
to be responsible and to make the right decisions and
if I mess up how to fix them. He always set the right
example. He never did anything to take me away
from school or to end up in jail.
Four (13%) mentioned male acquaintances, including friends; three (10%) were unable to think of
anyone; and two (7%) used themselves as examples.
One young expectant father provided a celebrity as an
example of a good father:
Bill Cosby, he’s experienced, very funny. He has a lot
of character. He has charisma. He cares a lot about
his children.
Fatherhood: goals and needs
When the young men were questioned about their
goals as fathers, many recognized that in order to become better fathers, changing previous and current
patterns of behavior would be necessary, ‘‘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.’’
Self-improvement changes these fathers discussed included furthering their education, becoming
a positive role model, and obtaining employment.
When asked what they would need to do or to be in
order to become better fathers, themes that emerged
from their comments dovetailed with the goals they
had identified, that is, 14 (47%) young men, regardless
of age, stated that being employed or finishing school
would help them be better fathers and 10 (30%) believed that changing their current lifestyle would be
helpful (Table 4).
Fathers’ hopes and dreams for child
Most young and expectant fathers expressed hopes
and dreams for their child’s future that included a desire that their child surpass their own achievements,
often expressed as the wish that their child would
Assuming
responsibility
Number 3
Teaching
Volume 27
Emotional support
‘‘A good father is someone who’s there.’’
‘‘You need to be there for both the mother of your baby and the baby.’’
‘‘Being there no matter what happens.’’
‘‘You need to be there for your child everyday.’’
‘‘My mom is both mom and dad. She showed love and was always there, still is.’’
‘‘I’m looking forward to being there.’’
‘‘(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.’’
Selected comments
Public Health Nursing
Financial support
Availability
Characteristic
TABLE 3. Characteristics of a Good Father
226
May/June 2010
Becoming a role model/changing patterns of behavior
Employment
Completing education
Goals/needs
TABLE 4. Fatherhood: Goals and Needs
‘‘Eventually, I would like to finish school and get an education.’’
‘‘I’m trying to complete school right now. That’s my main goal.’’
‘‘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.’’
‘‘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.’’
Selected comment
Lemay et al.: Beliefs and Attitudes of Young Father
227
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Number 3
‘‘turn out better than me.’’ Young fathers hoped that
their children would not repeat the mistakes they had
made, including ‘‘not to have kids at a young age’’ and
completing their education, ‘‘stay in school and go
to college, that’s mandatory.’’ As one young father
stated:
To make sure he graduates school and to not go
through what I went through [foster care, group
homes and lock-up]. I want him to be happy. Make
sure he makes the right decisions in the future. Try
not to rush into things like I did. Make better
decisions, not to have a kid as early as I did.
Additionally, young fathers hoped that life would
treat their children well and that their children would
achieve financial and educational success.
I hope he goes to college. Finds a good woman when
he gets older and gets married and not divorced. I
hope he gets a good job and gets all his wishes and
dreams.
Rewards and challenges of fatherhood
When participants whose partners had given birth
(n 5 21) were asked what they liked about being a father, the majority (81%) commented on the joy and
happiness fatherhood brought them:
I love when I play with her, when I feed her. When
we listen to music together, she dance and stuff. My
daughter is like half my heart, like my whole heart as
a matter of fact. She is my heart.
As expressed by additional participants:
Everything about it, from first being in the hospital
and holding him to that first smile. Everything about
him, him right now is the best thing that ever
happened. He brings the joy back into my life. Just
seeing him happy. Just everything.
and:
My son’s smile, he makes me laugh. Everything,
man. Just waking up in the morning and seeing
him. He looks up to me, even though he’s only 7
months old, he’s always looking for me.
Several also mentioned the gratification they felt
regarding the responsibility of fatherhood and the satisfaction of producing a living legacy.
In contrast, the difficulties these young fathers
identified included the burden of responsibility, particularly 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
May/June 2010
have to take care of myself, my daughter, and my
daughter’s mother.
Young fathers discussed child care issues, particularly getting up in the night and caring for the infant
when sick. Their relationship with the mother of their
baby was also identified as one of the difficulties of fatherhood:
Sometimes you got problems with the baby’s mother
and you don’t know if you’re gonna stay with her and
you think about that, your son not having a father.
Plans to emulate own father
Seventy-seven percent (n 5 23) of young or expectant
fathers reported that they would not raise their child
as their own father had raised them, often citing physical and/or emotional abuse or abandonment. As expressed by one participant:
My father was never there for me, even though I
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
loving, caring father would. I love him to death, but I
don’t like him. He made choices in his life and I think
if he had been around I would have turned out a
better man. That’s why you need two parents in your
life. ’Cause a woman can’t teach you how to be a man,
but they have no choice.
Two young men who responded that they would
not raise their child as their father raised them commented that they would try to emulate their stepfather:
Not like my real dad because he was not around. Like
my stepdad, because he was there for me. He was the
only one who could work and brought food into the
house.
Discussion
Becoming a father appears to be a powerful motivator
for the young men in this study to want to improve
themselves through education, employment, and
changing how they have been or are currently living
their lives. Consequently, engaging young fathers during the mother’s pregnancy or as quickly as possible
after the birth of an infant may encourage a positive
father-child relationship and facilitate positive paternal behavior change. Given that this desire may wane
if not supported, it is likely that engaging young fathers should occur as early as feasible. Such engagement may lessen the likelihood that, as documented
in several studies, young fathers become less involved
Lemay et al.: Beliefs and Attitudes of Young Father
with their children over time (Carlson, McLanahan, &
Brooks-Gunn, 2008; Fragile Families Research Brief,
2000; Furstenberg & Harris, 1993; Johnson, 2001;
Lerman, 1993).
Historically, the majority of attention regarding
adolescent pregnancy has been focused on maternal/
child health. The desire and importance that young
fathers and young expectant fathers in this study expressed pertaining to being good fathers for their children supports a move toward care that is parent/child
centered. This shift should not diminish support for
mothers and children; rather, it should complement
and enhance it. Given that paternal involvement has
been shown to improve children’s behavior and development, helping young fathers become involved in
their children’s lives may result in a more effective
family dynamics (Black et al., 1999; Furstenberg &
Harris, 1993). Since young fathers represent a highrisk group with multiple challenges, interventions
aimed at increasing and sustaining fathers’ involvement in their children’s lives must take into account
the consequences of poverty and ensure the existence
of an adequate safety net as a way of mitigating these
consequences and breaking the well-known results of
the cycle of poverty.
As demonstrated in previous studies, financial
support is related to how and whether a young father
can be available for his child (Gavin et al., 2002;
Rhein et al., 1997). Possessing the ability to provide
financial support particularly affects the relationship
with the mother of the baby. This in turn influences
the father-child relationship, since young mothers
may deny access to the child based on not having this
support (Coley, 2001; Rozie-Battle, 2003; Saleh, Buzi,
Weinman, & Smith, 2005). Some studies have related
the inability of a young father to contribute financially
to a decrease in child contact (Dallas & Chen, 1998;
Rhein et al., 1997). Additionally, contributing financially appears to increase a young man’s self-esteem
and self-efficacy regarding fatherhood (Foster, 2004;
Glickman, 2004). The young men in our study
strongly felt that employment and education would
assist them in being better fathers. Since young
fathers experience multiple barriers to obtaining
employment, including incomplete education and
lack of vocational training and/or experience, programs and interventions aimed at assisting young
families must include strategies that help young men
succeed in overcoming these barriers (Elfenbein &
Felice, 2003).
229
Affirming the results of the previous research, the
majority of young men in this study reported negative
experiences with their own fathers as well as a desire
to fulfill the paternal role differently (Allen & Doherty,
1996; Tan & Quinlivan, 2006). These results reveal a
gulf between the goals these young men have regarding fatherhood and paternal examples available for
modeling appropriate behavior. This discrepancy suggests that young fathers could benefit from mentoring
programs aimed at addressing this gap. Mentoring
has been successful in helping to decrease problematic behaviors among adolescent and young men, suggesting that exposure to caring adults can help youths
feel better about themselves and engage in less destructive behaviors toward themselves and others
(Keating, Tomishima, Foster, & Alessandri, 2002;
Powelson, 2004; Sheehan, DiCara, LeBailly, & Christoffel, 1999). Additionally, the results of a small 2-year
demonstration project, Step-Up With Mentoring for
Young Fathers, revealed that providing appropriate
mentors assisted young men in accomplishing their
goals as fathers, including obtaining employment
(73% of mentored fathers were employed vs. 48% of
the control group) and improving family relationships
(71% of mentored fathers vs. 41% of the control group)
(‘‘Step-Up With Mentoring for Young Fathers,’’ n.d.).
This study has several limitations. Because of difficulties in identifying our target population, we had a
modest sample size. Our method of in-depth, face-toface interviews, however, encouraged lengthy responses to open-ended questions, thereby permitting
a greater understanding of the complex issues young
men who become fathers face. Our decision to not audiotape the interviews may have resulted in missed
information as a consequence. However, we believe
we obtained more candid responses from the young
men we interviewed by utilizing the note-taking
method. Our results may reflect participation bias,
since recruitment for some of the young fathers was
accomplished either through contact with teen mothers or an organized service provider. Consequently,
fathers in this study may have expressed beliefs and
attitudes regarding fatherhood that differ from young
fathers in general. Nevertheless, since identifying,
contacting, and recruiting young fathers for research
studies can be problematic, the findings from this
study contribute useful insights that can be used as a
basis upon which to build future research and develop
effective interventions. Moreover, participants were
confidentially interviewed and questions were framed
230
Public Health Nursing
Volume 27
Number 3
to reduce potential response bias. Finally, since our
study was conducted in only one geographic area, the
ability to generalize is limited.
May/June 2010
Meghan E. McGuirk at the Massachusetts Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
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Implications for research and practice
Since very little research has been carried out exploring the beliefs and attitudes of young fathers, additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to
confirm or expand upon the findings of this small exploratory study. Since engaging young fathers is difficult and time consuming, we encourage researchers to
partner with organizations that specifically provide
outreach and services to young fathers as well as
young mothers and young expectant mothers.
Participants in this study identified multiple
requirements to be ‘‘good’’ fathers. These needs
included employment, education, and role models.
They also expressed an interest in being a positive influence on their offspring. These results suggest the
need for strategies and interventions for reaching
young fathers that include building upon, encouraging, and developing these positive attitudes. Nurses
working in the public health field are in a unique
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have with the health care system, both pre- and postnatally. This opportunity can provide a venue for
engaging young fathers and assessing their needs.
Moreover, nurses can make the connection to organizations that can help young fathers and young expectant fathers find ways to support their families
through gainful employment. This is essential to a
young man’s self-identified need of being able to fulfill
his role as a father. Increasing the involvement of
young fathers in the lives of their children would benefit not only the children but the young men themselves, providing them with a compelling reason to
improve their own lives. This approach, however,
requires a paradigm shift in the current method of
addressing adolescent pregnancy and childbirth.
Maternal and child health programs should transition
to a family health focus, including fathers as well as
mothers and their babies.
Acknowledgments
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