RESPONSIBLE FATHERING:
AN OVERVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

William J. Doherty, Ph.D., Department of Family Social Science

Edward F. Kouneski, M.A.,Department of Family Social Science

Martha Farrell Erickson, Ph.D.,Children, Youth, and Family Consortium

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

September 1996

This report was prepared for the Administration for Children and Families and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation of the United States Department of Health & Human Services, Washington D.C. under contract HHS-100-93-0012 to The Lewin Group. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not represent the official positions or policies of the Department of Health & Human Services or its agencies.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A consensus is emerging that responsible fathering means establishing paternity, being present in the child's life (even if divorced or unmarried), sharing economic support, and being personally involved in the child's life in collaboration with the mother. The research literature on fathering has been long on empirical studies of specific fathering behaviors and notably short on theory and the bigger picture. And while innovative programs to promote better fathering have multiplied in the past decade, they are often not connected to either research or theory. This report summarizes the research on factors that influence fathering and presents a systemic, contextual framework that highlights multiple interacting influences on the father-child relationship: father factors, mother factors, child factors, coparental factors, and broader contextual factors. A principal finding of this report is that fathering is influenced, even more than mothering, by contextual forces in the family and the community. A father who lacks a good relationship with the mother is at risk to be a nonresponsible father, especially if he does not reside with the child, as is a father who lacks adequate employment and income. On the other hand, this contextual sensitivity means that fathering can change in response to shifts in cultural, economic, institutional, and interpersonal influences.

The principal implication for fathering programs is that these programs should involve a wide range of interventions, reflecting the multiple domains of responsible fathering, the varied residential and marital circumstances of fathers, and the array of personal, relational, and ecological factors that influence men as fathers. In particular, fathering programs should:

• involve mothers where feasible and, especially for unmarried fathers, families of origin;
• promote collaborative coparenting inside and outside marriage;
• emphasize critical transitions such as birth of the child and divorce of the parents;
• deal with employment, economic issues, and community systems;
• provide opportunities for fathers to learn from other fathers; and
• promote the viability of caring, committed, and collaborative marriages.

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