Intimate Partner Violence Among Low-Income Fathers: Testing a Stress-Coping Model.

This research used a stress-coping conceptual framework to examine intimate partner violence (IPV) among men who are fathers. The current study examined how perceived stress explained associations between stressors (e.g., employment status, psychological and physical female-to-male partner violence [FMPV], substance use, criminal justice system involvement) and male-perpetrated physical and psychological IPV. Participants were 1,971 low-income, ethnically diverse fathers involved in a statewide fatherhood program. Findings indicated that, across African American, White, and Hispanic/Latino men, male-reported FMPV and criminal justice involvement were associated with psychological and/or physical IPV via perceived stress. Employment status and alcohol use were associated with psychological IPV via perceived stress among African American men only. Implications for community-based fatherhood programs are discussed.

Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Programming: Factors Affecting Low-Income Fathers' Involvement in Child Protection Services and Court-Restricted Access to Their Children.

This study investigates how unemployment, traumatic sexual experiences, substance use, intimate partner violence, and parental involvement collectively contribute to involvement with child protective system (CPS) and court-restricted access to children among low-income, ethnically diverse fathers. Participants were 164 fathers involved in a statewide fatherhood program. The majority of the fathers in the program were unemployed (76%) and ethnic minorities (66%). Logistic regression revealed that traumatic sexual experiences and number of children were significant predictors of CPS involvement, whereas employment and traumatic sexual experience were associated with court-restricted access to their children. The results elucidate that clinicians and father-hood programs may need to attend to the history of traumatic experiences, as well as other contextual factors, of fathers and identify how, through trauma-focused interventions, to positively affect them and their children.