Examining Partnership Approaches for Engaging Fathers to Address Domestic Violence.

Little is known about partnerships fatherhood programs establish to engage fathers in addressing domestic violence (DV). The study aimed to (a) describe partnership activities between fatherhood programs and organizations that address DV, (b) highlight strategies for productive partnerships, and (c) identify areas in need of improvement for addressing DV. This study discusses findings from qualitative interviews with 27 individuals from 17 fatherhood and DV organizations across the United States including the variety of partnership activities used to prevent and address DV (e.g., conducting trainings or facilitating referrals); strategies for creating productive partnerships; and partnership areas that need further attention.

Impacts of an Enhanced Family Health and Sexuality Module of the HealthTeacher Middle School Curriculum: A Cluster Randomized Trial.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impacts of an enhanced version of the Family Life and Sexuality Module of the HealthTeacher middle school curriculum. METHODS: We conducted a cluster randomized trial of Chicago, Illinois, middle schools. We randomly assigned schools to a treatment group that received the intervention during the 2010-2011 school year or a control group that did not. The primary analysis sample included 595 students (7 schools) in the treatment group and 594 students (7 schools) in the control group. RESULTS: Students in the treatment schools reported greater exposure to information on reproductive health topics such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs; 78% vs 60%; P < .01), abstinence (64% vs 37%; P < .01), and birth control (45% vs 29%; P < .01). They also reported higher average scores on an index of knowledge of contraceptive methods and STI transmission (0.5 vs 0.3; P = .02). We found no statistically significant differences in rates of sexual intercourse (12% vs 12%; P = .99), oral sex (12% vs 9%; P = .18), or other intermediate outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The program had modest effects when tested among Chicago middle school students.

Racial and ethnic differences in the transition to a teenage birth in the United States.

CONTEXT: Rates of teenage childbearing are high in the United States, and they differ substantially by race and ethnicity and nativity status. METHODS: Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort were used to link characteristics of white, black, U.S.-born Hispanic and foreign-born Hispanic adolescents to teenage childbearing. Following a sample of 3,294 females aged 12-16 through age 19, discrete-time logistic regression analyses were used to examine which domains of teenagers' lives were associated with the transition to a teenage birth for each racial and ethnic group, and whether these associations help explain racial and ethnic and nativity differences in this transition. RESULTS: In a baseline multivariate analysis controlling for age, compared with whites, foreign-born Hispanics had more than three times the odds of a teenage birth (odds ratio, 3.5), while blacks and native-born Hispanics had about twice the odds (2.1 and 1.9, respectively). Additional controls (for family environments; individual, peer and dating characteristics; characteristics of first sexual relationships; and subsequent sexual experience) reduced the difference between blacks and whites, and between foreign-born Hispanics and whites, and eliminated the difference between U.S.-born Hispanics and whites. Further, if racial or ethnic minority adolescents had the same distribution as did white teenagers across all characteristics, the predicted probability of a teenage birth would be reduced by 40% for blacks and 35% for U.S.-born Hispanics. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in the context of adolescence may account for a substantial portion of racial, ethnic and nativity differences in teenage childbearing.

Relationship Characteristics and the Relationship Context of Nonmarital First Births Among Young Adult Women.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to examine whether and how characteristics of the relationship dyad are linked to nonmarital childbearing among young adult women, additionally distinguishing between cohabiting and nonunion births. METHODS: We used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort and discrete-time event history methods to examine these objectives. RESULTS: Our analyses found that similarities and differences between women and their most recent sexual partner in educational attainment, disengagement from work or school, race/ethnicity, and age were linked to the risk and context of nonmarital childbearing. For example, partner disengagement (from school and work) was associated with increased odds of a nonmarital birth regardless of whether the woman herself was disengaged. Additionally, having a partner of a different race/ethnicity was associated with nonmarital childbearing for whites, but not for blacks and Hispanics. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that relationship characteristics are an important dimension of the lives of young adults that influence their odds of having a birth outside of marriage.

Coparenting and children's school readiness: a mediational model.

We examined the long-term direct and indirect links between coparenting (conflict, communication, and shared decision-making) and preschoolers' school readiness (math, literacy, and social skills). The study sample consisted of 5,650 children and their biological mothers and fathers who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. Using structural equation modeling and controlling for background characteristics, we found that our conceptual model of the pathways from coparenting to child outcomes is structurally the same for cohabiting and married families. Controlling for a host of background characteristics, we found that coparenting conflict and shared decision-making were negatively and positively, respectively, linked to children's academic and social skills and co-parental communication was indirectly linked to academic and social skills through maternal supportiveness. Coparenting conflict was also indirectly linked to children's social skills through maternal depressive symptoms. The overall findings suggest that for both cohabiting and married families, the context of conflicted coparenting may interfere with the development of children's social competencies and academic skills, whereas collaborative coparenting promotes children's school readiness because mothers are more responsive to their children's needs. These findings have implications for programs aimed at promoting positive family processes in cohabiting and married families.

Union Transitions Following the Birth of a Child to Cohabiting Parents.

Despite a growing interest in the family trajectories of unmarried women, there has been limited research on union transitions among cohabiting parents. Using data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, we examined how family complexity (including relationship and fertility histories), as well as characteristics of the union and birth, were associated with transitions to marriage or to separation among 1,105 women who had a birth in a cohabiting relationship. Cohabiting parents had complex relationship and fertility histories, which were tied to union transitions. Having a previous nonmarital birth was associated with a lower relative risk of marriage and a greater risk of separation. In contrast, a prior marriage or marital birth was linked to union stability (getting married or remaining cohabiting). Characteristics of the union and birth were also important. Important racial/ethnic differences emerged in the analyses. Black parents had the most complex family histories and the lowest relative risk of transitioning to marriage. Stable cohabitations were more common among Hispanic mothers, and measures of family complexity were particularly important to their relative risk of marriage. White mothers who began cohabiting after conception were the most likely to marry, suggesting that ''shot-gun cohabitations'' serve as a stepping-stone to marriage.

Risky adolescent sexual behaviors and reproductive health in young adulthood.

CONTEXT: Little research links adolescent risk behaviors to reproductive health outcomes beyond adolescence, although young adults--men and women in their early 20s--bear a disproportionate burden of STDs and unintended childbearing. METHODS: To assess whether individuals who engaged in risk behaviors during adolescence had increased risk of negative reproductive health outcomes in young adulthood, data from Waves 1-4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health on 5,798 sexually active respondents were analyzed. Logistic and multinomial logistic regressions examined associations between risk behaviors (cumulatively and individually) and each of three outcomes. RESULTS: Four in 10 youth reported at least three risk factors during adolescence. Women who were exposed to an increasing number of risks had an elevated likelihood of having had multiple sex partners in the last year, rather than none (relative risk ratio, 1.3); having had an STD (odds ratio, 1.1); and having had an intended or unintended birth, as opposed to no birth (relative risk ratio, 1.1 for each). Inconsistent contraceptive use and having had multiple partners, a non-monogamous partner or a non-romantic partner were associated with reporting multiple partners in the last year; inconsistent use, sexual debut after age 16 and not discussing contraception with a partner were associated with having any birth. CONCLUSIONS: Teenagers' sexual behaviors have both short-term and long-term consequences, and interventions that focus on multiple domains of risk may be the most effective in helping to promote broad reproductive health among young adults.

FATHER RESIDENCE AND ADOLESCENT PROBLEM BEHAVIOR: ARE YOUTH ALWAYS BETTER OFF IN TWO-PARENT FAMIIES?

This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine combinations of father residence and closeness which have received minimal examination but involve significant numbers of children. Our findings lead to a number of conclusions. First, adolescents who are close to their nonresident fathers report higher self-esteem, less delinquency, and fewer depressive symptoms than adolescents who live with a father with whom they are not close. Second, adolescents living with a father with whom they are not close have better grades, less violence and less substance use than those having a nonresident father who is not close. At the same time, however, not being close to a resident father is associated with lower self-esteem compared to having a nonresident father who is not close. Third, adolescents do best of all when they have close ties to resident fathers. A central conclusion of this study is that it is important to consider the quality of father-child relations among those who have a resident father when assessing the impact of nonresident fathers on their children.