U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Administration for Children and Families

Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Head Start Bureau

JUNE 2004

Building Blocks for

Father Involvement

Building Block 1:

Appreciating How 

Fathers Give Children 

a Head Start
This document was prepared under Contract 

No. 233-02-0002 of the Head Start Bureau,

Administration on Children,Youth and Families,

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,

by the National Head Start Training and Technical

Assistance Resource Center, 1000 Wilson Boulevard,

Suite 1000,Arlington,VA 22209.
Building Block 1 Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start i

Overview

How Father Involvement Improves 

Child Well-Being 

The Problem of Fatherlessness 

How Father-Love Is Different From Mother-Love

and Why It Matters

Reading List: Resources on Why Fathers Matter

pg 1

pg 2

pg 6

pg 8

pg 13

Table of Contents

Building Block 1:

Appreciating How Fathers 

Give Children a Head Start 

Building Block 1 Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start 1

Overview

Nearly 30 years ago, leading child psychologist Michael E. Lamb reminded us that fathers are the “forgotten

contributors to child development.”1 Since then, much work has been done to explore the ways fathers uniquely

contribute to the healthy development of their children. Scholars now know that boys and girls who grow up

with an involved father, as well as an involved mother, have stronger cognitive and motor skills, enjoy elevated

levels of physical and mental health, become better problem-solvers, and are more confident, curious, and

empathetic. They also show greater moral sensitivity and self-control.

As they grow, well-fathered children are substantially less likely to be sexually involved at an early age, have

babies out of wedlock, or be involved in criminal or violent behavior. They are much more likely to stay in

school, do well there, and go to college.

Fathers can help Head Start programs become more effective in achieving positive outcomes for children. Head

Start programs can help to strengthen the parenting partnership, and help fathers to be more effective in their

children’s lives.

These five Building Blocks for Father Involvement will support Head Start programs in their efforts to promote

father involement. Building Block 1 provides up-to-date research on the essential role that fathers play in the

healthy development of their children.

It is important that Head Start staff and parents understand the importance of the parenting partnership and

why fathers are essential to children’s well-being. This knowledge will help them to better meet the needs of

families and children.

[Fathers] are the single greatest

untapped resource in the lives 

of American children. Natural,

renewable, and by and large nontoxic,

they couldn’t be healthier for the

country’s children.We can’t afford to

let another one get away.

—Kyle D. Pruett, M.D.,Yale Medical School
Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start Building Block 1 2

How Father Involvement Improves Child Well-Being

There is a substantial body of research literature documenting the positive benefits fathers bring to the lives of

their children. A review of studies on father involvement and child well-being published since 1980 found that 

82 percent of these studies showed “significant associations between positive father involvement and offspring

well-being...”2

An analysis of over 100 studies on parent-child relationships found that having a loving and nurturing father

was as important for a child’s happiness, well-being, and social and academic success as having a loving and

nurturing mother. Some studies indicated father-love was a stronger contributor to some important positive child

well-being outcomes.3 Weinraub, in “Fatherhood: the Myth of the Second Class Parent,” states that “There is

no doubt that fathers are important contributors to child development. In particular, fathers significantly affect

the development of sex roles, cognitive abilities and achievement motivation.”4

School Readiness and Behavior

Children who have an involved father in their lives in the early years show up for school with more of the

qualities needed for learning. They are more patient, curious, and confident. They are better able to remain in

their seats, wait patiently for their teacher, and maintain interest in their own work.5

Educational psychologist Paul Amato explains that this higher level of self-control in school children with

involved fathers was also associated with many other healthy qualities, such as improved general life skills, selfesteem, and higher social skills.6

Kyle Pruett, in Fatherneed, reports on another major scientific study that linked positive fatherhood 

involvement with:

■ Lowered levels of disruptive behavior, acting out, depression, and telling lies;

■ Obeying parents, being kind to others, and being responsible;

■ Fewer behavioral problems in young boys; and

■ Girls being happier, more confident, and willing to try new things.

Father involvement has a unique

impact on children’s outcomes,

including cognitive development,

achievement, math and reading

scores, as well as behavioral

problems.The fact that this benefit is

here should raise concern to those

who do not have these resources.

—W. Jean Yeung, Sociologist, University of Pennsylvannia

Photo by W. C. Seigel, Alexandria HS
Building Block 1 Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start 3

Pruett concludes, “Positive father care is associated with more pro-social and positive moral behavior overall in

boys and girls.”7

Cognitive, Motor, and Verbal Development

Psychologist Ellen Bing was one of the first scholars to explore how fatherhood impacts child well-being. In the

early 1960s, she found that children who had fathers who read to them regularly were more likely to do much

better in many important cognitive skill categories than children who did not have fathers who read to them.

Interestingly, one of the strongest benefits was a substantial increase in a daughter’s verbal skills.8

A study nearly ten years later, published in Developmental Psychology, found that both well-fathered preschool

boys and girls had increased verbal skills compared with kids with absent or overbearing fathers.9

Ross Parke’s research shows that father involvement in the early months of a child’s life contributes to increased

intellectual, motor, and physical development.10

Henry Biller, noted fatherhood researcher, finds time and again that father-involved children are more confident

and successful in solving complex mathematical and logical puzzles. This may be because fathers tend to be

more specialized in and have a higher interest in analytical problems. Norma Radin found that high father

involvement contributed to higher mathematical competencies in young daughters.11

Michael Yogman conducted a study of the role fathering plays in overcoming the effects of prematurity in

Latino, African-American, and other inner-city populations. When he followed up with these preemies at three

years of age, Yogman found that kids with highly involved fathers had substantially higher cognitive skills than

those children who did not have involved fathers.12

Michael Lamb found that preschool children who had involved fathers had higher cognitive competencies on

standardized intellectual assessments.13

Over the past four decades, fatherlessness has emerged as one of our

greatest social problems.We know that children who grow up with absent

fathers can suffer lasting damage.They are more likely to end up in poverty

or drop out of school, become addicted to drugs, have a child out of

wedlock, or end up in prison. Fatherlessness is not the only cause of these

things, but our nation must recognize it is an important factor.

—President George W. Bush, June 2001
Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start Building Block 1 4

Security, Confidence, and Attachment

Infants who have involved fathers in their lives for the first eighteen to twenty-four months of life are more

secure and are more likely to explore the world around them with increased enthusiasm and curiosity than

children who did not have close, involved fathers. Father’s active play and slower response to help the child

through frustrating situations promotes problem-solving competencies and independence in the child.14

Making Wise Life Choices

Research from the University of Pennsylvania found that children who feel a closeness and warmth with their

father are twice as likely to enter college, 75 percent less likely to have a child in their teen years, 80 percent

less likely to be incarcerated, and half as likely to show various signs of depression.15

“A white teenage girl from an advantaged background is five times more likely to become a teen mother if she

grows up in a single-mother household than if she grows up in a household with both biological parents.”16

The likelihood that a young male will engage in criminal activity doubles if he is raised without a father and

triples if he lives in a neighborhood with a high concentration of fatherless families.17

“The research is absolutely clear...the one human being most capable of curbing the antisocial aggression of a

boy is his biological father.”18

The single biggest social problem 

in our society may be the 

growing absence of fathers from

their children’s homes because it

contributes to so many other social

problems... Without a father to 

help guide, without a father to care,

without a father to teach boys to 

be men, and to teach girls to expect

respect from men, it’s harder.

—President Bill Clinton, October 1995

Photo by T. Santiago, Tolentine HS
Building Block 1 Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start 5

Development of Empathy

A long-term study started in the 1950s found that the strongest indicator for a child being empathetic later in

adulthood was warm father involvement in the early years of the child’s life.19

In a 26-year-long study, researchers found that the number one factor in developing empathy in children was

father involvement. Fathers spending regular time alone with their children translated into children who

became compassionate adults.20

Kyle Pruett, after reviewing the large body of research on father involvement and child development, concludes

“these findings take us beyond a shadow of a doubt” that fathers play an important and irreplaceable role in

healthy child development. He adds, “the closer the connection between father and child, the better off they

both are now and in the future.”21

The research is absolutely clear...

the one human being most capable 

of curbing the antisocial aggression 

of a boy is his biological father.

—Shawn Johnston, Forensic Psychologist

Photo by B. Blanken, Higher Horizons HS
Appreciating How Fathers Give Kids a Head Start Building Block 1 6

The Problem of Fatherlessness

Just as it has documented the many benefits of positive father involvement, the research is clear on father

absence and its negative consequences for children.

How Many Fatherless Children Are There in America?

■ The United States is the world’s leader in fatherless families.22

■ Tonight, some 24 million children (approximately 34 percent of all children) will go to bed in a home

where their father does not reside.23

■ Nearly 40 percent of children in father-absent homes have not seen their father at all during the past year.24

■ More than half of all children who do not live with their father have never been in their father’s home.25

Percentage of children living apart from their biological fathers (by race):27

African-American children: 66 percent

Hispanic children: 35 percent

White children: 27 percent.

■ Single mothers are the primary caregivers in 84 percent of all single-parent families.26

Fatherless Family Growth Over the Decades

■ From 1960 to 1996, the number of children who lived in homes without a father or stepfather rose from 7

million to nearly 20 million. However, since the mid-1990s, the number of children in fatherless homes has

leveled off.28

■ The number of children raised by single mothers more than tripled between 1960 and 2000—from 5.1

million to 16.2 million.29

■ In 1960, only 4 percent of single mothers had never been married. In 2000, this number was up to 

41 percent.30
Building Block 1 Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start 7

Good News

The percentage of children under the age of 18 who were raised by only a mother was steady from 1985-1990.

This number dropped eight percent between 1995-2000.31

Attitudes Toward Fathers and Fatherlessness

■ Sixty-four percent of Americans believe that the rise of single-parent families is very problematic.32

■ A poll conducted in 1999 found that 77 percent of Americans feel that upsurges in divorce and single

parenting have weakened family connectivity.33

■ When asked to name the adult “you most look up to and admire,” only 20 percent of children in singleparent families named their father, compared to 52 percent of children in two-parent families.34

■ Seven in ten adults believe a child needs a home with both a mother and a father to grow up happy.35

Father absence is an American

problem that crosses racial,

ethnic, and class lines. All across

the United States, fathers are

quietly disappearing from the lives

of their children.

—Turning the Corner on Father Absence 

in Black America

A Statement from the Morehouse Conference 

on African American Fathers

Photos (left to right) by D. Mentzer, Higher Horizons HS; B. Beavers, Dane CountyParent Council HS; and W.C. Seigel, Kentucky HS
Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start Building Block 1 8

How Father-Love Is Different From Mother-Love

and Why It Matters

Mothers and fathers parent differently, and this difference is a big benefit for children.

Fatherhood is just as essential to healthy child development as motherhood. The professional journal, Review of

General Psychology, finds that “Evidence suggests that the influence of father love on offspring’s development is

as great as and occasionally greater than the influence of mother love.”36 Fathering expert Dr. Kyle Pruett

explains in Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child, “Fathers do not mother.”37

Psychology Today states that, “Fatherhood turns out to be a complex and unique phenomenon with huge

consequences for the emotional and intellectual growth of children.”38 Erik Erikson, a pioneer in the world of

child psychology, explained that father love and mother love are qualitatively different kinds of love. Fathers

“love more dangerously,” Erikson states, because their love is more “expectant, more instrumental” than a

mother’s love.39 A father, as a male biological parent, brings unique contributions to the job of parenting a child

that no one else can provide.

These are some of the most compelling ways father involvement makes a unique and positive difference in a

child’s life.

Fathers Parent Differently

The mother/father difference provides an important diversity of experiences for children. Dr. Pruett explains that

fathers have a distinct style of communication and interaction with children. By eight weeks of age, infants can

tell the difference between their mother or father in interactions. This diversity, in itself, provides children with a

broader, richer experience of contrasting relational interactions—more so than for children who are raised by only

one parent. Whether they realize it or not, children are learning at an early age, through experience, that men and

women are different and have different ways of dealing with life, other adults, and children.

Fathers Play Differently

While mothers and fathers are both physical with their children, fathers are typically physical in different ways.

Fathers tend to play with their children, and mothers tend to care for them.
Building Block 1 Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start 9

Generally speaking, fathers tickle more, they wrestle, and they throw their children in the air (while mothers

warn “Not so high!”). Fathers chase their children, sometimes as playful, scary “monsters.” Fathers are louder at

play, while mothers are quieter. Mothers cuddle babies, and fathers bounce them. Fathers roughhouse, while

mothers are gentle. Fathers encourage competition; mothers encourage equity. Fathers encourage independence

while mothers encourage security.

Fathering expert John Snarey notes that children who roughhouse with their fathers learn that biting, kicking,

and other forms of physical violence are not acceptable.40 They learn self-control by being told when “enough is

enough” and when to “settle down.” Fathers help girls and boys learn a healthy balance between timidity and

aggression. Children need mom’s softness, as well as dad’s roughhousing. Both provide security and confidence

in their own ways by communicating love and physical intimacy.

Fathers Build Confidence

Go to any playground and listen to the parents there. Who is often encouraging kids to swing or climb just a little

higher, ride their bike just a little faster, or throw just a little harder? Who is encouraging kids to be careful?

Mothers tend toward caution while fathers often encourage kids to push the limits. Either of these parenting styles

by themselves can be unhealthy. One can tend toward encouraging risk without consideration of consequences.

The other tends to avoid risk, which can fail to build independence, confidence, and progress. Joined together,

they keep each other in balance and help children remain safe while expanding their experiences and confidence.

Fathers Communicate Differently

A major study showed that, when speaking to children, mothers and fathers are different.41 Mothers typically

simplify their words and speak on the child’s level. Fathers are not as inclined to modify their language for the child.

Mother’s way facilitates immediate communication. Father’s way challenges the child to expand his or her

vocabulary and linguistic skills—an important building block of academic success.

Father’s talk tends to be more brief, directive, and to the point. It also makes greater use of facial expressions

and subtle body language. Mothers tend to be more descriptive, personal, and verbally encouraging. Children

who do not learn how to understand and use both styles of conversation will be at a disadvantage, because they

will experience both of these styles as they enter the adult world.

Over half of all children born 

in the United States today will,

if current trends continue,

live apart from at least one 

of their biological parents–

usually the father–before they

reach adulthood.

—Sara McLanahan, Princeton University

Photos by W. C. Siegel, Honolulu Community Action Program, Inc. HS
Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start Building Block 1 10

Fathers Discipline Differently

Educational psychologist Carol Gilligan tells us that fathers stress justice, fairness, and duty (based on rules),

while mothers stress sympathy, care and help (based on relationships).42 Fathers tend to observe and enforce

rules systematically and sternly, which teach children the objectivity and consequences of right and wrong.

Mothers tend toward grace and sympathy in the midst of disobedience, which provide a sense of hopefulness.

Again, either of these by themselves is not good, but, together, they create a healthy, proper balance.

Fathers Prepare Children for the Real World

Generally speaking, fathers tend to see their child in relation to the rest of the world, while mothers tend to see

the rest of the world in relation to their child. For example, mothers are often very aware of things from the

outside world that could hurt their child (e.g., violence, lightning, accidents, disease, strange people, dogs or

cats). Fathers, while not unconcerned with these things, tend to focus on how their children will or will not be

prepared for something they might encounter in the world.

Fathers often help children see that particular attitudes and behaviors have certain consequences. For instance,

fathers are more likely to tell their children that if they are not nice to others, kids will not want to play with

them. Or that, if they don’t do well in school, they will not get into college or land a good job. Generally

speaking, fathers help children prepare for the reality and harshness of the real world, and mothers help protect

against it. Both are necessary as children grow into adulthood.

Fathers Provide a Look at the World of Men

Men and women are different. They eat differently. They dress differently. They smell differently. They cope

with life differently. Stereotypically, fathers do “man things” and mothers do “woman things.”

Girls and boys who grow up with a father are more familiar and secure with the world of men. Girls with

involved fathers are more likely to have healthier, more confident relationships with boys in adolescence and

men in adulthood. This is because girls have a greater opportunity to learn from their fathers how men should

act toward women. They understand from experience which behaviors are inappropriate. Girls raised by

involved fathers also have a healthy familiarity with the world of men. They don’t wonder how a man’s facial
Building Block 1 Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start 11

stubble feels or what it’s like to be hugged by strong arms. This knowledge builds emotional security and safety

from the exploitation of predatory males.

Boys who grow up with dads are less likely to be violent. They have their masculinity affirmed and can learn

from their fathers how to channel that masculinity and strength in positive ways. Fathers can help boys

understand appropriate male sexuality, hygiene, and age-appropriate behavior. It can be difficult for mothers to

teach these things to their boys.

Fathers Can Teach Respect for the Other Sex

Research consistently shows married fathers are substantially less likely to abuse their wives or children than

other men.43 This means that boys and girls with married fathers in the home are more likely to learn by

observation how men should treat women.

Girls with involved fathers, therefore, are more likely to select good boyfriends and husbands because they have

had a good model by which to judge all candidates. Fathers also help weed out bad candidates. Boys raised with

fathers are more likely to be good husbands because they can emulate their fathers’ strengths and learn from

their shortcomings.

The American Journal of Sociology finds that, “Societies with father-present patterns of child socialization

produce men who are less inclined to exclude women from public activities than their counterparts in fatherabsent societies.”44

Fathers Connect Children with Job Markets

A crucial point in life is the transition from financial dependence to independence. This is usually a gradual

process, spanning from about 16 to 22 years of age. Fathers can help connect their children—especially boys—

to job markets as they enter adulthood. Fathers often have the kinds of diverse community connections needed

to help young adults get their first jobs. When dad is not around, boys may be less likely to have the

connections and motivation necessary to land a summer job.

Many studies conclude that children

with highly involved fathers, in

relation to children with less

involved fathers, tend to be more

cognitively and socially competent,

less inclined toward gender

stereotyping, more empathetic, and

psychologically better adjusted.

—Review of General Psychology, 2001

Photos (left to right) by W. C. Siegel, Honolulu Community Action Program, Inc. HS;C. Dyer, Higher Horizons HS; T. D. Summers, Child-Adult Resource Services
Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start Building Block 1 12

Conclusion

As noted sociologist David Popenoe explains, “Fathers are far more than just ‘second adults’ in the home.

Involved fathers–especially biological fathers–bring positive benefits to their children that no other person is as

likely to bring.”45 Fathers make substantial contributions to the lives of their children. Children are

impoverished developmentally when they are deprived of their father’s love.

The Review of General Psychology states, “Many studies conclude that children with highly involved fathers, in

relation to children with less involved fathers, tend to be more cognitively and socially competent, less inclined

toward gender stereotyping, more empathetic, and psychologically better adjusted.”46

Fathers help children attain all the positive outcomes that Head Start programs do. Fathers can help Head Start

programs become more effective. Head Start programs can help fathers be more effective in their children’s

lives. Building Blocks 2-5 will help programs to prepare, plan, and sustain their efforts to make fathers a key and

effective part of their missions.

Fathers are far more than just “second adults” in the home. Involved fathers

–especially biological fathers–bring positive benefits to their children that no

other person is as likely to bring.They provide protection and economic

support and male role models.They have a parenting style that is significantly

different from that of mother, and that difference is important in healthy

child development.

—David Popenoe, Sociologist, Rutgers University
Building Block 1 Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start 13

Reading List:

Resources on Understanding Why Fathers Matter

Paul R. Amato and Fernando Rivera, “Paternal Involvement and Children’s Behavior Problems,” Journal of

Marriage and the Family 61 (1999): 375-384

Ronald J. Angel and Jacqueline L. Angel, Painful Inheritance: Health and the New Generation of Fatherless

Families, (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993)

Henry B. Biller, Father and Families: Paternal Factors in Child Development (Westport, CT: Auburn House, 1993)

David Blankenhorn, Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem (New York: Basic Books,

1994)

Michael E. Lamb, “Fathers: The Forgotten Contributors to Child Development,” Human Development 18

(1975): 245-266

Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur, Growing Up With a Single Parent: What Helps, What Hurts (Cambridge,

MA: Harvard University Press, 1994)

Ross D. Parke, Fathers (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981)

David Popenoe, Life Without Father (New York: The Free Press, 1996)

Kyle D. Pruett, Fatherneed: Why Father Care Is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child (New York: The Free

Press, 2000)

Ronald P. Rohner and Robert A. Veneziano, “The Importance of Father Love: History and Contemporary

Evidence,” Review of General Psychology 5.4 (2001): 382-405

John Snarey, How Fathers Care for the Next Generation (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993)

Where are the dads? Where should

they be? Daddy, you should be where

your children are.

—Herman A. Sanders,

Daddy,We Need You Now:

A Primer on African-American Male Socialization, 1996
Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start Building Block 1 14

Endnotes

1 Michael E. Lamb, “Fathers: The Forgotten Contributors to Child Development,” Human Development 18 (1975): 245-266.

2 Paul R. Amato and Fernando Rivera, “Paternal Involvement and Children’s Behavior Problems,” Journal of Marriage

and the Family 61 (1999): 375-384.

3 Rohner and Veneziano, 2001, pp. 382-405.

4 M. Weinraub, “Fatherhood: The Myth of the Second Class Parent,” in J.H. Stevens and M. Matthews, eds.,

Mother/child and Father/child Relationships (Washington DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children,

1978), p. 127.

5 Henry B. Biller, Father and Families: Paternal Factors in Child Development (Westport, CT: Auburn House, 1993).

6 Paul R. Amato, Children in Australian Families: The Growth of Competence (New York: Prentice Hall, 1987).

7 Pruett, 2000, p. 52.

8 Ellen Bing, “The Effect of Child-Rearing Practices on the Development of Differential Cognitive Abilities,” Child

Development 34 (1963): 631-648.

9 Norma Radin, “Father-Child Interaction and the Intellectual Functioning of Four-Year-Old Boys,” Developmental

Psychology 6 (1972): 353-361.

10 Ross Parke, Fatherhood (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996).

11 Henry B. Biller, “The Father and Personality Development: Paternal Deprivation and Sex-Role Development,” in

Michael E. Lamb, ed., The Role of the Father in Child Development (New York: Wiley & Sons, 1981), p. 104; Norma Radin,

cited in Pruett, 2000, p. 45.

12 Michael Yogman, et al., “Father Involvement and Cognitive/Behavioral Outcomes of Preterm Infants,” Journal of the

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 34 (1995): 58-66.

13 Michael E. Lamb, “Introduction: The Emergent American Father,” in Michael E. Lamb, ed., The Father’s Role: CrossCultural Perspectives (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum and Associates), pp. 3-25.

14 Pruett, 2000, p. 41-42.

15 Frank Furstenberg and Kathleen Harris, “When and Why Fathers Matter: Impacts of Father Involvement on Children

of Adolescent Mothers,” R. Lerman and T. Ooms, eds. in Young Unwed Fathers: Changing Roles and Emerging Policies

(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993).

16 Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, “Facing the Challenge of Fragmented Families,” The Philanthropy Roundtable 9.1 (1995): 21.

17 Anne Hill and June O’Neil, Underclass Behaviors in the United States: Measurements and Analysis or Determinants (New

York: City University of New York, 1993).

Promoting responsible fatherhood is 

the critical next phase of welfare reform

and one of the most important things

we can do to reduce child poverty.

—Former Vice President Al Gore, June 2000.
Building Block 1 Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start 15

18 Forensic Psychologist Shawn Johnston, quoted in The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, March 29, 1998, from Wade and

Sylvester, 2002, p. 106.

19 Robert R. Sears, et al., Patterns of Childrearing (Evanston, IL: Row Peterson, 1957); Pruett, 2000, p. 48.

20 Richard Koestner, et al., “The Family Origins of Empathic Concern: A Twenty-Six Year Longitudinal Study,” Journal

of Personality and Social Psychology 58 (1990): 709-717.

21 Pruett, 2000, p. 44, 41.

22 Alisa Burns and Cath Scott, Mother-Headed Families and Why They Have Increased (Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum and

Associates, 1994), p. xiii.

23 Wade F. Horn and Tom Sylvester, Father Facts, Fourth Edition (Gaithersburg, MD: National Fatherhood Initiative,

2002), p. 15.

24 Horn and Sylvester, 2002, p. 15.

25 Horn and Sylvester, 2002, p. 28.

26 U. S. Census Bureau, “Living Arrangements of Children Under 18 Years Old: 1960 to Present.”

27 Jason Fields, “The Living Arrangements of Children: Fall 1996,” Current Population Reports, 70-74, Washington D.C.;

U.S. Census Bureau, 2001.

28 Horn and Sylvester, 2002, p. 12.

29 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, P20-537, Table CH-5. Washington DC: U.S. Census Bureau, 2001.

30 U. S. Census Bureau, 2001, Table CH-5.

31 Allen Dupree and Wendell Primus, “Declining Share of Children Living With Single Mothers in the Late 1990s,”

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Washington, D.C., June 15, 2001, p. 1.

32 “The Rise of Single-Parent Households.” Hart and Teeter Research Companies for NBC News, Wall Street Journal,

June 16-19, 1999.

33 New York Times poll, July 17-19, 1999.

34 Horn and Sylvester, 2002, p. 27.

35 George Gallup, “Report on the Status of Fatherhood in the United States,” Emerging Trends 20 (1998): 3-5.

36 Ronald Rohner and Robert Veneziano, “The Importance of Father Love: History and Contemporary Evidence,”

Review of General Psychology, 5 (2001) 382-405.
Appreciating How Fathers Give Children a Head Start Building Block 1 16

37 Kyle D. Pruett, Fatherneed: Why Father Care is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child, (New York: The Free Press,

2000), pp. 17-34.

38 “Shuttle Diplomacy,” Psychology Today, July/August 1993, p. 15.

39 As cited in Kyle D. Pruett, The Nurturing Father, (New York: Warner Books, 1987), p. 49.

40 John Snarey, How Fathers Care for the Next Generation: A Four Decade Study (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,

1993), p. 35-36.

41 Eleanor E. Maccoby, The Two Sexes: Growing Up Apart; Coming Together (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,

1999), p. 269.

42 David Popenoe, Life Without Father: Compelling New Evidence That Fatherhood and Marriage Are Indispensable for the

Good of Children and Society (New York: The Free Press, 1996) p. 146.

43 Linda Waite and Maggie Gallagher, The Case for Marriage (New York: Doubleday, 2000); David Popenoe, Life Without

Father (New York: The Free Press, 1996); Glenn T. Stanton, Why Marriage Matters: Reasons to Believe in Marriage in

Postmodern Society (Colorado Springs: Pinon Press, 1997).

44 Scott Coltrane, “Father-Child Relationships and the Status of Women: A Cross-Cultural Study,” American Journal of

Sociology, 93 (1988) p. 1088.

45 David Popenoe, Life Without Father (New York: The Free Press, 1996), p. 163.

46 Rohner and Veneziano, 2001, p. 392.
Notes
Notes