African American custodial and non-custodial fathers: Socio-demographic characteristics and structure of social networks

Stereotypes of low-income African American men portray them as unemployed, high school dropouts, participating in the underground economy, fathering numerous children with different women and not contributing to the well being of families. This dissertation investigated components of this stereotype. The investigation focused on a sample of two groups of low-income men, non-custodial fathers, men who do not co-reside with their children, and custodial fathers, men who do reside with their children as both primary caretakers and as heads of single families. The goal of the investigation was to gain an understanding of these fathers' socio-demographic backgrounds and the nature of their social relationships as revealed by social network analysis. The data collected were analyzed for differences between the fathers in their socio-demographic background characteristics and in their social relationships that are associated with their fathering statuses.The investigation revealed that age, number of children fathered and whether or not children have the same mother were significantly associated with fathering status. Not related to fathering status were growing up with both parents in the home, having a job and level of educational attainment. Analysis of the social networks data show the nature of the network relations of both groups of fathers included the giving and receiving of goods and services from women, both kin and non-kin females. This finding contradicts the view of African American men as not participating in reciprocal exchanges with women who head households containing children.The findings in this dissertation suggest a need for more studies to investigate the possible existence of exchange relations between African American fathers and females that researchers have either overlooked or underreported in previous studies. The findings further suggest a need for more qualitative studies to uncover possible disparities between societal meanings and fathers' lived views of positive fathering behaviors.