Low Income Men Face Challenges as Dads

So they're very isolated and very much stereotyped in terms of who they are. And I think what you see a lot of is, for the fathers I'm working with, incarceration has become just as common as high school or an education degree. - Assist. Prof. Kevin Roy, University of Maryland

Fathers are on the radar screen and under the microscope this Father's Day more than ever before. "We think of fathers differently than we did 20-30 years ago," says the University of Maryland's Kevin Roy. An assistant professor in the Department of Family Studies, Roy has conducted fatherhood research for years. Maryland is a national leader in fatherhood research - see our expert's list.

Roy says, "There are new ideals for men. We think of the new father as being the provider as well as the caregiver - so (he is) somebody who is not just working all the time, but spending more and more time with kids. And we see more and more men able to do that."

Roy's research focuses on low-income young men in cities like Chicago and Indianapolis. He says he's seeing another side to the fatherhood story - more and more men disengaging completely from their kids' lives. His research has included conducting life history interviews with men who are on work release programs or behind bars. "We're really interested in talking with them about their own life experiences and what led them to be involved, or want to be involved parents," he says.

Roy has found that it's not easy for men to be responsible fathers when they don't have a high school diploma or have been incarcerated. They can't find work that pays a living wage. "I was in Indianapolis interviewing, and in Chicago," he says," and for low income men of color it is just very difficult to find a good job these days."

In fact, the Maryland assistant professor believes jobs are central to helping these men become an active, involved member of a family. Roy says it's not that they don't care or don't want to be good fathers - it's just that they are in a circumstance that makes it very challenging. "The period between 18 and 30 is just really, really difficult," he says, adding that these young men are isolated and stereotyped, and thus targeted by "gangs in the community, police and business folks, employers and families of people in the community, as just being risky to get involved with in any way." Expectations for these men "are not very high," he says.

Because of these issues, young fathers are having trouble supporting their families. "They don't have the resources to get them out of the community or get them into situations that could put them on the pathway to success either through school or jobs," says Roy.

Roy believes the answer lies in job training for many of these young fathers. He says they can get beyond the day laborer construction jobs, for example, by becoming certified in jobs that provide a living wage and will allow them to support their family.

He also feels that child support payments need to go directly to families. Most states now take those payments to help repay welfare costs. And while some men just can't make support payments, those who can are discouraged when the money never makes it to their own family.

Right now, Roy says, "We need to support men... We can do that within our own families and communities as well as through state and federal programs too, to take on more with their kids. And I think we've seen there are really important impacts on kids' lives if they are."

Roy's interest in fatherhood research will continue on a number of fronts - with a look at how young men make the transition to adulthood, and a study of baby boomer men over 55 who are alone and facing issues including mental illness and substance abuse. He is also hoping to go to South Africa - where a majority of children live in homes without a father.

For more on Assistant Professor Kevin Roy's fatherhood research, read our "A Conversation With..." feature.

An audio version of the complete interview is also available in Quicktime format and as a Podcast.

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