Adolescent/Young Fathers' Involvement with their Children

The purpose of the present study was to explore the social support received by adolescent/young fathers and its influence on their involvement with their children. A convenience sample of 40 (15 resident and 25 nonresident) adolescent fathers identified and recruited through a school-based program for pregnant and parenting teens provided data for the current study. Father involvement was measured in terms of frequency of contact during the past month, regularity of financial and other support provided during the last six months, and frequency of father involvement in various nurturing, caregiving, and providing activities with their child during that past month. Social support also was measured in terms of how often fathers went to others for assistance with their child, how much emotional, financial, and childcare support they received from others, and fathers' perceptions of the helpfulness of the support. Adolescent fathers had frequent contact with their children and were more involved in nurturing activities than in caregiving and providing activities. Fathers were most likely to go to their child's mother and their own mother for support. They received the most emotional, financial, and childcare support from the women within their microsystem (their child's mother, their child's maternal grandmother, and their own mother) and this support was related to how involved they were as fathers. Also, the amount of support received was more important than how helpful fathers perceived that support to be in influencing their involvement with their child. Recommendations for future research and implications for family life education are presented.