Preferences and perceptions about getting support expressed by low-income fathers.

This report examines the perspectives of fathers of low-income children about their needs and resources for support to help them with their parenting responsibilities. The data are taken from open-ended, qualitative

interviews of 575 men as part of a comprehensive study of fathers related to the Early Head Start Longitudinal Study. The interviews, taken when the father or father figure's child was 24 months of age, asked fathers about the barriers they experienced to fathering, about the sources of support or help they had available, and about supports they thought might be useful. The transcripts were analyzed using a constant comparison method to create a coding structure and coded using NUD*IST software. The primary barrier discussed by fathers was the difficulty of juggling work and other time demands, and their time for fathering. A number of fathers said there were no barriers and furthermore said they did not want any help or support. Fathers described their primary sources of support as their spouse or partner, their own parents (especially their mothers), and their own internal resources (e.g., motivation, patience). Themes fathers discussed related to Early Head Start included (a) direct supports to fathers for parenting or concrete supports (e.g., employment, social services); (b) indirect supports to their child's mother; and (c) no supports perceived. Implications for Early Head Start father involvement programs are discussed.

Keywords: fathers, father involvement, Early Head Start, father support services

**********

Over the past decade there has been an increasing policy emphasis on encouraging greater involvement of fathers in the lives of their children, the result of research findings associating father involvement with positive school outcomes for older children (Fagan & Iglesias, 1999; Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994), child support enforcement provisions in the 1996 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act (45 CFR 302, 2003), and advocacy by fathers themselves for policies that enable them to have a greater role in their children's lives (http://www.promisekeepers.org, 2003; http://www.fatherhood.org, 2003).

Responses to this policy emphasis have led to more services intended to enhance father involvement with their children. Key among them has been the emphasis on father involvement in Early Head Start. While Head Start itself has for many years encouraged father or father-figure involvement in both the program and in the lives of their children (Head Start Information and Publication Center, 2001; Administration for Children, Youth and Families, 2000), Early Head Start, serving families with children under age three since 1996, has explicitly emphasized support, goal-setting, and education for fathers under the umbrella of its two-generation (child and parent) services (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1994; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Targeting fathers follows findings that more men are involved in young, low-income children's lives than previously thought. For example, while only 35% of the infants and toddlers in the Early Head Start national study lived with a resident biological father married to the child's mother, just under 90% had regular contact with a father or father figure (Administration on Children and Families, 2002). Early Head Start may also be a logical program to provide supports to fathers, as recent studies suggest that fathers are more likely to be present at birth than during any other period of the child's life (Mincy & Oliver, 2003). The Administration on Children, Youth, and Families has responded to these findings by funding fatherhood support demonstration programs for Early Head Start (Administration for Children, Youth and Families, 2000).

We are learning something about the range of supports offered to fathers in Early Head Start programs. For example, Raikes, Boiler, Vankammen, and Summers (2002) conducted a study of 261 Early Head Start programs concerning father involvement. Based on program representative reports, 99% attempted to involve resident biological fathers, 95% attempted to involve resident non-biological fathers, and 77% offered program services to nonresident biological fathers. Although father participation in most programs was low, "a few" fathers were reported to attend typical program events. The low participation rates may be explained by the fact that most program representatives rated their programs as in the "early stages" of father involvement, with only 28% of the programs considering themselves to be "mid-stage" or "mature" in their thinking about father involvement. Indeed, many of the more mature programs did report higher levels of father involvement.

A key factor related to father participation in Early Head Start may be the fathers' perceptions of the meaning of and their need for support, as well as their understanding of how Early Head Start might (or might not) meet those needs. A deeper understanding of fathers' perceptions about supports may contribute to the development of supports that best match fathers' preferences and attitudes, both about the types of supports they believe they need and involvement strategies they may find attractive.

Doherty, Kouneski, and Erickson (1998) developed a theoretical framework that may be useful in understanding how fathers interpret and utilize supports. Doherty and colleagues present a model of "responsible fathering," with the triadic relationship of mother-father-child in the center, surrounded by larger contextual factors in the environment. Based on this model, father involvement is an interaction of father factors (e.g., role identification, knowledge, commitment, psychological well-being, relationships with one's own father, and so on); co-parental relationships (dual- versus single-earner family, custodial arrangement, relationship commitment, cooperation, mutual support, and conflict); mother factors (attitude toward father, expectations of father, support of father, employment); and child factors (attitude toward father, behavioral difficulties, temperament, gender, age, developmental status). Larger contextual factors surrounding this triadic interaction include institutional practices, employment opportunities, economic factors, race or ethnicity resources and challenges, cultural expectations, and social support.

This model is consistent with family systems theory (Whitchurch & Constantine, 1993), which describes the ways in which transactional patterns within families lead to family outcomes, including feedback and control to define boundaries and roles among the family members. Placing the family system in the center of the familiar Bronfrenbrenner ecological model (1979), the contextual factors described by Doherty et al. (1998) form the circles of support surrounding the family. Based on this model, the Early Head Start program may be theorized as a social support mechanism in the environment, and more specifically, as a part of the formal support system as opposed to the informal supports supplied by extended family, friends, and neighbors (Dunst, Trivette, & Deal, 1994). Such a view of support is consistent with the purposes of Early Head Start (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996). Social support theory suggests that access and utilization of formal supports is highly dependent on family culture as well as on community norms or influences from the informal support network, which either encourages or frowns upon accessing formal supports (McGoldrick & Giordano, 1996). The literature on help-seeking suggests that persons will tend to turn to informal resources (family and friends) in preference to formal agencies and that users of formal supports tend to be young, white, educated, middle-class, and female (Gourash, 1978). Thus, both theory and the research literature lead us to expect that men from low-income families will seek support first from family and friends and secondarily from formal sources such as Early Head Start.

To explore how fathers from families eligible for Early Head Start perceive supports in general and the usefulness of accessing Early Head Start in particular, this study presents information from a qualitative study of fathers of Early Head Start children, conducted when the children were 24 months old. We analyzed these interviews to shed light on the following research questions:

* How do fathers define and interpret "supports" and "support needs" for enhancing their role as fathers?

* What types of informal and formal supports do fathers say they use to enhance their fathering role?

* What axe fathers' perceptions about their involvement in Early Head Start and its value?

METHOD

This research is a part of a group of projects conducted by the Early Head Start Research Consortium's Father Studies Work Group. The Father Studies Work Group is itself an outgrowth of the Early Head Start Research Consortium's ongoing studies of low-income families and children who are participating in a study of the effectiveness of Early Head Start. Three thousand and one families who had been recruited by local Early Head Start programs were randomly assigned to program and comparison groups, and the Early Head Start Research Consortium collected a variety of child, program, and family measures. Fourteen of the 17 Consortium sites elected to participate in a series of studies of the fathers whose children were the focal children of the larger study. These sites were located in Arkansas, California Colorado (two sites), Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, and Washington State (two sites). The Father Studies include fathers from both program and comparison families and involve a range of measures intended to investigate father characteristics, attitudes, and father-child interactions. For purposes of this study, "fathers" were defined as the biological father or other father figure (e.g., stepfather, mother's relative) whom the mother identified as most involved in the child's life and whom the mother did not prohibit the investigators from contacting. Interviews of those fathers agreeing to participate and videotapes of father-child interactions are being collected at the child's age of 24 months, 36 months, and entry into kindergarten.

While the overall thrust of the study was deductive and therefore quantitative in its predominant design, the Father Workgroup included an embedded qualitative study intended to gain more open-ended, exploratory information about fathers' perceptions of their roles. Thus the overall study may be characterized as a mixed design using a concurrent framework--that is, collection of the qualitative and quantitative data proceeding simultaneously (Creswell, Clark, Gutmann, & Hanson, 2003). These qualitative interviews are the focus of this report.

SAMPLE

>From the 3001 families across all 17 sites in the Early Head Start Longitudinal Research Study, 89% of the mothers identified a father or father figure who was involved in their child's life. Forty-eight percent were resident (i.e., living with the child) biological fathers; 18% were involved non-resident biological fathers, and 20% were resident or non-resident father figures. To participate in the father study, we needed cooperation from the mother to help us contact her child's father, and following that, we needed to contact and gain permission from the father or father figure himself. Based on these procedures, a total of 769 fathers participated in the 14 father study research sites in the 24-month interviews, which included both qualitative and quantitative measures. The qualitative portions of the interview were audiotaped. Accounting for tapes that were inaudible or defective, the total sample size for this qualitative analysis was 575 fathers and father figures. Forty-nine percent were from the Early Head Start group and 51 percent were from the control group. On average, 41 fathers participated in each of the father study sites; the number of fathers ranged from 9 to 67. Sixty-six percent were resident, biological fathers; 16% were nonresident, biological fathers; 15% were resident father figures (such as the mother's husband or partner or the child's grandfather); and 4% were nonresident father figures (with rounding, the total is greater than 100%). The fathers' characteristics are summarized in Table 1. Compared with the sample of non-respondents, more of the fathers who participated in the Father Study were resident biological fathers, and more were married to their child's mother (Cabrera et al., 2004).

INTERVIEW PROTOCOL AND PROCEDURE

The qualitative interview protocol for the 24-month interview included six primary, or "grand tour" (Miles & Huberman, 1994), items: (1) What does being a "good father" mean to you? (2) How has becoming a father impacted your life? (3) Talk about your experiences with your own father. (4) What kinds of help or support do you get to do your job as a father? (A follow-up probe within this question asked program fathers their impressions of Early Head Start.) (5) What gets in the way of being a father? (6) What are you proudest of about your child? For each of these questions, a series of suggested probes was developed for use by the interviewers, intended to elicit more elaborative responses to these questions. This study primarily reports results of responses to research questions four and five, related to supports and support needs, though some contextual inferences will be drawn using responses to some of the other questions.

The open-ended interview was interspersed throughout the quantitative father interview; interviewers had instructions to tape-record only the qualitative portions as they went through the overall interview session with the respondent. This was the procedure followed at most sites, although in two sites the local research team decided to deliver all the qualitative questions at either the beginning or the end of the quantitative interview because the interviewers were more comfortable with that procedure.

One or more interviewers participated in the study in each of the 14 Early Head Start Father Study sites. Approximately half of these were male interviewers. There was a wide range of skill in conducting qualitative interviews among these interviewers, with some having extensive backgrounds in ethnographic research and/or clinical interviewing and others having a primary background in quantitative research methodologies. All interviewers were provided with a manual and a demonstration videotape to provide training in techniques of qualitative interviewing. In addition, three conference calls were held during the early stages of data collection for the 24-month interview, intended to provide feedback to the interviewers, facilitate discussion and peer debriefing about early results, and generate additional probes that might be helpful.

DATA ANALYSIS

Audiotapes of the interviews were transcribed; Spanish language interviews were transcribed in both Spanish and their English translation. Each site received copies of all their transcripts and was asked to provide an assessment of the accuracy of a randomly selected set of the transcripts. Two sites (New York and Vermont) conducted accuracy checks of samples of their transcripts and reported no substantive corrections of the content of the transcripts as a result of this accuracy check. This procedure was part of a credibility check, intended to enhance the trustworthiness of the study (Anfara, Brown, & Mangione, 2002).

An initial framework for analysis (Miles & Huberman, 1994) was developed using the results of a pilot study involving focus groups conducted in four of the Early Head Start Father Workgroup sites (see Summers et al., 1999). This initial framework was submitted to the Father Studies Workgroup and revised with their suggestions for use in analyzing the 24-month father interviews. This framework formed the basis for an initial "Index Tree" and coding "nodes" in the NUD*IST qualitative software program. The senior author and two research assistants (the analysis team) completed the coding process, adding new codes as new concepts presented themselves in the transcripts.

After coding the first 234 transcripts, the senior author and research assistants transferred the codes and their definitions to index cards and, as a team, sorted the codes in conceptually logical categories and sub-categories. This resulted in a revised analytical framework and coding structure. Reports of a randomly selected sample of the codes were pulled from NUD*IST; these reports were reviewed by the senior member of the team to determine whether the text in that report had been appropriately coded. Text units on which team members disagreed were discussed and either retained in that code, with a revision or clarification of the code, or reassigned to a different code. The Fathers' Work Group as a whole also reviewed the revised coding structure and provided conceptual feedback. In addition, one site (Michigan) independently coded transcripts from their own site using the revised structure and reported general agreement with the appropriateness of the codes.

The remaining transcripts from the 24-month father interviews were coded using this revised framework. This report presents the data reflecting a total of all 575 transcripts of the open-ended interviews from the 24-month data collection.

RESULTS

In the discussion that follows, we present the categories conceptualized as types of barriers/needs and resources that fathers identified along with one or more quotations from the respondents to illustrate the concept behind the category. All quotes are verbatim comments from the respondents, with the exception that in some cases the interviewer's question was also included in order to clarify the context. In those cases, the respondent comment is designated with an "R" and the interviewer comment designated with an "I." In all categories a particular factor was identified by some respondents as a barrier or need and by others as a resource. For example, many fathers described job and time demands as a barrier, but a few described them as a resource (e.g., they had flexible schedules). We do not report the number or percentages of our total sample that made particular comments. As an unstructured interview, respondents spontaneously generated these factors, and therefore responses made by some fathers may simply not have occurred to others; items that were seldom mentioned may or may not be as important as items that were mentioned with greater frequency. Also some respondents identified more than one category or talked about a person or factor as both a resource and a barrier (e.g., their job, extended family); therefore it would be meaningless to identify the frequencies with which particular categories were mentioned. Following principles of mixed design approaches (Morse, 2003), we adhere to the methodological assumptions of our base method and refrain from "quantitizing" (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2003, p. 9) the qualitative data.

RESEARCH QUESTION 1: INTERPRETATION OF SUPPORT NEEDS--PRACTICAL NEEDS AND RESOURCES

The respondents identified tangible or practical barriers or resources for fathering. These responses usually came from the question, "Everyone has some little things that get in the way of being a parent. What are those things for you?"

Time and work. Predictably, fathers identified their work or job responsibilities, or other issues related to a lack of time, as barriers to their fathering job. Fathers mentioned long working hours, jobs that took them away from home for part of the week, or shift work that required them to be sleeping or to be away from home when the child was home and awake. Some jobs involving heavy physical labor also drained fathers' energy to interact with their children, as in this example:

   My main thing that I feel that gets in the way of me being a
   better parent is the job that I do. I'm constantly lifting heavy
   boxes. It's a very active job. There are some times when I come
   home and I don't want to leave the couch. The kids will come and
   say. "Dad, let's go out front and play catch." My body is telling
   me not to move, and my mind starts thinking about how I don't want
   my son to be mad at me because I don't want to play catch. I'm just
   so tired.... Sometimes I just kick myself in the butt and tell
   myself to go out [and play with them] anyway. I'll deal with the
   sleep later. Sometimes you just can't, though, and your body just
   wants to relax, and you have to do it. That's my main thing.

Fathers also identified their jobs, or time availability, as a resource for them in terms of being with their children. Most of these comments concerned flexible work schedules or employers who were understanding about a father's need to take time off if a child is sick or for other needs.

Money. Fathers in this study mentioned money as a barrier to fathering. There was a sense that a lack of money was a given, and therefore some fathers appeared reluctant to speak of money as a barrier, as in this case: "More money? (Laughs). That's everybody's problem, so that doesn't count." Those who identified money as a barrier spoke of wanting to be able to buy their children more, as in purchasing special things, or to take them places. A few respondents spoke of money as a resource. These were fathers who responded to the question about sources of support or help by describing some financial benefit or assistance they were receiving. Comments concerned financial help from family members, such as the father's parents or other relatives. The support received was occasional and often was in the form of food, diapers, or clothes:

I: Do you get any kind of help from people or from different services that help you?

R: Oh! From like people like family members.... They make sure I keep on my job, but if I don't have that, they'll help me out. They'll buy stuff for [child]. Just for no reason my cousin will come and knock on the door, and he'll have a little outfit for [child].

Child care. Respondents identified a lack of available child care as a barrier. Comments about child care as a need related to occasional care when the father wanted to go out either with his child's mother or on his own. For example, one father said, "It would be nice, on our day off, to have someone to count on to watch the kids for a couple of hours so [wife] and I could have some quiet time. That would be nice."

The respondents also identified resources for child care, usually relative care. However, some identified Early Head Start as a child care resource, and their comments are discussed in Research Question 3.

   My grandmother is the one who picks her up from day-care most
   of the time because she knows my schedule doesn't allow me to
   pick her up. It's a huge help to me. My mother will--when she
   can--take [child] and have her spend the night so I'll have some
   time to rest. That's a big help.

Parenting information. Fathers specifically mentioned a need for information or said they had educational resources on parenting. Types of resources mentioned as potentially useful included parenting classes, written information, or a number to call (i.e., a "hotline"). Types of information these fathers thought they could use were information on how to help a child when she/he is sick, advice on child development, and guidance on discipline. A typical comment is:

   Yeah, I could use help with everything. I could probably use some
   classes. I don't know what kind of classes are there, but I'd
   certainly be willing to go to a few to get some pointers on working
   with kids and how to raise them up as good as you can..... I could
   use some hints on how to get them to do what you want. How to
   make discipline more ... of a forethought than an afterthought, if
   you know what I mean. And I just need help with day-to-day
   operations.

NO NEEDS, NO RESOURCES

We quickly learned that asking about support needs and barriers was a difficult question for many fathers. Many fathers initially responded to the question, "What gets in the way of being the kind of father you'd like to be?" with at least one statement that there were no barriers for them, no people who get in their way, no supports available, and/or no supports needed. As the interviewer probed further, however, most of these respondents moved beyond this initial reaction and discussed some barriers or supports related to their fathering role, such as the problem of juggling work and parenting, as discussed above. Even after probing, however, some respondents continued to maintain that they had no supports and/or no barriers at all to fathering.

No barriers. Among the respondents saying there were no barriers at all to fathering, the exchange was often fairly brusque, with a response such as "nothing really gets in my way," when asked about "practical, everyday things" that might get in their way of fathering. Some fathers did respond at greater length, explaining they had no barriers because they had taken steps in a very pragmatic way to make sure they could meet their responsibilities. Other fathers saw the question about addressing barriers as a matter of principle, or the need to prioritize one's children above other things, as in this father: "(Emphatic) No, no, no. When it comes to a baby, nobody, nobody has no business letting anything getting in the way when it comes to a baby. Nobody!"

No people barriers. For those fathers who responded to our question about barriers by discussing tangible barriers such as time or money, interviewers followed up with a probe, "Are there any people who get in your way?" Often the response to this question was a simple "no," with no elaboration. Other fathers made it clear that there were no people in their way because they would not allow any such obstructions, for example: "No. They get in the way; they get knocked out of the way." As another father put it: "No, I wouldn't allow anybody to come in here and just ramrod my house. The way I see it, it's mine and [wife's] house and our children, and we set oar own rules."

No resources available. When asked about sources of support or help, some respondents made statements about having no resources or help. Some of these respondents also described support received from their child's mother or their extended family, thus contradicting their own statement that they had no help. We interpret this as evidence that the fathers believed this question was asking about formal services such as community agencies or assistance programs. A few, however, maintained that they had no support resources at all.

No resources wanted. Some fathers made it very clear that not only did they not have formal or community resources or supports, they did not want any, nor would they access any services or supports if they were available. Some simply expressed that that they would not access a formal service program because "there's something about my personality that I'm not inclined to seek things like that out." Others expressed a strong sense of independence about parenting, for example:

I: [Do you turn to] any social agencies or anything in the neighborhood?

R: I don't ever go to any of that stuff. I'm on my own. I'll [take care] of my child on my own. I'd rather do it on my own instead of letting them people tell me what do with my child. I do it on my own.

Still other fathers saw parent education as interference in their families.

   A lot of the programs ... try to write a book about it. They say
   you should do this, and you should do that. As far as I'm concerned
   that's not right. That's trying to take the parent's role. The
   parent role should come from what you believe and what you've been
   taught. It shouldn't come out of some manual. Yon come with your
   own manual as to how you're supposed to act as a parent, and that's
   fine.

RESEARCH QUESTION 2: SOURCES OF SUPPORT--INFORMAL RESOURCES

Support from spouse. Fathers identified their wife or partner as a source of information and support for parenting. For some the acceptance of support from a spouse was a continuation of the theme of independence from their family, as they made it clear that their support was from their wife only (e.g., "I: Whom do you go to when you need help or support with your fatherhood? R: Between my wife and me only"). Comments from some men suggest that they found support from their partners to be acceptable because the interaction with their spouse was a partnership, where the two were on an equal footing. In other words, they were learning together: "Help and support is my wife; I couldn't do it alone. She helps me tremendously.... We learn and grow together as parents of our children. We learn from each other." Other men, however, appeared to look more to their wives for leadership in learning to parent, as in this example:

   My wife's support.... She corrects me. If something is sort of
   wrong, she tells me "this is wrong," and I think about it, and if
   it is wrong we fix it. Basically she is the one that helps me with
   that.

Other informal support. In addition to comments about support from a spouse, respondents also identified other informal resources for information on raising their child, including their own mother or father, other extended family members, and friends. There is a significant overlap of those who identify their spouse as a support and those who also identify extended family. A typical response to the question about sources of support was a list of different people, for example: "Really all the support I get is from my spouse and from my parents and her mom."

Fathers seemed to rely in particular on the older generation as a source of expertise. For example:

   If I have problems, I usually ask my dad or my wife's dad what
   they would do in a situation, or if I have a problem I talk to
   one of them about it.... They've been there, done that.

The father's own mother seemed to be a particular resource, but there were references to a wealth of other relatives and friends, including uncles and aunts, grandparents, and friends. Fathers described getting help with discipline, as in this example: "My mom will tell me, "Stay calm. Kids do that. Let him throw his tantrum." They give me advice to keep me from ... losing it and snatching him or smacking him--stuff like that." Fathers also received advice about health issues, some describing mothers or aunts who were nurses, others explaining that their mother knew what to do because of their experience. One father, listing his mother, aunt, and grandmother as a source of information on health care, said, "They give us little tidbits of wisdom here and there." The terms "tidbits of wisdom" and "two cents' worth" were sprinkled throughout fathers' discussions of the type of informational advice they received. Here is an example of a grandmother bringing her wisdom from "back home":

I: So your mom helps you out a lot?

R: Yes. She tells me what to look for.... My mom tells me little tidbits of information.

I: Are there any cultural things she tells you like from back home?

R: She has a few of them. She's quite good with tea leaves. She grows her own spearmint and other herbs. She whips up some home remedies that are very effective even for me. She knows what plants are good for bums, cuts, and scrapes. She's quite good.

PERSONAL TRAITS AND RESOURCES

Fathers responded to the question about sources of support or barriers with a discussion of their own experiences or personal traits, including their relationships with their own fathers. In a different section of the interview, fathers were asked directly about their experiences with their father as they were growing up. Positive memories of their fathers included spending time with their father or being taken on special outings, learning important values from their father, and admiring their father as being a good provider or "staying around." Other respondents had negative memories of fathers who seldom or never spent time with them, were emotionally distant, left the family through divorce or abandonment, or were alcoholic and/or violent. These data provide context for the participants who responded to our question about available supports or resources by citing their intent either to follow their fathers' positive examples or their determination to avoid repeating their fathers' mistakes. For example, one father said:

   The things that help me are the great foundation I received from
   my parents. It's the only thing that helps me; I get no help from
   outside other than maybe from school. No other help from outside.

An example of a "support" derived from determination to avoid a parent's negative example can be found in this comment:

   Probably the fact that I didn't have the parent background. I had
   it, but my biological parents--they didn't do it for me. I said I
   would never be like them.... [T]hat drives me. I don't want to be
   like them. As -- gets older I want to be able to go to his
   ballgame, or see him perform in his first play, or watch him at
   practice, take him to practice.... Those are the little important
   things.

In addition to describing their own fathers as role models or negative examples, other fathers simply described "experience" as their source of support. For example, some men talked about providing child care as an older sibling, cousin, or uncle. Some respondents had older children from a previous relationship, and they either said they learned how to parent from that experience or were determined to "be there" for this child in ways they had not been for their older children. For still others, sources of support were traits or skills or behaviors they had. For example, some fathers cited patience as a support--or the lack of patience as a barrier. Other fathers spoke of their ability to take time to problem-solve or "think things through" when faced with an issue related to their child.

FORMAL COMMUNITY SERVICES AND SOPPORTS

Specific comments about Early Head Start will be presented under Research Question 3 below. With regard to other services and supports, as we noted in the discussion about fathers receiving no services, many fathers said they either did not know about any resources for fathers in the community, or did not think such programs--available or not--would be useful.

Some fathers talked about other formal sources of support they had received, such as parenting or child development courses they had taken. A few fathers mentioned that their families received assistance in programs such as WIC or food stamps. When asked about types of services that might be helpful, a few fathers talked about park and recreational services or other places they could take their family. Some fathers described getting help from religious organizations or leaders; this seemed to be a combination of both the support of the religious leader and the support represented by their own religious beliefs. One father's comment is an example of the dual source of support represented by religious participation:

   I guess basically I'm getting most of my patience from going to
   church and reading my Bible. Because there's a lot of laws in
   there that help.... If I can't figure it out on my own and my wife
   can't really help me, I would go to my pastor and see if he
   couldn't help me. He uses counseling--most of them are real
   peaceful men. There's a few out there that aren't. And they're
   older and they're wise, so they can give you some advice. Most of
   them have had children, and they know what kids are going to do.

RESEARCH QUESTION 3: PERCEPTIONS OF EARLY HEAD START

Not all respondents discussed Early Head Start. Obviously, those who were a part of the comparison group had no experiences and were not asked about Early Head Start. Even among the program group (49.2% of the sample), there were some who did not mention Early Head Start unless the interviewer asked them directly about their involvement. The interviewers asked fathers who were part of the program group how Early Head Start had been helpful to them, rather than how they had participated, so fathers tended to answer specifically about their views of assistance they had received.

Three themes emerged from the qualitative analyses of fathers' responses: (1) direct support and participation perceived by some fathers; (2) indirect support perceived by some fathers; and (3) no perception of support or need for involvement by some.

DIRECT SUPPORT FROM EARLY HEAD START AND PARTICIPATION

Support for involvement with child. Fathers talked about attending meetings or socialization events, parenting education, home visits, support groups, or child care. Some fathers described receiving helpful information from Early Head Start. For example, one father said, "I get ideas [about parenting] ... guys at the Early Head Start, they've given us some good ideas." Another father said he had benefited from child development information from the program. "I didn't have a clue about child development before; now I have a better understanding of it, and I think as far as (child) being prepared to use his brain, it's beneficial."

Participation in center programs seemed also to be helpful to fathers through providing emotional supports to them when they needed it. For example, one father said: "At the day-care I get a lot of encouragement." Another father said, "They're always willing to sit down and talk to you if you have a problem or something. They are real open over there." Still another father described the emotional support he received from his home visitor:

   One day I was having a really bad day, and I thought I was the
   only one who knew it, but she zoomed in, and we talked for about
   45 minutes. That day we didn't actually do anything with [child]
   other than moving him around and playing with stuff. So she does
   what needs to be done.

Another father described how the socialization events (group gatherings featuring parent-child activities) were helpful to him:

   They have a carnival type deal where they have a bunch of different
   games set up.... I try to explain to [child] how to toss the
   beanbag or walk a certain way in the games.... I sit there and have
   that patience and the time to explain to her ... it's just one on
   one with her and me.

Support for employment or social assistance. A number of responses to the question of how Early Head Start had been helpful focused on the concrete help received through employment counseling, help with medical care, nutrition, or other resources for the family. One father said,

   There is a guy there (at Early Head Start), and sometimes I would
   run out of money, and he'd make sure that he'd stocked up on
   some Pampers for my children.... They always kept us informed
   so we could be involved with whatever we wanted to be involved
   with, and I think that was great.

In the same vein as concrete support, fathers responded to the question about help or support they had received by talking about the child care the program offered. As one father put it, "Day-care does help out a lot sometimes, because you can't always find somebody to baby-sit. Plus when your finances are low, you can't afford to pay for baby-sitting. So it's a big help."

INDIRECT SUPPORT FROM EARLY HEAD START

Fathers responded to the question of how the Early Head Start had helped them by helping their palmer or their child, which we labeled "indirect support" to the father himself. For example, one father described learning more about parenting from his partner: "I think [wife's] early intervention training with Early Head Start helped her a lot. It's been a great benefit to us as parents. She's learned a lot from the program, and so I guess I benefit." Another father described the peace of mind he received as a result of his child's attending the Early Head Start Center: "As far as a convenience of having a place to drop him off that I can trust, that relieves my mind as a parent. It comforts me knowing that he's in good hands."

Still other fathers, when asked how the program helped them, saw the teaching and instruction their child received as a help to them in fulfilling their role as a father. One Hispanic father, asked whether Early Head Start helped him fulfill his role as a father, said, "I think it helps me plenty ... I noticed many things that [child] has learned from the program." This response was not confined to Hispanic fathers, however; one Caucasian father from a rural community, when asked whether the program had been a help to him, responded, "I believe it helped ]child] out with socialization. He got to associate with other kids. He got to be with them and play and learn things through them ... and that was good for him."

NON-INVOLVEMENT

A third theme, non-involvement, characterized responses to questions about Early Head Start. A few of the interviews with non-residential fathers described conflicts with the mother, so that involvement with the child as well as the program was in jeopardy. For other non-involved fathers from the 24-month interviews, the question "How does Early Head Start help you as a father?" resulted in short answers, such as "Not at all," or "I don't see where it helps me." Some fathers said that their work left them with no time available to participate. Still others thought that the program was intended mostly for mothers. For example, one stepfather explained turning down participation in a home visit:

   I've never been asked to participate. Well, I have, and I said no
   one time because I thought it was best for their relationship [home
   visitor and mother] because [wife] wasn't ready. She was really
   stressed out, and I figured it would be focused on themselves.

A father in a different program said he thought the program was not for fathers: "I think [program] is more geared toward mothers--they're a great program--but they're more geared toward the mothers and health care of the children."

In some interviews when fathers responded that they were not involved in Early Head Start, the interviewers asked them for recommendations concerning what the program could offer. In most of these cases, fathers responded that they did not know of anything or couldn't think of anything "right off hand." When probed, some fathers said they didn't think fathers in general would be interested in some of the offerings mothers attended. For example, "Most fathers I know go do stuff by themselves and leave the kids with their mothers, so I don't think [a father's day out] would be helpful."

DISCUSSION

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

A sample size of 575 respondents in a qualitative study is unprecedented; thus, we learned many lessons about the limitations of the design and about data management. As a qualitative study, this research has its limitations in that it cannot provide an estimate of the true prevalence of the various attitudes we encountered about support needs and resources. Also, as a mixed design study, the qualitative findings reported here are limited since there was little opportunity for more intensive qualitative follow-up with some respondents on specific issues they raised to get a more in-depth understanding of their interpretations. Further, in most qualitative studies the interviewers are also the analysts, and the process occurs in an iterative fashion, with the analysis of initial interviews influencing revisions in subsequent protocols (Anfara et al., 2002). The size and multi-site nature of this study precluded that approach, since the interviewers in the field conducted both the qualitative and quantitative interviews while the qualitative study team completed the analyses. Finally, a limitation of this study is that the qualitative analysts coded transcripts blindly, that is, without information about the demographic characteristics of a given respondent. At the time this seemed like a good idea to reduce potential bias in the coding. But our ability to describe the specific demographic of a given respondent, as in the quotes provided in this paper, is limited. Future studies of this scope should include a cross-coding process to enable identification of the characteristics of the respondents.

A further limitation arose from the fact that, as developmental psychologists, our approach to interviewing parents in general was based almost entirely on experiences in research with mothers. Even though some members of the Early Head Start Father Study Work Group were men and/or were experienced fatherhood researchers, we still encountered some "surprises" in our approach to interviewing fathers (see Summers & McLaughlin, 2002, for a more detailed discussion of this point). For example, we were unprepared for the obvious challenge posed to many respondents by our questions about support needs and resources. As noted above, the fact that our interviewers and our analysts were not the same people meant that a number of interviews were collected before we were able to brainstorm with the data collection team and change our approach to these questions. Still, as is often true of qualitative research, this limitation is also a finding, as our "blind spot" about different ways that men might perceive the issues about support may well be shared by Early Head Start staff (see practice implications, below).

IMPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH AND THEORY

Given these limitations, however, the study does provide us with some insights into the ways that fathers interpret the question of support and resources for help in parenting. Fathers may interpret the word "support" and/or the need for support differently than mothers. Many fathers responded to the question about supports they had available by citing internal resources such as motivation or patience or describing their own previous experience either with their parents or with older children, siblings, or cousins. This corresponds to Doherty et al.'s (1998) "father factors" component of their responsible fathering conceptual framework.

The strong reactions of a minority of fathers to the mere suggestion that they might need supports illustrates that, for some of these men, asking for help or accepting help may be a mark of failure. This finding is compatible with general research about gender differences in help-seeking behavior. For example, men visit physicians less often than women (Banks, 2001; Tudiver & Talbot, 1999) and less often accept psychological counseling (Moeller-Leimkuehler, 2002) or substance abuse treatment (Generali, 2002). Shek (1992) found in a sample of Chinese men and women that men more often rely on internal coping strategies (reliance on self) while women more often seek help from others. This finding would be compatible with comments from some of the fathers in this study that the sources of supports for them were their experiences, internal motivations, or personal traits.

Theorists propose that some men may have developed a social construction of masculinity that excludes getting help (Addis & Mahalik, 2003; Mahalik, Good, & Englar-Carlson, 2003) and that help-seeking is in conflict with some men's understanding of their role as males. In fact, African-American men with higher scores on a measure of gender-role conflict were found to be less likely to have positive help-seeking attitudes (White, 2002). Similarly, among college-aged men those with higher gender-role strain were less tolerant of the idea of seeking counseling (Bursley, 1996).

Social support theory draws a distinction between formal and informal sources of support (Dunst et al., 1994). The findings of this study suggest that the gender role strain and an avoidance of help-seeking found by the researchers described above may apply primarily to formal support systems. The many references to getting both emotional and tangible help from the respondent's spouse or girlfriend supports the idea that mothers are pivotal in providing the father with access to his child. Similarly, fathers described receiving support in the form of concrete assistance, information ("tidbits of wisdom"), and general encouragement from their own or their spouse's extended family. Fathers also interpreted the question about "what helps" to include their own personal traits and experiences as sources of knowledge and motivation to engage in their fathering role. Especially powerful was the father's relationship with his own father, which appeared to serve either as a positive role model or a negative example of what these respondents wanted to do (or not do) with their children. All of these findings are consistent with the conceptual model of responsible fathering proposed by Doherty et al. (1998). The responsible fathering model, with its emphasis on contextual or environmental influences, underscores the importance of the father's relationship with the mother and with his social support network in combination with his own traits and experiences with his own father, which Doherty and colleagues call the internal father factor.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

The reluctance of many men to seek help from formal supports provides at least a partial explanation for lower levels of participation reported in many Early Head Start programs (Raikes et al., 2002). Programs wishing to attract more fathers will need to recognize men's sensitivity to the implication that they may need outside support. Other terms such as "family information sharing" or strategies such as embedding parenting information in social events and emphasis on couple or whole-family events may be more acceptable. Programs may also consider finding ways to recognize the internal motivations and resources that men cite as supports for themselves.

The aversion to seeking outside help also suggests that fathers may be reluctant to accept anything that might be "interference" in their family. A number of these respondents had strong beliefs about their unwillingness to have someone else "come in and ramrod" different ideas about parenting. This reaction suggests that sensitivity to issues of cultural diversity and respect for family styles of child-rearing-already an important tenet in Head Start--is doubly important when interacting with fathers. Programs will need to look for ways to demonstrate in a very visible way their respect for a family's autonomy and choice in making decisions about their children.

Another finding from these interviews is that many fathers find juggling jobs and fatherhood to be a challenge. This is not an unfamiliar theme, either among men or women. Palkovitz (2002) found, in a sample of 40 primarily middle-class fathers, that juggling responsibilities of work/career and parenting was a subject of extensive discussion by many of the fathers he interviewed. For the respondents in this study who were from low-income backgrounds, many described working long, physically demanding jobs, working more than one job, or working evening shifts. These stresses add to the challenges of being able to find the time to interact with their children, let alone find time to seek help or participate in a parenting program. Programs will need to address this barrier by finding more creative ways to involve fathers (e.g., by providing reading materials or videos they might use any time) or by having meetings at different times to accommodate different schedules.

In addition, many fathers talked of getting advice or tangible supports from other members of their family, especially the father's own parents. Fathers respected the perspectives of their own parents because they appeared to have the "credential" of having raised them; therefore they saw them as having the experience to explain or interpret their child's sometimes puzzling behaviors. The more tangible supports such as child care, gifts of food or clothing, or outright loans of money were also mentioned. The fact that these extended family members were "insiders" in the family may have made their help more acceptable. Programs might consider ways to involve fathers through involving grandparents--if they are engaged in the program and advising the father to participate, fathers might find participation in the program more acceptable.

In conclusion, many fathers in this study did report that they benefited either directly or indirectly from Early Head Start. In general, enhancing father participation in Early Head Start can be further aided by a thorough understanding of how fathers interpret the invitation to become involved. If the proposed activities are perceived as an implication they are not effective fathers, or if supports are perceived as "interference" in the family or a challenge to the "rights" of fathers or parents to make decisions for their families, then the chances are they will not participate. If, on the other hand, the activities are presented in a respectful manner that assures fathers they are welcome and that makes a visible effort to accommodate their needs, fathers may feel more welcome. This study also suggests that programs might further enhance father involvement by (a) developing programs that respect fathers' competence and perhaps even provide an opportunity for reciprocity in the giving and taking of support; and (b) embedding support in the natural environment the father already uses--such as participation with his wife/partner or including grandparents.

Table 1

Characteristics of Fathers with Available Transcripts from 24-Month
Interviews

Characteristics

Age at Time of Child's Birth (%)
  15 to 19 Years                                     15.5
  20 to 24 Years                                     30.8
  25 to 29 Years                                     23.1
  30 Years and Older                                 30.6

Age at Time of Child's Birth (M)                     27.0
Race/Ethnicity (%)
  Hispanic                                           30.2
  African American                                   24.8
  White                                              42.4
  Other                                               2.7
Relationship to Child and Residency Status (%)
  Biological Father                                  81.4
  Resident Biological Father                         65.9
  Nonresident Biological Father                      15.5
  Resident Father Figure                             15.0
  Nonresident Father Figure                           3.7
  Married to Biological Mother                       51.1
Educational Attainment (%)
  Less than 12 Years of School                       37.2
  High School Graduate/GED Recipient                 34.6
  College/Vocational School or More                  28.2
Employment
  Average Number of Jobs in the Last Six Months       1.3
  Average Income in Past Month (Dollars)           1406.4
  Sample Size                                      540-575 *

Note: Father interviews were conducted when children were
approximately 24 months old.

* Sample size varies by item due to missing data on the demographic
interview protocol.

The findings reported here are based on research conducted as part of the national Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project funded by the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under contract 105-95-1936 to Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ, and Columbia University's Center for Children and Families, Teachers College, in conjunction with the Early Head Start Research Consortium. The Consortium consists of representatives from 17 programs participating in the evaluation, 15 local research teams, the evaluation contractors, and ACYF. Research institutions in the consortium (and principal researchers) include Administration for Children and Families (Rachel Chazan-Cohen, Judith Jerald, Esther Kresh, Helen Ralkes, and Louisa Tarullo); Catholic University of America (Michaela Farber, Lynn Milgram Mayer, Harriet Liebow, Christine Sabatino, Nancy Taylor, Elizabeth Timberlake, and Shavaan Wall); Columbia University (Lisa Berlin, Christy Brady-Smith, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, and Alison Sidle Fuligni); Harvard University (Catherine Ayoub, Barbara Alexander Pan, and Catherine Snow); Iowa State University (Dee Draper, Gayle Luze, Susan McBride, and Carla Peterson); Mathematica Policy Research (Kimberly Boiler, Ellen Eliason Kisker, John M. Love, Diane Panlsell, Christine Ross, Peter Schochet, Cheri Vogel, and Welmoet van Kammen); Medical University of South Carolina (Richard Faldowski, Gni-Young Hong, and Susan Picktel); Michigan State University (Hiram Fitzgerald, Tom Reischl, and Rachel Schiffman); New York University (Mark Spellmann and Catherine Tamis-LeMonda); University of Arkansas (Robert Bradley, Mark Swanson, and Leanne Whiteside-Mansell); University of California, Los Angeles (Carollee Howes and Claire Hamilton); University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (Robert Erode, Jon Korfmacher, JoAnn Robinson, Paul Spicer, and Norman Watt); University of Kansas (Jane Atwater, Judith Carta, and Jean Ann Summers); University of Missouri-Columbia (Mark Fine, Jean Ispa, and Kathy Thomburg); University of Pittsburgh (Beth Green, Carol McAllister, and Robert McCall); University of Washington School of Education (Eduardo Armijo and Joseph Stowitschek); University of Washington School of Nursing (Kathryn Barnard and Susan Spieker), and Utah State University (Lisa Boyce and Lori Roggman). The authors wish to thank the consortium reviewers who commented on earlier drafts of this article under the guidelines of the Early Head Start Research Consortium publications polices. The authors express appreciation for the involvement of the children, families, and staff and the Early Head Start program directors from the research sites for their dedication to the national study. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

REFERENCES

45 CFR 302. (2003). Child support enforcement program, state plan approval and grant. Federal Register, 68, 25293-25305.

Addis, M.E., & Mahalik, J.R. (2003) Men, masculinity, and the contexts of help seeking. American Psychologist, 58(1), 5-14.

Administration for Children and Families. (2002). Making a difference in the lives of infants and toddlers and their families. Washington, DC: DHHS.

Administration for Children, Youth and Families. (2000). Request for applications: Fatherhood demonstration. Program Announcement No. ACYF/HS 2000-10.

Anfara, V.A., Jr., Brown, K.M., & Mangione, T.L. (2002). Qualitative analysis on stage: Making the research process more public. Educational Researcher, 31(7), 28-38.

Banks, I. (2001). No man's land: Men, illness, and the NHS. British Medical Journal, 323(7320), 1058-1060.

Bronfrenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

Bursley, K.H. (1996). Gender role strain and help-seeking attitudes and behavior in college men. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 56(10-A), 3884.

Cabrera, N., Ryan, R., Shannon, J., Brookes-Gunn, J., Vogel, C., Raikes, H., Tamis-LeMonda, C., & Cohen, R. (2004). Low-income biological fathers' involvement in their toddlers lives: The Early Head Start National Research and Evaluation Study. Fathering: A Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice About Men as Fathers, 2. 5-30.

Creswell, J.W., Clark, V.L., Gutmann, M.L., & Hanson, W.E. (2003). Advanced mixed methods research designs. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (pp. 209-240). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Doherty, W.J., Kouneski, E.F., & Erickson, M.F. (1998). Responsible fathering: An overview and conceptual framework. Journal of Marriage and Family, 60, 227-292.

Dunst, C.J., Trivette, C.M., & Deal, A.G. (Eds.) (1994). Supporting and strengthening families: Methods, strategies and practices. Cambridge, MA: Brookline Books.

Fagan, J., & Iglesias, A. (1999). Father involvement program effects on fathers, father figures, and their Head Start children: A quasi-experimental study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 14, 243-269.

Generali, M.M. (2002). Gender role conflict and help-seeking attitudes among males referred for alcohol abuse treatment: A comparison of self vs. mandatory referral. Dissertation Abstracts International, Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 63(5-A), 1724.

Gourash, N. (1978). Help-seeking: A review of the literature. American Journal of Community Psychology, 6, 413-423.

Grolnick, F.M., & Slowiaczek, M.L. (1994). Parents' involvement in children's schooling: A multidimensional conceptualization and motivational model. Child Development, 65, 237-252.

Head Start Information and Publication Center. (2001). Fatherhood initiative resource guide. Washington, DC: ACF.

Mahalik, J.R., Good, G.E., & Englar-Carlson, M. (2003). Masculinity scripts, presenting concerns, and help seeking: Implications for practice and training. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34(2), 123-131.

McGoldrick, M., & Giordano, J. (1996). Overview: Ethnicity and family therapy. In

M. McGoldrick, J. Giordano, & J.K. Pearce (Eds.), Ethnicity & family therapy (2nd ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.

Miles, M.B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Mincy, R.B., & Oliver, H. (2003). Age, race, and children's living arrangements: Implications for TANF reauthorization (Policy Brief B-53). Washington, DC: Urban Institute Publications.

Moeller-Leimkuehler, A.M. (2002). Barriers to help-seeking by men: A review of sociocultural and clinical literature with particular reference to depression. Journal of Affective Disorders, 71(1-3), 1-9.

Morse, J.M. (2003). Principles of mixed methods and multimethod research design. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social & behavioral research (pp. 189-208). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Palkovitz, R. (2002). Involved fathering and men's adult development. Mahwah, N J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Raikes, H., Boiler, K., vanKammen, W., & Summers, J.A. (2002). Father involvement in Early Head Start programs: A practitioners study. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska.

Shek, D.T. (1992). Reliance on self or seeking help from others: Gender differences in the locus of coping in Chinese working parents. Journal of Psychology, 126, 671-678.

Summers, J.A., & McLaughlin, G. (2002). Methodological issues in qualitative research with low-income fathers. Presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, Toronto, ON (April); National Head Start Research Conference, Washington, DC (June); and Conference of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Amsterdam, Netherlands (July).

Summers, J.A., Raikes, H., Butler, J., Spicer, P., Pan, B., Shaw, S., Langager, M., McAllister, C., & Johnson, M. (1999). Low income fathers' and mothers' perceptions of the father role: A qualitative study in four Early Head Start communities. Infant Mental Health Journal, 20(3), 291-304.

Teddlie, C., & Tashakkori, A. (2003). Major issues and controversies in the use of mixed methods in the social and behavioral sciences. In A. Tashakkori & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (pp. 3-50). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Tudiver, F., & Talbot, Y. (1999). Why don't men seek help? Family physicians' perspectives on help-seeking behavior in men. Journal of Family Practice, 48(1), 47-52.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. (1994). "Head Start Program: Final Rule." Federal Register, Vol. 61, No 215. November 15, 1996.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (1994). The Statement of the Advisory Committee on Services for Families with Infants and Toddlers. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

Whitchurch, G.G., &Constantine, L. L. (1993). Systems theory. In P.G. Boss, W.J. Doherty, R. LaRossa, W.R. Schumm, & S.K. Steinmetz (Eds.), Sourcebook of family theories and methods: A contextual approach (pp. 325-352). New York: Plenum Press.

White, A.M. (2002). Gender role conflict and racial identity as indicators of Black men's help seeking attitudes. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 63(5-B), 2567.

JEAN ANN SUMMERS

Universtiy of Kansas

HELEN RAIKES

Society for Research in Child Development, Consultant Administration for Children and Families

KIMBERLY BOLLER

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jean Ann Summers, Juniper Gardens Chidlren's Project, University of Kansas, 650 Minnesota, Kansas City, Kansas 66101. Electronic mail: [e-mail].