Oregon Divorced Father Study: Understanding Divorced Fathers

Oregon Social Learning Center

Principal Investigator: David S. DeGarmo
Co-Investigator: Marion S. Forgatch
Project Coordinator: Jonathan Baker
Year Project Began: 2002
Funder: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

A study, utilizing reliable data on fathers’ parenting behaviors giving expression to fathers’ views, investigating their behavior, support, and adjustment processes.

Quality involvement of fathers following divorce provides direct benefits for children, mothers, and society. Unfortunately, fathers tend to disengage in parenting roles over time. Social support for fathers is a key determinant of involvement, yet support for divorced fathers is virtually unstudied. Much of what is known about divorced fathers comes from reports of custodial mothers, surveys, or census data. These data sources, however, do not provide reliable data on fathers’ parenting behaviors or give expression to fathers’ views. The Oregon Divorced Father Study (ODFS) utilizes a population-based county-representative sample and methods to more reliably assess behavior, support, and adjustment processes. It was designed to better understand both the measurement properties, including observation, and the factors promoting skilled involved as well as disengaged parenting behaviors. The sample therefore includes fathers of all custody statuses because no-custody fathers are an understudied segment of the population many of whom have contact with and influence their children’s development. The study has enrolled 230 divorced father families with a child ranging between the ages of 4 and 12 to be studied over 2 years: 46 full-custody fathers (20%), 114 shared-custody (50%), and 70 no-custody families (30%). In total, 78% of the fathers enrolled a focal child and 96% of the fathers reported some contact with the focal child. Fathers were also invited to enroll an adult support confidant; 76% of the fathers could do so. The study is unique in that it utilizes direct observation of father-confidant interactions and father-child interactions.

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