GSE Publications
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
July 2003
Abstract
Young, low-income, African American fathers have been at the center of research, practice, and policy on families over the past decade. This article uses a "voicing" analytic technique to examine identities among young, low-income, African American fathers living in an urban setting; the intersections of these identities; and the fathers' perceptions of the influences of familial, peer, and legal systems as barriers and resources in their development as fathers and the sustainability of their fathering roles. The primary questions addressed urban fathers' representations of their transition to fatherhood, intergenerational relationships, transformative events, and visions of a possible self. Results from a survey, focus groups, and interviews suggest that the fathers seek to reinvent themselves and reconstruct their identities by separating from street life, redefine home as a place of stability, and challenge the practices of social and legal systems that appear to work against their responsible fathering.
Keywords
African American fathers, minority fathers, young, low-income fathers, urban fathers
Date Posted: 06 June 2007
This document has been peer reviewed.
Comments
© 2003 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts
Reprinted from Family Court Review, Volume 41, Issue 3, July 2003, pages 381-399.