Young Disadvantaged Men

By age 30, between 68 and 75 percent of young men in the United States, with only a high school degree or less, are fathers. This volume provides practical, policy-driven strategies to address the national epidemic of disadvantaged young fathers and the challenges they face in raising and supporting their children. National experts discuss the issues of immediate concern to those working to reconnect disengaged dads to their children and improve child and family economic and emotional well-being. Each chapter was presented at a working conference organized by Institute for Research on Poverty director, Tim Smeeding (University of Wisconsin–Madison), in coordination with the Columbia University School of Social Work's Center for Research on Fathers, Children, and Family Well-Being, directed by Ronald Mincy, and the Columbia Population Research Center, directed by Irwin Garfinkel. The conference brought together scholars, many in public policy, to examine strategies for reducing barriers to marriage and fathers' involvement, designing child support and other public policies to encourage the involvement of fathers, and addressing fathers who have multiple child support responsibilities. This volume will appeal to researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners dedicated to improving the lives of low-income families and children.

Examines field programmes and research studies and recommends specific strategies to enhance education, training, and employment opportunities for disadvantaged youth; to improve the incentives of less-skilled young workers to accept employment; and to address the severe barriers and disincentives faced by some youth, such as ex-offenders and noncustodial fathers.

As the chapters in this volume demonstrate, young, disadvantaged men from urban neighborhoods face a unique set of challenges and constraints as they transition to adulthood. Yet, these challenges are not always contained by place. Research among Latino and White disadvantaged men in nonurban settings highlights the pressures that come along with fatherhood for disadvantaged men. In contrast to popular understandings of absent or disengaged fathers, findings reveal how fatherhood and increasing levels of interdependence during early adulthood can buffer men as they make the difficult transition to adulthood. The innovative field-based research featured in this volume illuminates the contexts, processes, and meanings in life pathways for disadvantaged men as they move from adolescence into adulthood and should help to inform policies and practices directed at minimizing their marginalization from mainstream society. This is the 143rd volume in this series. Its mission is to provide scientific and scholarly presentations on cutting edge issues and concepts in child and adolescent development. Each volume focuses on a specific new direction or research topic and is edited by experts in that field.