Most of the research on the relationship between family structure and childhood obesity and distress is limited in its conceptualization of family structure, either ignoring single-father families or bunching them in the same category as single-mother families. Although single-mother families are the most common type of one-parent families, the number of single-father families has increased dramatically over the past three decades and thus warrant study. In this study, I use data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K) to answer three related questions: (1) Do children living in single-father families have different rates of obesity and externalizing and internalizing behaviors compared to children living in single-mother and two-parent families? (2) Are these differences, if they exist, explained by the type of environments parents create for their children through: (a) differences in time and financial resources between single-father, single-mother, and two-parent families? and/or (b) differences in levels of distress between single-father, single-mother, and two-parent families? (3) Do the health risks associated with living in a single-father family, compared to living in a single-mother or two-parent family, differ as children age? I add to the current literature by integrating the concepts of family structure, family resources, role stress, gender expectations, and parent-child relational dynamics. I focus on these dynamics within single-father families, and compare them to single-mother and two-parent families. Finally, I use semi-structured, in-depth interviews of single-fathers to supplement the survey results. Results from this study demonstrate that, children living in single-parent families, compared to two-parent, married families have higher rates of obesity and a greater number of externalizing and internalizing behavior. In general, single parents have fewer family resources (i.e., time and money) and greater levels of stress and distress. Single fathers provide similar family environments for their children, overall, compared to two-parent families, but single mothers in general, provide "poorer" family environments, compared to two-parent families. Children living with a single father, compared to those living with a single mother, have similar rates of obesity and experience similar numbers of externalizing and internalizing behavior. Single fathers earn more than single mothers, but they are less likely to be in the home part- or full-time, and in general, single fathers and single mothers experience similar levels of stress and distress. Finally, single fathers and single mothers provide similar family environments for their children, except in regards to the number of physical activities they let their children participate in. Path analysis results demonstrate that parents' resources, stress and distress, and family environment do not appear to have a mediating effect on the relationship between family structure and children's obesity, once controlling for other family characteristics (i.e., parents' education and health, race, number of siblings, and region). Parents' resources, stress and distress, and family environment, however, all have a direct effect on children's rates of obesity and externalizing/internalizing behavior. The path analyses show that parents' resources, distress, and parent/child closeness directly impact children's externalizing and internalizing behavior and act as significant mediators between family structure and children's emotional wellbeing, controlling for other family characteristics. However, these variables do not fully mediate the relationship between family structure and children's externalizing/internalizing behavior, and therefore, family structure still has a significant direct effect on children's emotional health. Furthermore, gender of the residential parent matters. For example, the magnitude of the direct effect of living with a single father is larger than the magnitude of the direct effect of living with a single mother for children's internalizing behavior at kindergarten and internalizing and externalizing behavior at third grade. Further analysis demonstrates that children's physical and emotional wellbeing changes as they get older. Children's obesity rate increases from kindergarten to third grade for all family types. However, for children in single-father families, obesity rates then dramatically decrease from third to eighth grade. Children living with a single mother and married parents have stable obesity rates from third to eighth grade. Changes in children's emotional wellbeing from kindergarten to eighth grade vary by family type. For example, children living with a single father, experience an increase in externalizing behavior from kindergarten to third grade, but then a decrease from third to eighth grade. Conversely, children living with a single mother or married parents experience an decrease in their externalizing behavior from kindergarten to third grade, but then an increase from third to eighth grade. The mediating effects of parents' resources, stress and distress, and family environment are fairly similar across waves. Several themes emerged from the qualitative interviews of fathers' experiences as single parents. Five major themes are found: (1) Interactions and relationships with their children, (2) Process of gaining custody, (3) Obstacles faced as a single parent, (4) Nutrition and meals, and (5) Defining success as a parent. Overall, the single fathers interviewed for this study take their "father role" very seriously and are highly engaged with their children. They recognize that there are certain areas where they struggle, but overall they feel that they are very successful as single parents. Several policy implications emerge from my study. First, the qualitative results can be useful to further educate family lawyers and judges handling custody cases. While the essence of the law regarding custody is what is "in the best interest of the child", bias still exists. The interviews included in this study demonstrate that single fathers worry about, and in some instances, experience discrimination in regards to custody decisions. Second, this study highlights the need for a greater focus on single-father families. Both the survey data and the interviews find that, while fathers tend to have greater family resources, compared to single mothers, they do not necessarily provide healthier family environments for their children. The role of organizations, and the health field in general, to educate "at risk" parents with information and provide/support programs to protect their children from increased risk for obesity and emotional distress is just one implication from this study.

This dissertation examines low-income fathers’ involvement with their young children using the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing (FFCW) data. Chapter 3 entitled, “He Said, She Said: Comparing Father and Mother Reports of Father Involvement,” compares mother and father reports of fathers’ frequency of involvement in various activities and in measures of emotional involvement. This chapter finds that fathers report spending 17.6 percent more time engaged in 11 activities with their young children than mothers report the father spending. How parental disagreement is measured yields starkly different results given the underlying distribution of these data. Chapter 4 entitled, “Estimating the Impact of Child Support and Welfare Policies on Fathers’ Involvement,” is a longitudinal analysis combining three waves of the FFCW data with annual, state-level policy data on child support enforcement and welfare policies. This chapter examines the impact of policies on fathers’ involvement over time. Fathers’ involvement is operationalized as accessibility, responsibility, and engagement. Using parents that are unmarried at the time of the focal child’s birth, this chapter finds that public policies do influence fathers’ involvement after controlling for individual social and demographic characteristics. Policies may be operating in conflicting ways to both increase and decrease fathers’ involvement. For example, fathers’ daily engagement is positively affected by stronger paternity establishment policies but is negatively affected by stronger child support enforcement collection rates and the welfare family cap policy. Chapter 5 entitled, “Two Dads Are Better Than One: Biological and Social Father Involvement,” examines whether biological and social fathers are substitutes or complements in a child’s life and how biological fathers and social fathers impact the mother’s frequency of involvement. This chapter finds that resident social fathers contribute as much time to the focal child as resident biological fathers. Factors that increase the overall parental frequency of involvement include having: a resident biological or social father, native-born parents, a biological father who had a very involved father, and a positive relationship between the biological parents. Factors that decrease overall parental frequency of involvement include: the father’s new partner, the father’s incarceration, a mother’s other children, and the child’s increasing age. / text

Thesis advisor: Summer S. Hawkins / Preventing poor health in childhood is a national social work and public health priority in the United States. Importantly, child health and wellbeing is explicitly linked with maternal health. Thus, maternal depression, a common mental illness, is a concern not only for the mother, but for the health of her offspring. The purpose of this three-paper dissertation was to extend the understanding of child health and wellbeing at age 9 years old in the context of maternal depression. Analyses utilized data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study and were guided by a resilience perspective, life course perspective, family systems theory, and ecological systems theory. Paper 1 examined the unique impact of maternal depression on child physical health outcomes utilizing a series of logistic regression analyses. Findings indicated that multiple individual-, maternal-, and family-level risk and protective factors influenced the association between maternal depression and child physical health. Paper 2 utilized latent profile analysis and multinomial logistic regression analyses to examine child physical health and psychosocial wellbeing in the context of maternal depression. Five distinct profiles of child health and wellbeing were identified, suggesting the traditional dichotomy of healthy versus unhealthy may fail to capture the complex nature of child health and wellbeing for those experiencing maternal depression. Results showed that maternal depression was associated with increased risk of poor health and wellbeing, yet also emphasized the ability for children to achieve resilient functioning. Paper 3 explored the impact of maternal depression on the maternal-child relationship and the protective nature of interpersonal supports and community resources. Findings indicated that interpersonal and community resources directly and indirectly supported a positive maternal-child relationship for mothers with depression. Altogether, results extend the literature base by providing a more nuanced and complete examination of child health and wellbeing in the context of maternal depression, with a focus on the potential for resilient functioning among this at-risk population. Findings provide evidence that even in the context of risk, protective factors exist that support resilient functioning. Results have important policy and practical implications, including continued screenings for maternal depression in a primary care setting. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

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This paper seeks to review the national disaster plans of Jamaica from the perspective of child protection and wellbeing in emergencies. The focus of the review is on needs associated with education, psychosocial support and family reunification (including care of unaccompanied and separated children) as these needs are often given less priority in an emergency. These are referred to collectively as the non-material needs of children in emergencies. Providing for the non-material needs of children in emergencies is an important part of preventing children from experiencing physical or sexual abuse, psychological distress, neglect and harm and it is therefore vital that these are not an afterthought but an integral part of planning for an emergency. In order to review these plans a tool in the form of a checklist of measures of international standards was compiled and applied to the plans. This paper finds that the national disaster plans of Jamaica fail to meet every measure on the compiled checklist. Children are not even mentioned as a vulnerable group in need of special attention nor are measures defined to prevent them from long-term or short term harm. The limited or non-existent extent to which children are considered is furthermore found to be an issue in national disaster planning of other states. This paper therefore recommends that the national disaster plans of Jamaica, as well as other states, be revised in partnership with local stakeholders (including children, the ultimate stakeholders) taking into consideration the findings presented.

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This thesis explores the meaning of wellbeing for children with a disability in New Zealand, an area of social policy that has been largely unexamined. Focusing on the school environment, three questions are addressed: What does wellbeing mean for children with a disability? What factors influence it? Are current policy frameworks which address child wellbeing relevant to the wellbeing of children with a disability? The research involved qualitative data collection from nine purposively selected participants: children with a disability, their parents and key informants involved in service provision and policy development. A critical review of international and national literature on definitions of wellbeing and disability, and on existing data sources, is followed by a socio-demographic profile of children with a disability in New Zealand. Qualitative findings are interpreted in relation to current New Zealand social policy initiatives and frameworks - New Zealand's Agenda for Children, the Whole Child Approach and the Key Settings Model - as well as the theoretical perspectives of social solidarity, wellbeing, the ecological theory of human development and discourses of disability. Findings indicate that the concept of wellbeing as applied to all New Zealand children is also relevant to children with a disability. The difference however, lies in the factors which ultimately influence whether the various dimensions of wellbeing will actually be experienced by children with a disability. For these children, communication as a dimension of wellbeing for example, is influenced by language skill acquisition, which in turn depends upon allocation of appropriate and adequate resourcing of the child's learning environment. The conclusion drawn is that policy frameworks, principles and social indicators addressing child wellbeing, are inconsistently applied with regard to children with a disability. New Zealand's Agenda for Children which promotes an ecological approach to child wellbeing would benefit from further adaptation to reflect the needs of this specific child population. The notion of wellbeing for children with a disability needs further development for the purpose of knowledge building, and to ensure clearer articulation between processes of policy development, service provision, and resource allocation.