ED451904
PS029359
Title: Measuring Father Involvement in the Early Head Start
Evaluation: A Multidimensional Conceptualization.
Author(s): Cabrera, Natasha J.; Tamis-LeMonda, Catherine
S.; Lamb, Michael E.; Boller, Kimberly
Author Affiliation: Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton,
NJ.(BBB15029)
Pages: 16
Publication Date: September 15, 1999
Notes: Paper presented at the National Conference on Health
Statistics (Washington, DC, August 2-3, 1999).
Sponsoring Agency: National Inst. of Child Health and Human
Development (NIH), Bethesda, MD. (BBB00456)@Administration for Children,
Youth, and Families (DHHS), Washington, DC. (BBB19384)
Contract No: 105-95-1936
Available from: EDRS Price MF01/PC01 Plus Postage.
Language: English
Document Type: Information Analysis (070); Speeches/meeting
papers (150)
Geographic Source: U.S.; Maryland
Journal Announcement: RIESEP2001
Early Head
Start (EHS) is a comprehensive, two-generation program that includes
intensive services that begin before the child is born and concentrate
on enhancing the child's development and supporting the family during
the critical first 3 years of a child's life. This paper discusses
approaches to measuring father involvement in their children's lives
and examines specific measurement methods used in the Father Studies
of the Early Head Start Evaluation Project. In addition, the paper
highlights lessons from the field that have emerged as father involvement
is measured in the ongoing EHS project. Father involvement is described
as a multidimensional, continually evolving concept. Time use measures
of father involvement are described, and various models of involvement
are presented. The paper notes limitations of existing instruments,
including the questionable validity of self-report, the often interchangeable
use of generic fathering versus child-specific fathers, and the
limited generalization of findings from middle-class, European American
groups to other groups. The paper describes the EHS program, summarizing
the 17 EHS program sites participating in the national evaluation
and local research and representing a diversity of locations, populations,
culture, ethnicity, and urban-rural settings. Four strands of father
studies planned are detailed: (1) interviews with fathers of 24-
and 36-month-olds; (2) study of mothers and fathers of newborns;
(3) study of strategies used by programs to engage fathers and father
figures; and (4) local research studies focused on fatherhood issues
significant to local populations. Measurement instruments are then
detailed, including questionnaires and videotaped father-child interactions
that will yield both qualitative and quantitative data. Finally,
the paper explores some of the challenges in assessing father involvement
among low-income men, including developing coding systems, obtaining
reliability in coding father-child interactions, operationalizing
specific constructs, retaining participants, and studying social
fathers. The paper concludes by pointing out advances that have
been made in the measurement of father involvement. (Contains 23
references.) (KB)
Descriptors: Definitions; *Early Intervention; Evaluation
Research; Family Involvement; Family Programs; *Fathers; Infants;
*Low Income Groups; Measurement Objectives; Parent Child Relationship;
*Parent Participation; Preschool Children; Preschool Education;
*Program Evaluation; Toddlers
Identifiers: *Early Head Start
