Browsing by keyword "*Fathers"
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A qualitative study of the meaning of fatherhood among young urban fathersOBJECTIVE: To explore the beliefs, attitudes, and needs young men have regarding their role as a father. DESIGN AND SAMPLE: Exploratory, descriptive, qualitative design. Young fathers/young expectant fathers were recruited from service sites within a city in Massachusetts. Men were considered young fathers/young expectant fathers if they were or would be <20 years old at the birth of a first child or the mother of their baby was or would be><20 years old at the>baby's birth and the young man was <25 years old. MEASURES: Participants were interviewed utilizing open-ended>questions, which included the following: the characteristics of good fathers, goals/needs for self and child, and whether or not they planned to raise the child as their father raised them and why. RESULTS: Responses regarding fathering clustered into the following themes: being available; providing support; and self-improvement, including completing education and becoming a positive role model. Forty-seven percent believed that being employed or finishing school would help them be better fathers; 77% reported they would not raise their child as their own father had raised them, citing physical and/or emotional abuse/abandonment. CONCLUSIONS: Young men in this study identified several challenges to being "good" fathers. These included lack of employment, education, and positive role models.
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Association between sweet preference and paternal history of alcoholism in psychiatric and substance abuse patientsBACKGROUND: The relationship between preference for stronger sweet solutions and propensity to excessive alcohol drinking is supported by both animal and human studies. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that sweet preference is associated with the genetic risk of alcoholism as measured by a paternal history of alcoholism. METHODS: Participants were 180 patients admitted to a residential treatment program for the treatment of alcoholism, drug dependence, or psychiatric conditions. In addition to a routine medical examination, patients completed the standard sweet preference test twice (on the 9th and 24th days after admission), and the family history of alcoholism was evaluated. RESULTS: Sweet preference was shown to be stable over time. It was strongly associated with a paternal history of alcoholism, with family history-positive patients approximately 5 times more likely to prefer stronger sweet solutions than family history-negative subjects. Such factors as dependence on alcohol, cocaine, opiates, cannabis, other drugs (including prescription drugs), and tobacco smoking, as well as demographics (gender and age), did not significantly interfere with association between sweet preference and paternal history of alcoholism. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide some support for the hypothesis that preference for stronger sweet solutions is associated with a genetic predisposition to alcoholism as measured by a paternal history of alcoholism.
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Fathers with severe mental illness: characteristics and comparisonsAmong patients with severe mental illness attending a large, urban, outpatient mental health clinic, fathers are described and compared with nonfathers and with mothers on demographic, clinical, and child-related characteristics, and on resources and service needs. While fathers and nonfathers with mental illness differed significantly on most variables, fathers and mothers with mental illness were remarkably similar except on child-related characteristics. Issues regarding fathers' experiences and service needs are discussed.
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Impact of father's education and parental smoking status on smoking behavior in young adults. The CARDIA study. Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young AdultsAssociations of parents' education and smoking with young adults' smoking were examined in participants aged 18-30 years at baseline (1985-1986) in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study. Significant (p < 0.05) inverse age-adjusted associations of father's education with participant smoking status among black men, white men, and white women disappeared after adjustment for participant's education. Parental smoking status was directly related to participant smoking status for all race/sex groups. Participant education was strongly inversely related to participant smoking. Public health campaigns should consider influences of parental behaviors on children's behaviors and associations of limited education with adverse lifestyles.