Acknowledgments Introduction 1. One Thing Leads to Another 2. Thank You, Jesus 3. The Stupid Shit 4. Ward Cleaver 5. Sesame Street Mornings 6. Fight or Flight 7. Try, Try Again 8. The New Package Deal Appendix Notes References Index

The idea that children need a mother and a father to thrive is a hegemonic ideology of parenting, yet research finds that children do equally well in families with two parents of any gender. Prior research has not addressed how social location shapes parents’ engagement with gender essentialist ideologies of parenting. Filling this gap, we analyze ethnographic and interview data based on the experiences of poor fathers of color and mostly white, wealthy gay fathers. This two-case study uniquely reveals how class, race, and sexuality shape fathers’ relationships to parental essentialism. Fathers experience it as either a source of empowerment that valorizes them as worthy parents or a source of marginalization that denies their ability to raise healthy children. We theorize how this dual response reveals the salience and dangers of essentialist discourses in spaces where men grapple with gendered and heteronormative ideologies of masculinity, fatherhood, and families.

Doing the best I can : fatherhood in the inner city

Marginalize or Valorize: A Two-Case Study of Parental Essentialism and Fathers’ Social Location

Objective: In this research, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) tested the efficacy of two teen pregnancy prevention (TPP) curricula, Reducing the Risk and Love Notes, compared with a group of adolescents in a control condition, on primary pregnancy prevention among youth at high-risk for teen pregnancy. A secondary purpose was to examine two potential mediators, negative beliefs about teen pregnancy and intentions to follow the sequence of completing education, marrying or establishing a committed relationship, and then having children. Background: Teen pregnancy rates for racial/ethnic minority youth in the United States are disproportionately high compared with White youth. Given the positive view of children in these populations and the drive for youth to form peer relationships and explore their sexuality, meeting these cultural and developmental needs within TPP may be critical. Methods: The study examined the number of reported pregnancies across the first year after the interventions from a three-arm, cluster RCT engaging 1,448 youth living in poverty between the ages of 14 and 19 years in 23 community-based organizations in a southeastern U.S. city. Results: At the 1-year follow-up, youth in Love Notes report significantly fewer pregnancies compared with the control condition (18 pregnancies, 3.51%), F (2, 1,309) =

Impact of a relationship‐based intervention, Love Notes, on teen pregnancy prevention

Family Law in the United States

Research indicates that children with involved fathers fare better than children with disengaged fathers. In response, 4 Your Child provides fatherhood-specific parent education and solution-focuse...

Doing the best I can : fatherhood in the inner city

Citations

Marginalize or Valorize: A Two-Case Study of Parental Essentialism and Fathers’ Social Location

Impact of a relationship‐based intervention, Love Notes, on teen pregnancy prevention

Family Law in the United States

Group-Based Parent Education Intervention for Nonresident Fathers:

Mexican Origin Parenting in Sunnyside

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