@article{171226, author = {Kathryn Edin and Laura Tach and Ronald Mincy}, title = {Claiming Fatherhood: Race and the Dynamics of Father Involvement among Unmarried Men}, abstract = { In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan argued that the black family was nearing {\textquotedblleft}complete breakdown{\textquotedblright} due to high rates of out-of-wedlock childbearing. In subsequent decades, nonmarital childbearing rose dramatically for all racial groups and unwed fathers were often portrayed as being absent from their children{\textquoteright}s lives. The authors examine contemporary nonmarital father involvement using quantitative evidence from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study and qualitative evidence from in-depth interviews with 150 unmarried fathers. The authors find that father involvement drops sharply after parents{\textquoteright} relationships end, especially when they enter subsequent relationships and have children with new partners. These declines are less dramatic for African American fathers, suggesting that fathers{\textquoteright} roles outside of conjugal relationships may be more strongly institutionalized in the black community. The challenges Moynihan described among black families some forty years ago now extend to a significant minority of all American children. }, year = {2009}, journal = {Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science}, volume = {621}, pages = {149-177}, language = {eng}, }