Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Format of Original

29 p.

Publication Date

8-2002

Publisher

Sage Publications

Source Publication

Journal of Contemporary Ethnography

Source ISSN

0891-2416

Original Item ID

DOI: 10.1177/0891241602031004002

Abstract

This ethnographic study uses the narratives of African American, single, full-time fathers to explore the motivations precipitating their choice to parent. While the fathers had in common a number of demographic characteristics, such as full employment, residence, and support systems, which factored into their timing of and ability to take full custody, none of these are salient in their own narratives expressing why they wanted to be full-time fathers. Instead, their main motives centered on fulfilling a sense of duty and responsibility, reworking the effects of having had weak or absent fathers themselves, wanting to provide a role model for their children, and fulfilling an already established parent-child bond.

Comments

Accepted version. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 31, No. 4 (August 2002): 411-439. DOI. © 2002 SAGE Publications. Used with permission.

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