Citation

Bolton FG. J. Fam. Violence 1987; 2(1): 67-80.

Affiliation

Arizona Department of Economic Security, Special Populations Projects Unit, 1400 West Washington-939A, 85007 Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Copyright

(Copyright © 1987, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/BF00976371

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Concern regarding the risk of child maltreatment in adolescent parent-child dyads has moderated in recent study. Concern persists, however, in those relationships where demographic or dynamic aspects of the relationship predict greater stress. While the majority of research targeting these high-risk adolescent parent-child dyads has focused on the adolescent mother, there has been little attention directed to the possible role played by the father in the adolescent parenting situation. This paper examines the characteristics of 145 fathers in adolescent mother-child relationships previously determined to be high-risk for child abuse. The hypothesis that the fathers in these high-risk relationships may bring elements to the environment and relationship which exacerbate the existing risk (e.g., occupational, educational, and financial problems) was supported. In addition, speculation was off ered that certain personal characteristics of the fathers such as alcohol/substance abuse and criminal records would serve to predict greater rates of ultimate relationship failure.