Feature Story

June 12, 2007

Men's Pregnancy Intentions and Prenatal Behaviors: What They Mean for Fathers' Involvement With Their Children

Child Trends

A growing body of research suggests that men's pregnancy intentions (i.e., how men feel about a pregnancy) and prenatal behaviors (i.e., how men act during the pregnancy) may have implications for fathers' later involvement with their children.

For example, men who exhibit positive feelings about the pregnancies of their partners and who become involved---such as attending childbirth classes and being present at the child's birth---are more likely to show positive postbirth fathering behaviors.

These findings are consistent with prior research demonstrating that having an unintended pregnancy and being uninvolved prior to a child's birth may signal lower quality and quantity of father involvement in the child's later life. An understanding of this issue for fathers of infants is important because the transition to fatherhood represents an ideal opportunity to draw men more actively into parenting.

This Research Brief draws on data from the 9-month Resident Father Survey of the nationally representative 2001 Early Childhood Longitudinal Study -- Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) to present information on what men report about their pregnancy intentions and their prenatal involvement.

Results from Child Trends' analyses both corroborate prior research and present new findings.

We found that although most resident fathers report that they wanted the pregnancy at the time or sooner, one in four reported that he did not want the pregnancy at all.

Another important finding was that fathers who were more involved during pregnancy were also more likely to be involved in helping to rear the child in the first year of life.

Our analyses suggest that encouraging and enabling resident fathers to participate actively in the pregnancy as early as possible may increase later father involvement in childrearing.

Examples of such programs for fathers might include activities that help fathers understand the phases of pregnancy, that emphasize the importance of participating in doctor visits and childbirth classes, and that develop fathers' emotional attachment to the unborn child.

Parenting classes targeted at fathers as early as the teen years and available both before and after the birth may serve as effective vehicles for teaching men about how to interact with their babies and how important it is for fathers to be involved in their children's lives---not just during infancy but in the ensuing years as well.