February 2015 | Cynthia Osborne, PhD. and Daniel Dillon, MPAff; University of Texas at Austin, LBJ School of Public Affairs,Child and Family Research Partnership
When Father Doesn’t Bother: Conditioning the Failure to Establish Paternity In-Hospital on Fathers’ Presence at the Birth
This is a link to a working paper in which the authors examine the failure to establish paternity in the hospital, where parents are offered an opportunity to voluntarily acknowledge the child’s paternity at the time of the child’s birth. Most fathers who are present at the time of the birth acknowledge paternity in hospital, however approximately one-quarter of unmarried fathers do not attend the birth, and therefore do not establish paternity voluntarily. In this working paper, the authors examine the failure to establish paternity in the hospital, and strive to understand the extent to which establishing paternity depends on fathers’ birth attendance. The authors distinguish among three groups of fathers: those who are present at the birth and establish paternity, those who are present at the birth and do not establish paternity, and those who are absent from the birth and do not establish paternity. Also, the authors explore the prenatal factors that best predict whether fathers will attend the birth and establish paternity.
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