Joyce Y Lee

• PhD
• Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University

This qualitative study examined 25 stay-at-home fathers (SAHFs) in the United States and their lived experiences through the perspective of the theory of caring masculinities. Results from semistructured telephone interviews demonstrated that the majority of SAHFs voluntarily opted to be full-time caregivers, named financial reasons for becoming a...

Th e goal of this scoping review was to summarize and synthesize empirical evidence on the link between father involvement and child well-being among children impacted by the U.S. child welfare system. Drawing from the ecological systems framework of investigating father-child relationships, we focused on multi-level socioecological factors that ma...

Objective This study demonstrates how machine learning, specifically random forest, can advance family science, particularly in studying father–child relationships. Background Fatherhood research faces challenges with fathers' recruitment and retention, complex living arrangements, and lower response rates compared to mothers. Machine learning, a...

Parental substance use disorder is a risk factor for child maltreatment and negative child behaviors. It is important to understand protective factors for families experiencing co-occurring parental substance use disorder and child maltreatment to develop strength-based interventions. The aim of this study was to (1) explore levels of protective fa...

This study examined patterns of father involvement among 2040 unmarried non-Hispanic Black fathers (M = 25.27 years; SD = 6.51 years) with low income, and their associations with young children's (age 3 years; 50.34% girls) social-emotional functioning. Latent profile analysis revealed four father involvement profiles: high involvement (50.60%); no...

Objective This scoping review systematically examined the applied family science literature involving families raising young children to understand how relevant studies have applied artificial intelligence (AI)‐facilitated technologies. Background Family research is exploring the application of AI. However, there is a critical need for a review st...

Emotions play an important role in fostering positive parenting and healthy child development. This qualitative study explored the affective experiences of racially diverse US fathers with low income across the prenatal, postnatal, and early childhood periods. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 24 fathers. Interview questions asked abou...

Objectives This study describes the development, acceptability, and implementation of an interactive text messaging program to engage fathers enrolled in home visitation programs. Methods We used an iterative development approach that integrated rapid testing of intervention content with acceptability feedback from program participants to examine...

Objective: The goal of this study was to determine if parents view spanking as a form of hitting and view hitting children as more acceptable than hitting other family members, including dogs. Method: Parents of children 0–8 years of age from across the United States (N = 286; 85% White; 56% women) were recruited through Prolific to participate in...

Disaster experiences and explorations of preparedness among Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi Americans (APIDA) in the United States are often overlooked owing to their relatively smaller population share. APIDA are not homogenous, and their disaster experiences warrant further examination. This paper does so by investigating disaster preparedness...

COVID-19 and its economic fallout have resulted in unprecedented financial insecurity and material hardship for many American families, with a disproportionately negative impact on children and families from socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts. The current study applied the family stress model to examine the family processes underlying pandemi...

Objective This study aimed to examine patterns of mother–father coparenting relationship quality and their associations with child empathy, emotional insecurity, and behavior problems in families with low income. Background Given the growing number of nonmarital births and the high risk of relationship dissolution among cohabiting couples living w...

Background: Research shows general increases in child maltreatment reports in the U.S. However, less is understood about how reporting varies across states and changes over time, from a perspective of referral sources. While recent studies during COVID-19 reported a reduction in maltreatment referrals, predominantly school referrals, little resear...

Objective Informed by the family systems theory, the current study aimed to examine whether shared parental responsiveness between fathers and mothers with low income was associated with preschoolers' developmental outcomes. Background Both fathers' and mothers' parental responsiveness are key contributors to their young children's development. Ho...

Purpose: This "From the Field" article reports on the Text4Dad text messaging intervention designed to engage fathers in home visiting. We introduce implementation process components from our pilot study across three Healthy Start home visitation sites. Description: Three Fatherhood Community Health Workers (F-CHWs) and three fathers from one Te...

Purpose The Family Stress Model was applied to examine the associations between material hardship, parental depressive symptoms, destructive interparental conflict, and parental emotional availability. This study contributes novel information to the literature by including data from both mothers and fathers from racially diverse and socioeconomical...

Little is known about the impact of child welfare system-level factors on child mortality as an outcome within foster care. Using data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System, 2009-2018, we examined the associations between county-level sociodemographic, foster care performance, and judicial reform characteristics with all-c...

The current study applied a family systems approach to examine dyadic parental risk factors linked with mother–father co-involved physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and emotional abuse. Parental substance use, mental health problems, disability and medical conditions, inadequate housing, economic insecurity, intimate partner violence, and prior...

Children of color—especially Black and Indigenous children—are disproportionately overrepresented in foster care and experience barriers in accessing services and receiving physical and behavioral healthcare compared to their White counterparts. Although racial disparities in mental health outcomes of children in foster care have been examined syst...

There are multiple components of a public health approach for preventing child maltreatment. One of these components is the question of who to intervene with. Fathers are an under-targeted and under-studied group for child maltreatment prevention. In this conceptual article, we describe a public health approach for intervening with fathers. Acknowl...

There are multiple components of a public health approach for preventing child maltreatment. One of these components is the question of who to intervene with. Fathers are an under-targeted and under-studied group for child maltreatment prevention. In this conceptual article, we describe a public health approach for intervening with fathers. Acknowl...

The current study sought to understand existing literature regarding the relationship between early childhood education and care policies in the U.S. (i.e., childcare subsidies, Head Start, and universal pre-k) and family violence (i.e., child maltreatment and IPV). We examined articles that assessed either of these two family violence outcomes or...

On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The social isolation and economic stress resulting from pandemic have the potential to exacerbate child abuse and neglect. This study examines the association of parents’ perceived social isolation and recent employment loss to risk for child maltreatment (neglect...

To date, little to nothing is known about Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) children in foster care although they are overrepresented in some of the child welfare systems in the United States and experience challenges stemming from structural colonialism and displacement. To highlight this often-overlooked population in child welfare rese...

Objective: The current study used the family stress model to test the mechanisms by which economic insecurity contributes to mothers' and fathers' mental health and couples' relationship functioning. Background: Although low household income has been a focus of poverty research, material hardship-defined as everyday challenges related to making...

Families with low income experience high levels of economic insecurity, but less is known about how mothers and fathers in such families successfully navigate coparenting and parenting in the context of material hardship. The current study utilized a risk and resilience framework to investigate the underlying family processes linking material hards...

This study examined patterns of father involvement and their relations with social, behavioral, and cognitive development among low-income children < 5 years. Latent class analysis on data from 2650 fathers (Mage = 29.35 years) in the Supporting Healthy Marriages program revealed four father involvement patterns: (1) High positive involvement (48%)...

Background COVID-19 is likely to have negatively impacted foster families but few data sources are available to confirm this. Objective The current study used Reddit social media data to examine how foster families are faring in the pandemic. Discussion topics were identified and examined for changes before and after COVID-19. Participants and se...

Objective (1) To describe young men's knowledge of infant routines, discipline, development, safety, sleep, and nutrition, using items assessing the American Academy of Pediatrics Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents. (2) To report differences in knowledge between fathers and non-fathers. (3) To ex...

Aim/Purpose: The overarching purpose of this paper was to examine how a collaborative working group of doctoral students from different institutions evolved into a community of practice and developmental network. Specifically, the aim of this study was to examine this group’s progression from working group to support group, a process that occurred...

Key Practitioner Messages • Legal measures such as class action lawsuits and consent decrees may be effective in reducing child welfare workers' caseloads as part of systematic change. • Schools of social work should expose their generalist and clinical track students to macro courses that address the role of such legal measures. • Policy planning...

Background: On March 11, 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. The social isolation and economic stress resulting from pandemic have the potential to exacerbate child abuse and neglect. Objective: This study examines the association of parents’ perceived social isolation and recent employment loss to risk for chil...

This study examines interparental conflict and associations with child behavior problems among a large, diverse sample of families with low income (N = 2,691) using path model analyses of mothers’ and fathers’ reports of constructive interparental conflict, destructive interparental conflict, and intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization at 15...

The current study aims to replicate and extend previous research on father–child activation relationship theory, which suggests that fathers engage in stimulating, challenging, and directive parenting behaviors that are likely to benefit children’s development. A large and racially diverse sample of low-income, unmarried couples with young children...

Objective This qualitative study used Twitter to examine stay-at-home parents’ publicly available postings to Twitter about discipline and spanking. Many adults still support the use of spanking despite a substantial body of evidence demonstrating that spanking is linked to a range of negative child outcomes. Little is currently known about how par...

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163760/1/2020-Lee-Thecharacteristicsandlivedexperiences.pdf

Coparenting relationship quality and father involvement are closely linked but few studies have investigated this relationship using samples of socioeconomically disadvantaged families. The current study used family systems theory to examine the longitudinal and bidirectional relations between coparenting relationship quality and father engagement...

Class action lawsuits have become an increasingly common way to facilitate institutional reform. The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to social workers of child welfare reform by class action lawsuits and subsequent consent decrees. The authors provide an overview of class action lawsuits, with a focus on their role in implemen...

Objective: This qualitative study used Twitter to examine stay-at-home parents’ publicly available contributions to Twitter about discipline and spanking. Background: Many adults still support the use of spanking despite a substantial body of evidence demonstrating that spanking is linked to a range of negative child outcomes. Little is currently k...

A father’s involvement in prenatal care engenders health benefits for both mothers and children. While this information can help practitioners improve family health, low paternal involvement in prenatal care remains a challenge. The present study tested a simple, easily scalable intervention to promote father involvement by increasing men’s feeling...

Interparental conflict is a well-established precursor to child maladjustment. However, little is understood of the role of different interparental conflict in shaping the developmental outcomes of young children, especially those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. This study uses data from a large and racially diverse sample of low-...

Fathers are more than social accidents. Research has demonstrated that fathers matter to children's development. Despite noted progress, challenges remain on how best to conceptualize and assess fathering and father–child relationships. The current monograph is the result of an SRCD‐sponsored meeting of fatherhood scholars brought together to discu...

The current study explored whether fathers and mothers from 195 two-parent U.S. families engaged in a form of activation parenting (i.e., sensitivity, cognitive stimulation, and moderate intrusiveness) with their secondborn, 12-month-old infants during a 15-min challenging teaching task, and to determine if this type of interaction was more common...

Objective: Unmarried mothers have high rates of smoking, including during late pregnancy and after pregnancy, thus increasing their children's risk for negative health outcomes associated with maternal tobacco use. Few studies have examined whether partners' smoking exacerbates or attenuates maternal smoking risk. The current study examines how fa...

Objective To examine the association of father early engagement behaviors and infant low birth weight (LBW) among unmarried, urban couples. Methods Participants were from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a birth-cohort study of urban families. We conducted cross-sectional analyses of data from interviews with unmarried mothers and fa...

Context: Fathers contribute to their children's health starting at the beginning of life. Few parent education programs include fathers. Among those that do, there is little effort to report program effects on father outcomes. Objective: In this systematic review, we examined father-inclusive perinatal parent education programs in the United Sta...

This study examines whether fathers’ parental warmth and parenting stress were associated with behavior problems when children were approximately 36-months of age, beyond the influence of maternal behaviors. Study participants were 3342 low-income fathers and mothers who participated in the Building Strong Families (BSF) study. Cross-sectional regr...

This study examines the generalizability of Reformulated Emotional Security Theory (EST-R) among a large and diverse sample of low-income, unmarried parents with young children (n=5,100). Path analysis indicated that child emotional insecurity mediated the relation between destructive conflict (i.e., moderate negative conflict between parents) and...