The results of a new study on “deadbeat dads” suggest that the stereotype might be more myth than reality.
Low-income fathers who don’t pay cash child-support may well provide food, clothes, and other tangible items worth even more, report researchers.
“The most disadvantaged dads end up looking like they’re completely distanced from their kids, but they’re actually giving quite a lot,” Johns Hopkins University sociologist Kathryn Edin says.
“I was really surprised by how much these disadvantaged guys, these truly marginally employed men, are putting all of this thought and what little resources they have into showing their children that they care.”
Johns Hopkins
