Symposium contains a presentation and discussion by 3-4 experts on a particular topic. A discussant integrates and summarizes the papers, develops implications for policy and practice from the research, and facilitates audience discussion.

Papers listed below are included in this session.

Discussant: Laura Cutler
Co-Chairs: Sonia Molloy, Wendy McLean Cooke

Summary
Family scholars have emphasized the importance of understanding family development within context using bioecological theory (Bronfenbrenner & Evans, 2000). Within the microsystem of the family, scholars seek to understand factors that influence development. Family scholarship has broadly examined fathers finding that fathers are influential to family and child development (Cabrera et al., 2018). As the majority of earlier parenting theorizing and research was grounded in studies of primarily samples of mothers, it is vital to examine more deeply the more nuanced factors that influence fathering behaviors and child outcomes for diverse population groups (Adamsons & Beuhler, 2007). This symposium presents empirical work that addresses promoting hope, happiness, and health in families via men’s roles as fathers, focusing on the examination of risk factors, support factors, and interventions from a strengths based perspective to promote development for a variety of population groups, including adolescents, emerging adults, divorced families, and Latino fathers.

Objectives

• To demonstrate how fathers’ performance and subjective understanding of their family roles contribute to hope, happiness and health in families.
• To identify some of the facilitative and inhibitory factors that influence fathers’ involvement in diverse families as well as parenting intervention programs and—by extension—hope, health and happiness in families.
• To specify some of the ways that fathers influence youth outcomes intergenerationally to affect hope, happiness and health in families.

Subject Codes: fatherhood, parenting education, family relations
Population Codes: adolescence, emerging/young adulthood, divorced
Method and Approach Codes: mixed-methodology, quantitative methodology, longitudinal research