County Study Indicates Promoting Father Involvement in Child-Rearing has Unexpected Outcomes

Positive Opportunities for Parenting Success, also known as the POPS program, offers a 13 week parenting course for San Luis Obispo County families.  The program, which has been running for 9 years in the county, has a unique goal: seeking to increase and promote father involvement in child-rearing.  Most parent-support programs focus on the child and child-development; with POPS, the focus is on the couple as a unit and even more so on fathers.

The POPS program was created as a longitudinal research study to provide data to a team of researchers from UC Berkeley, Yale University, and Smith College.  Participants who go through the POPS program are provided numerous tools encouraging fathers to become more involved in parenting, and to improve the overall family dynamics.  In exchange, the participants provide measurable data for the research team.  The parents are monitored via survey responses, and video-taping of them inter-acting with their children before and after completion of the program.  Participants are scored on their body language, tone of voice, eye-contact and other parameters.  The data collected is then analyzed by graduate students and used for the research team’s study.

As expected, the research study has shown that the children of fathers who went through the program became much less aggressive, hyperactive, depressed or socially withdrawn than the children of fathers in the control group.  However, more surprisingly, the results also showed that both the mother’s and father’s levels of depression and anxiety were decreased measurably; the parents’ mutual satisfaction in their relationship with each other remained stable – compared to declines in the control group; and the families’ income levels went up.

POPS’ success is achieved through a series of groups focusing on five key areas: the couple relationship, the parent-child relationship, generational issues, couples communication and community support.  At each group, the mothers regroup with a female therapist, and the fathers regroup with a male therapist.

“Providing talking skills and improving communication between couples is certainly the number one point of this program,” says Group Leader, Bill Schmidt.  When couples have an issue, Schmidt helps them discuss it by breaking it down into the following: he asks that each parent voice his or her issue, explain what their thoughts and then their feelings are about the issue, state what results they ideally want to accomplish and then discuss their action plan.  Schmidt refers to this drill as the “communication circle.”

Leon, participated in the program over a year ago, with his girlfriend.  He was the father of a two year old and four year old at the time.  “We were at a point in our relationship when communication did not happen,” Leon explains.  Now, a year later, the two have married and Leon states he tries to use the communication circle on a daily basis.

He also says he thought that by providing financially for the family, he was doing his job as a father.  “I didn’t know how to parent,” admits Leon, “the program made me realize I was not involved in my sons’ lives.”  This year he is coaching his children’s T-Ball team.  “I want to be involved in my sons’ lives more than ever,” says Leon.

Another father who recently completed the program in Arroyo Grande emphasized he “liked that the program focused on the parents’ ability to change in order for the family dynamics to change.”  Putting it even more simply, another said he “learned not to sweat the small stuff and focus on the kids.”

POPS is overseen by Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County.  The program is starting a course in Arroyo Grande and beginning a new one in Paso Robles the first week of March.  Participation is entirely free.  The families meet one evening per week, dinner and childcare is provided, and each couple will receive $200 upon completion of the workshops.  Families interested in participating in the program may call (805)474-2018 for more information.

For more information about P.O.P.S. please call project director Melinda Sokolowski at (805) 541-4122 ext. 25.

Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County is a non-profit agency that focuses on helping people and changing lives through serving nearly 40,000 persons across Central and Southern California. We are committed to eliminate poverty by empowering individuals and families to achieve economic self-sufficiency and self-determination through a comprehensive array of community-based programs.

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