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NCOFF Databases Comments about the databases? |
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The Joblessness and Unemployment Library represents the breadth of research surrounding the issues identified in NCOFF's Core Learning III: Joblessness is a major impediment to family formation and father involvement. The Library collapses literature from a variety of disciplines and domains. In creating the Library and the encompassing Database, NCOFF's goal is to compile into one on-line service the broad array of interdisciplinary research and program reports and to make these items accessible to the widest audience of stakeholders in children's development including practitioners, researchers, policymakers, educators, community members, and parents themselves. The works cited include empirical, conceptual, and clinical research which ranges in depth of analysis and whose intended audiences vary. Each library in the Database is updated daily through searches in libraries and contact with different agencies, individuals, and organizations. Most of the research studies and reports cited are located through the University of Pennsylvania's libraries. Studies and reports are identified databases in education, psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology, and social work, among others. A variety of keywords are used in these searches: "father absence," "father and child development," and "father presence." As a second strategy, reference lists of articles abstracted and annotated are reviewed to identify additional studies or materials. Third, other research studies are identified in and obtained from various centers and agencies which address issues such as poverty, child development, child welfare, and family support. Fourth, authors send soon-to-be-published drafts of studies directly to NCOFF. Fifth, studies are identified through government reports. The studies described in the library are obtained from books, journal articles, theses, dissertations, reports, working papers, and conference proceedings. In addition, several other approaches are used, e.g., Internet links with research institutes, publishers, and associations. The Joblessness and Unemployment Library covers the following general areas: (1) work values and orientations; (2) joblessness and its impact on workers and their families; and (3) the nature of and labor participation in the informal (or underground) economy. Research on work values and orientations examines several issues. Some scholars identify the meaning and significance of work in people's lives. A substantial amount of work in this area examines people's motivations to work and the factors that contribute to work satisfaction and dissatisfaction. To answer this research question, a small though increasing number of researchers explore the work-family nexus. Comparative data on this issue tend to be centered around occupational level and, to a lesser extent, age and gender variables. Racial differences are examined almost exclusively within studies of low-income and low occupational-status groups. Researchers approach the issue of joblessness from several directions. A major area of interest is the impact of joblessness on individual well-being. The consensus in the literature is that joblessness negatively affects the mental and physical well-being of working-age people of all demographic groups. Furthermore, other research reports that employment positively influences individual well-being and family functioning. The positive effects of employment often are explored, for example, as part of research on the impact of women's employment on family functioning. Some studies identify sources of social support for unemployed workers and their families. Other studies isolate sources of psychological distress during unemployment. Another area of interest to researchers is the implications of high rates of male joblessness and unemployment for fathers whose sense of role fulfillment is contingent upon their ability to provide for their families. Many researchers in this area report that the fulfillment of the provider role mediates further paternal involvement. A significant body of literature addresses the overrepresentation of African American men among the under- and unemployed. Many researchers discuss male joblessness as a major contributor to the rise in female-headed households across race and particularly among African American families. Other researchers examine the contributing influence of joblessness to low marriage rates and father absence within poor African American communities. The term informal economy refers to illegal or untaxed economic activity. Economists are particularly interested in the nature and scope of the informal economy within America's borders, its impact on the mainstream economy, the extent to which it can be contained, and its implications for national policy. Some research explores the causes or incentives for informal economic activity. For example, some consumers report buying or selling undocumented goods and services as a means of surviving economic hardship or heavy regulation and/or taxation. Social scientists have only recently begun studying this area. As a result, our understanding of informal labor participation is sketchy, at best. The few studies of informal labor participation reveal that the formal work environment provides the medium for much informal activity. Some scholars posit that poor and unemployed families enter the informal economy to support their households, although this issue has not been studied substantially.
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National Center on Fathers and Families | University of Pennsylvania | Graduate School of Education | 3700 Walnut Street, Box 58 | Philadelphia, PA 19104-6216 |
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Date Posted: 9/25/97; Date Revised: 8/28/99 | http://www.ncoff.gse.upenn.edu/ | NCOFF Copyright, (c) 1999 | National Center on Fathers and Families |
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