Baylor Professor Receives Grant from the Fatherhood Research and Practice Network to Evaluate an Ohio Fatherhood Program

January 16, 2015

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Contact: Terry Goodrich,(254) 710-3321
WACO, Texas (Jan. 15, 2015) – The Fatherhood Research and Practice Network (FRPN), a collaboration between Temple University and the Center for Policy Research (CPR) in Denver has awarded $100,000 to Baylor University's Program on Prosocial Behavior, an arm of the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR), to evaluate the TYRO Dads program operated by The RIDGE Project, Inc., Ohio.
The three-wave panel study will be led by Young-Il Kim, Ph.D., research assistant professor at ISR. The study involves a two-group randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 400 low-income fathers drawn from 11 research sites in nine Ohio locations (Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Findlay, Lima, McClure, Toledo and Wooster*). The study's experimental group will attend a 20-hour program over a five-week period, while its control group will be waitlisted until both groups complete the third-wave survey. Researchers will evaluate the effectiveness of the program by analyzing changes in the quantity and quality of father-child relationships over time between these two groups.
"I feel honored to be selected for this award. I believe this research will not only make a significant contribution to the fatherhood research field, but also help fathers who have difficulty providing care for their children due to economic hardship," Kim said.
The FRPN is funded through a five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.
"The FRPN is serving an important and strategic role by providing researchers with opportunities to evaluate fatherhood programs and communicate information that leads to effective fatherhood practice," said Byron Johnson, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences and co-director of ISR.
According to Sung Joon Jang, Ph.D., research professor of criminology at ISR, co-director of ISR's Program on Prosocial Behavior and co-investigator on the project, "Because fathers of similar characteristics are randomly assigned to the experimental and control group, we will be able to isolate the impact of the fatherhood program from other factors that could influence the outcomes."

*The average poverty rate of these locations is higher than those of the state of Ohio and the United States.

For more information, visit www.frpn.org or
www.baylorisr.org.

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Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 16,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.

ABOUT THE BAYLOR UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES OF RELIGION

Launched in August 2004, the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) exists to initiate, support and conduct research on religion, involving scholars and projects spanning the intellectual spectrum: history, psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology, political science, epidemiology, theology and religious studies. The Institute's mandate extends to all religions, everywhere, and throughout history, and embraces the study of religious effects on prosocial behavior, family life, population health, economic development and social conflict. While always striving for appropriate scientific objectivity, ISR scholars treat religion with the respect that sacred matters require and deserve.