Posted by: Adam McCann

Fatherhood is a responsibility which changes over time. Back in 1960, 75% of American families relied on a single income, that of the dad, who spent much of his week at work while mom stayed home with the kids. Today, two-thirds of family households depend on two incomes. And the contemporary dad no longer fits neatly into the standard of the married breadwinner and disciplinarian.

Regardless of the changing identity and priorities of the modern dad, fatherhood remains an undisputedly tough job. And a father’s ability to provide for his family is central to his role. In fact, nearly 93 percent of dads with kids younger than 18 are employed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But some working dads, those who live in states with greater economic opportunity and quality of life, have it better than others.

In order to determine the best states for men who play a dual role of parent and provider, WalletHub compared the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia across 20 key indicators of friendliness toward working fathers. Our data set ranges from average length of work day for males to child-care costs to share of men in good or better health. Read on for our findings, expert insight on male-parenting issues and a full description of our methodology.

1. Main Findings
2. Ask the Experts
3. Methodology

Main Findings

Embed on your website<iframe src="//d2e70e9yced57e.cloudfront.net/wallethub/embed/13458/dads-geochart.html" width="556" height="347" frameBorder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="width:556px;font-size:12px;color:#888;">Source: <a href="https://ift.tt/2sZfQiQ>  

Best States for Working Dads

Overall Rank (1 = Best)	State	Total Score	“Economic & Social Well-Being” Rank	“Work-Life Balance” Rank	“Child Care” Rank	“Health” Rank
1	Connecticut	72.58	4	4	3	5
2	Minnesota	72.44	1	9	2	1
3	Massachusetts	68.12	8	13	1	3
4	District of Columbia	68.05	13	5	8	6
5	Vermont	66.12	25	7	5	7
6	New Jersey	65.45	5	12	6	19
7	Rhode Island	64.98	29	2	14	20
8	Wisconsin	61.48	9	16	12	17
9	Delaware	61.12	17	18	7	21
10	New Hampshire	60.29	7	38	4	10
11	Iowa	59.91	6	21	16	4
12	Illinois	59.21	16	15	13	23
13	North Dakota	59.15	3	39	9	9
14	Virginia	57.10	2	44	10	22
15	Utah	56.42	21	11	28	14
16	Nebraska	55.52	10	26	31	8
17	New York	55.51	43	8	27	13
18	Kansas	55.33	14	27	17	24
19	Washington	55.32	23	14	30	12
20	Maryland	55.16	11	35	20	15
21	Colorado	54.94	18	22	22	18
22	Ohio	54.64	19	23	19	29
23	Maine	54.39	36	10	15	27
24	California	53.83	49	1	43	16
25	Hawaii	52.33	48	6	35	2
26	Indiana	51.87	24	30	11	37
27	Pennsylvania	51.14	15	42	25	26
28	Montana	50.46	30	17	34	31
29	Oregon	50.30	47	3	45	25
30	Missouri	49.06	20	36	32	39
31	Michigan	47.72	22	34	37	30
32	North Carolina	47.62	35	33	18	35
33	Wyoming	47.50	12	47	36	33
34	Tennessee	47.27	33	28	24	40
35	South Dakota	46.34	26	43	42	11
36	Florida	46.02	45	24	23	38
37	Kentucky	45.13	39	32	26	44
38	Texas	42.98	28	51	29	36
39	Arizona	42.91	46	29	38	32
40	Alaska	42.68	37	31	44	34
41	Oklahoma	42.38	32	48	21	48
42	Alabama	40.98	31	46	40	47
43	South Carolina	40.95	40	40	39	43
44	Georgia	40.84	34	50	33	41
45	Arkansas	39.84	41	25	46	50
46	Louisiana	38.87	27	45	50	46
47	Idaho	38.86	38	37	51	28
48	New Mexico	37.79	51	19	49	42
49	Nevada	36.62	50	20	48	45
50	Mississippi	36.17	42	49	41	51
51	West Virginia	35.69	44	41	47	49

Ask the Experts

As the contemporary working dad faces increasing challenges in his role as parent and provider, we asked a panel of experts to weigh in on the most important issues. Click on the experts’ profiles below to read their bios and thoughts on the following key questions:

1. What are the biggest issues facing working dads today?
2. What budget-saving tips do you have for men looking to get fit and be healthy?
3. How likely is it that men will take advantage of new family-leave policies adopted in New York State and elsewhere?
4. How can young fathers find the balance between career and family?
5. What would a local public-health agenda focused on men look like?

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• Matthew Weinshenker Assistant Professor of Sociology, Fordham University
• Christiane Spitzmueller Ph.D., Professor, Industrial Organizational Psychology, University of Houston
• Joseph Vandello Area Director, Cognition, Neuroscience, and Social Program, University of South Florida
• Steven D. Farough Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology & Criminology, Assumption College
• Jason G. Randall Assistant Professor, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY
• Erin Kramer Holmes Associate Professor and Associate Director, BYU School of Family Life
• Christopher J. L. Cunningham UC Foundation Professor, Graduate Program Coordinator, Industrial-Organizational and Occupational Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Matthew Weinshenker Assistant Professor of Sociology, Fordham University

What are the biggest issues facing working dads today?

More young working fathers today want to both support their families economically and actively participate in raising their children. In effect, the wish to "have it all" that arose among working mothers in the late twentieth century has now spread to fathers too.

How likely is it that men will take advantage of new family leave policies adopted in New York State and elsewhere?

I believe many men want to take advantage. But while New York State, California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have taken a huge, positive step by offering a legal right to paid parental leave, it is still the case that employers make a big difference. Companies and bosses that support leave-taking, in word and in action, can reassure parents that they are valued as workers regardless of caregiving status. By contrast, retaliation, whether obvious (firing) or subtle (passing leave-takers over for the best work) could have a chilling effect. Hopefully, the former kind of employer will outnumber the latter in New York State. It will also be important that early victims of employer retaliation get swift justice, thus giving other reluctant employers a strong message.

How can young fathers strike the right balance between career and family?

Striking the right balance between career and family is not an individual matter for fathers, mothers, or anybody else. If you are a parent who lives with a partner, then the very first question is how to strike the right balance as a family. Communication is the key here. Instead of assuming that you know what your partner wants, or that you have to stick to the routines you've followed up until now, talk with one another about the balance you each want, and how you can help one another come closer to that goal. Nor does the balance need to depend on the parents alone. Don't be afraid to use whatever resources are available to help you in your parenting journey: grandparents and other relatives who can provide child care, employer policies about flexible hours, whatever is at hand.

Christiane Spitzmueller Ph.D., Professor, Industrial Organizational Psychology, University of Houston

What are the biggest issues facing working dads today?

Issues are not that different from those facing women. Time is the ultimate finite resource, and allocating time according to life priorities and values can be extremely challenging for dads. This is exacerbated for fathers who want to play an active part in their children’s lives, who want to be there every step of the way when they grow up. In particular, taking time off or declining certain tasks or long hours at work can lead to stronger negative consequences for men than for women (since the expectation often is still that women will take care of the “stuff” around childcare and household management).

The research on career progression and promotions tells us that working long hours is indeed linked to career progression and promotions. Hence, opting to not work long hours but be an active parent can be real challenge for fathers seeking to “have it all”. This coincides with stronger societal and spousal expectations for both parents to share home responsibilities, and to equally participate in co-parenting. All of the demands are legitimate, but given the finite hours issue, priorities need to govern where time goes.

What budget saving tips do you have for men looking to get fit and be healthy?

I don’t have research on this, but I’d recommend running and running as a family. Running constitutes inexpensive exercise with a multitude of mental and physical health benefits. Even better: run with your kids. Bring along the little ones in jogging strollers and the older ones on family runs, creating a healthy family culture around exercise and fitness without breaking the bank.

How likely is it that men will take advantage of new family leave policies adopted in New York State and elsewhere?

How likely men (and women) are to take advantage of any family friendly policy depends on whether they feel there is true support for families in their organizations. And the true support does not manifest itself in progressive policies and marketing materials, but it’s the day to day norms and behaviors of supervisors, coworkers, managers and executives that shape whether employees understand that they will not be penalized for taking advantage of the systems. And changing those norms in most companies is harder than changing policies. I hence recommend companies interested in changing their stuff not only change their policies, but study the prevalence of policy adoption. If almost nobody is adopting the new policies, it’s an organizational culture and norms issue that needs to be addressed. Addressing it has to be done openly, and has to come with sincere commitment at all levels.

How can young fathers strike the right balance between career and family?

Look at all the women around you who are doing it all, every day and learn from the best.

Joseph Vandello Area Director, Cognition, Neuroscience, and Social Program, University of South Florida

What are the biggest issues facing working dads today?

Societal expectations have shifted over the last couple of generations so that fathers are expected to not only be breadwinners but active and engaged parents as well. As expectations for involvement in home life increase, many men feel squeezed for time. Recent surveys suggest that men experience more work-life stress than they did in the past.

What budget saving tips do you have for men looking to get fit and be healthy?

Hmm, this one is outside of my expertise. But I would stress the connection between physical and mental health. Plenty of research shows that physical health improves mental health, so it's really important for men to take care of themselves.

How likely is it that men will take advantage of new family leave policies adopted in New York State and elsewhere?

Some of our own research suggests that parents who seek flexible work options (such as part-time work, family leave, flexible hours, or remote work) can face penalties at work. Not just penalties in pay and promotion, but subtler penalties having to do with character and morality. This is true of both men and women, but men may face an additional penalty of being seen as less manly, because being an engaged caregiver is still inconsistent with prescriptive norms for men to devote themselves to work.

How can young fathers strike the right balance between career and family?

Striking that balance can be difficult when the system is set up to reward complete devotion to work, and corporate and government policies protecting families are lacking. But men should be thinking about their priorities the moment they begin looking for jobs (or even before, when considering the type of career for which they will train). If work-life balance is a priority, they might do some research to see what types of policies potential employers have in place to promote balance. They might ask themselves if this is something they would be willing to negotiate? But there are of course risks to signaling a commitment to work-life balance at the onset.

What would a local public health agenda focused on men look like?

I think it starts with a recognition that men and women have lives outside of work, and that promoting healthy work-life balance is not only good for individual employees' well-beings, but it's good for organizations' bottom lines. If employees are stressed, overworked, and unhappy, this leads to more sick days, more turnover, and less commitment.

Paid family leave (for both men and women) would be a great start. The U.S. is a serious outlier here, but progressive companies are increasingly offering these benefits.

Lastly, I would say that public health includes mental health, and too often men are ignored and stigmatized for mental health issues. So, a public health agenda that brings awareness and resources to tackling men's mental health issues would be welcome.

Steven D. Farough Associate Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology & Criminology, Assumption College

What are the biggest issues facing working dads today?

Let me take a structural approach at this question. In many ways the issues facing working fathers in the 21st century are more similar to working mothers than during the mid-20th century (where domestic responsibilities were clearly linked to women). As the family sociologist Scott Coltrane is famous for saying, fathers today are becoming more like mothers. No doubt, mothers continue to do much more on average in the domestic sphere when compared to fathers, but working fathers have narrowed the gap. Research shows they are more involved in family life and genuinely want to be a part of their children’s lives. This is wonderful news. Greater father involvement helps to mitigate the overall demands of parenting and allows his spouse to work more with less concern about maintaining home life. However, working fathers are also showing signs of greater stress and depression, as it has become much more challenging for working mothers and fathers to balance work and family responsibilities.

Think of the changes that have occurred in the family and economy over the past 50 years. In the 1970s more mothers entered the workforce - in part as a result of the Women’s movement. This started blurring the gendered boundaries that expected men to work for income outside the home and women to be primary caregivers in the domestic sphere. It was no longer as acceptable to assume that women should be relegated to caregiving and domesticity. Like men, women could pursue meaningful work in the public sphere and be economically independent. Underneath this positive cultural shift in the latter 20th century, however, lies the beginning point of growing income inequality and wage stagnation. To maintain a middle class lifestyle, families increasingly needed two incomes. And today, both mothers and fathers today are faced with less certain prospects for their children and their own well-being when compared to the mid-20th century United States. While the needle has moved some toward greater gender equality, the growth of income inequality, the increased expense of quality education, childcare, housing, medical care, and retirement has dampened this otherwise positive trend. Working fathers and mothers must negotiate a landscape where their employment is often less stable and with fewer benefits.

The standards of parenting have also changed. Paradoxically, according to the Pew Research Center, parents today on average spend almost 60% more time with their children today than in the 1960s when there were far more at-home mothers. How is this possible to have working parents spending more time with their children than an at-home parent during the 1960s? Largely because fathers are now spending more time caring for their children and helping to maintain the household; working mothers spend about as much time with their children today as mothers did in the 1960s, but the fathers time with their children has tripled. (It is important to again note that even with this exponential increase in the amount of time fathers spend with their children mothers continue to do far more caregiving and household chores.)

During the rise of income inequality there came a new form of childrearing philosophy that has been dubbed “intensive parenting,” a more labor-intensive and child centric approach to raising children. 50 years ago is was more common to take a “hands off” perspective to parenting - children were sent outside to play and their educational attainment was largely seen as the responsibility of the school. Today parents often feel the pressure to micro-manage their children’s education and overall social development. Extracurricular activities and “playdates” are a common affair. Parents shuttle their children to a myriad of after-school activities so that they gather valuable skills that are rewarded in college and employment. Many parents are aware that globalization has made college and employment more competitive; achieving the American dream feels less certain how. As a result, parents double down and parent more intensely than ever. This is why we see more working father experiencing the same kind of anxiety felt by working mothers.

How can young fathers strike the right balance between career and family?

This leads to your question about striking the right balance between career and family. In many ways the problem of less stable and gainful employment coupled to heightened cultural standards of parenting means that it is very challenging for individuals alone to meet career and family obligations without ample resources. In many ways, young fathers in the US should consider becoming social policy advocates for work/family balance. The US is the only modern nation that does not offer paid family leave. There is little government support to lower the cost of child care centers and schools continue to schedule the school day under the assumption that there is one parent who stays at home. Providing more state support to reduce these structural problems would help fathers (and mothers) find better work/family balance.

How likely is it that men will take advantage of new family leave policies adopted in New York State and elsewhere?

Comparative research in European countries suggests that unless family leave is specifically incentivized for fathers, few men take the opportunity. However in Norway and the Canadian province of Quebec there are specifically tailored paid leave policies for fathers. If fathers don’t take the leave, then the time and pay cannot be transferred to the mother’s leave. Explicit paternity leave policies have demonstrated that when fathers take time away from work to care for their children, they become more involved in childrearing over the long run.

Jason G. Randall Assistant Professor, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY

What are the biggest issues facing working dads today?

As societal perspectives regarding the roles of men and women shift toward a more equitable state, dads are becoming increasingly accustomed to the challenges of work-family balance that working moms have been facing for decades. My work as a professor is much more flexible than my wife who works in a hospital - so when kids are sick and need to stay home from school or daycare, that burden usually falls on me. My 2.5 years as a single, working dad really opened my eyes to the enormous amount of coordination required for working parents, and sometimes I dropped the ball on one or both ends.

Additionally, as the boundaries between work and non-work time and space become blurred with advancements in technology, the tools and practices developed to assist working parents (e.g., telecommuting, the ability to work and be contacted on personal mobile devices outside the office) can sometimes also interfere with family time which just reinforces the idea of work-family conflict.

In my opinion and my personal experience, the biggest challenge becomes teaching myself, my family, and my colleagues, that just because I can be contacted at virtually any time or place doesn’t mean I should be. Ideally, working parents could reserve time at home for home demands and time at work for work demands, but that isn’t always possible. Kids get sick unexpectedly, work deadlines loom constantly, so more and more dads are having to learn how to juggle responsibilities across domains - hopefully in ways that they don’t fail spectacularly at both! It should be incumbent upon organizations to provide their employees with the resources required to successfully balance work and life, and research supports the idea that those that do see the payoff in terms of employee satisfaction, commitment, and productivity. The university I work at had on-site daycare, a culture that supported employees with families, and an employer contribution to New York’s tax-free dependent care allowance, so these definitely weighed into my decision to take the position I’m in.

What budget saving tips do you have for men looking to get fit and be healthy?

Run! Running is virtually free-no membership required, just a good pair of shoes, and it’s a great way to get your heart rate up and build physical and mental endurance. I also take advantage of the gym membership sponsored by my employer. My research in motivation also leads me to encourage men (and women) to consider reading into mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques and other motivational tools and resources to facilitate goal setting and planning (e.g., calendars, Fitbit or other tracking apps). Techniques I learned in a mindfulness course have helped me be develop self-discipline and pay attention to my body so that I’m more careful with my food choices, sleep habits, and exercise schedule. Keeping a calendar that includes my weekly and daily goals, and using apps to track my steps, activity, and distance for running, biking, and hiking have also helped in my efforts to stay healthy and fit.

How likely is it that men will take advantage of new family leave policies adopted in New York State and elsewhere?

Although I am unable to provide an informed estimate of how many men will take advantage of New York’s new family leave policy, intuitively it seems like a wonderful opportunity for those who need it. At the federal level our country provides almost no safety net beyond not getting fired to allow women or men to take time off for things as important as having a newborn, adopting a child, or caring for a sick family member. So New York and other states that have begun adopting policies to provide some percentage of paid leave in these circumstances are taking a big step in the right direction and I’m happy to live in the state that I do. Naturally, I would guess that women will take advantage of this to a larger degree than men, especially in the case of maternal newborn absence, but I can definitely see the case for men as well.

How can young fathers strike the right balance between career and family?

For me, family comes first. My kids and wife know that, and my colleagues and employer knows that. Young kids will not remember or care now or in the future if you succeed on a big project at work, but they will remember and care that you were an involved and loving dad. So my advice for young fathers is to be present when you are home with your kids, and to give your time and experiences with your kids the same level of forethought, effort, and care you would give your most important projects at work, if not more! For me, this means not answering work calls or emails from the time I pick my kids up from daycare to the time they go to bed. If, at that point, there is a pressing issue or unfinished project that needs my attention I return to it in the late evening. It might not be the best for my personal sleep habits, but it means I can be there for my kids during the few short hours we have together on a weeknight. Additionally, I reserve every Sunday, and many Saturdays, for my family. I have found that my colleagues and people who depend on me at work respect the boundaries I put on my time because they recognize those same perspectives and skills that allow me to be dedicated to my family also allow me to be dedicated to my work. So there really is a connection between my career and my family for me. My family serves as a strong motivation for me to want to succeed in my profession. I can only support my family and teach my kids the value of work when I am personally doing my best at work. Additionally, the insights, skills, and experiences I gain from work help improve me as a person and a father, and thus improve my parenting and family relations. In my field of work psychology this mutually beneficial reciprocity between the work and home domains is referred to as positive spillover.

What would a local public health agenda focused on men look like?

As a work psychologist, and not a public health expert, I’m afraid I’m not in a very good position to answer this question. As I said in my first question, I think organizations, including employers and government agencies, should do all they can to enact policies and provide resources that allow all working adults to have a healthy work-family balance.

Erin Kramer Holmes Associate Professor and Associate Director, BYU School of Family Life

What are the biggest issues facing working dads today?

Compared with prior generations of fathers, many contemporary working dads report a desire to be more actively involved in parenting. Despite the fact that many fathers want to be warmer, more nurturing, and more actively involved parents than prior generations, they also still embrace a father’s role as financial earner for his family. While many families embrace both a father’s and a mother’s contributions to the family economy, fatherhood is still more closely linked with the breadwinner role than motherhood is. That means fathers may feel torn between the potentially competing demands of being a breadwinner and being an actively involved father.

How likely is it that men will take advantage of new family leave policies adopted in New York State and elsewhere?

One way employers are trying to help more working dads balance work and family demands is by offering a paternity leave during the transition to fatherhood. Some scholars have found that fathers who take paternity leave are more likely to change diapers, feed the baby, and get up in the night with the child than fathers who do not (Tanaka & Waldfogel, 2007). Conversely, Tanaka and Waldfogel also found that fathers who work longer hours report a decrease in these activities. Rehel (2014) summed it up rather succinctly in her report on paternal leave, stating that “when the transition to parenthood is structured for fathers in ways comparable to mothers, fathers come to think about and enact parenting in ways that are similar to mothers” (p. 111). In other words, when fathers have access to and take their paternity leave, they are not simply engaging in more caretaking activities, they are embracing the attitudes and behaviors that come with being an equal partner in parenting.

How can young fathers strike the right balance between career and family?

In a recent book chapter, my colleague Scott Behson and I suggested a few of the following business practices that may better support new mothers and fathers as they try to take care of children and as they try to achieve better work-family balance:

• Greater parity between the amounts of employer-based parental leave provided to women and men
• Expanded use of workplace flexibility, alternate scheduling, and other family-supportive practices for both female and male employees
• Changing workplace cultures and supervisory attitudes to reduce the flexibility stigma associated with men who prioritize family
• Increased communication between employers and expectant/new fathers to better understand their unique needs and challenges, and to shape policy
• The promotion of women and men who have faced work-family challenges to positions of leadership in order to provide more diverse and empathetic policy-making when it comes to matters of work-life balance
• The increased use of academic research to inform decision-making on work-family policies

References:

Behson, S.J., Holmes, E. K., Hill, E. J., and Robbins, N. L. (In press). Fatherhood. In W. Shen, K. Shockley, and R. Johnson (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of the Global Work-family Interface. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Rehel, E. M. (2014). When dad stays home too: paternity leave, gender, and parenting. Gender & Society, 28(1), 110–132. 

Tanaka, S., & Waldfogel, J. (2007). Effects of parental leave and work hours on fathers’ involvement with their babies: Evidence from the millennium cohort study. Community, Work & Family, 10(4), 409–426.

Photo Credit: Aislynn Edwards

Christopher J. L. Cunningham UC Foundation Professor, Graduate Program Coordinator, Industrial-Organizational and Occupational Health Psychology, Department of Psychology, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

What are the biggest issues facing working dads today?

I am not aware of any research or evidence suggesting that the issues or challenges faced by working dads today are somehow very different from what they were in previous generations. What has changed quite a bit over the last few decades are personal and social norms regarding what a “dad” is and what role(s) dads should be playing not only as workers/breadwinners, but also as fathers and partners at home. With this in mind, I would highlight four major challenges for today’s working dads (and honestly any working parent).

• The first is time and our frequent perception that there simply isn’t enough of it to do what we need/want to do. To manage this challenge, we all will at some point struggle with and have to get better at understanding our limits and what really is feasible within the 24-hour cycle in which we all live.
• The second challenge is our real or perceived lack of support in one or more of our critical life domains. Being a working dad is difficult; it is nearly impossible without the help of others.
• A third challenge is the need for authentic self-awareness. The best dads are able to raise kids by setting a good example and clear set of values. This is really difficult to do if we are still trying to figure out who we are, what we care about, and what kind of person we aspire to be.
• Finally, a fourth challenge is being able to switch gears and grant ourselves permission to be dads. Working tends to drain us a bit and often make us somewhat serious. Unfortunately, serious is rarely the best mode to be in when trying to father (especially young kids). Figuring out how to shift gears and feel free to be a dad is a great, but challenging goal to pursue.

What budget saving tips do you have for men looking to get fit and be healthy?

Figure out a set of fitness and health goals that work for you, your spouse/partner, your family, and your general work-life reality. Not every man can be an Ironman, and not every dad wants to be the quintessential weekend warrior. No matter what goals you set, be creative in how you work toward your fitness and health goals. It really is surprising how much exercise you can get by playing in the dirt, running in the yard, biking in a parking lot, hiking in the woods, and just laughing hard with your kids. Maybe it’s just me, but all of these seem more fun (and less costly) than spending another hour in the gym.

How likely is it that men will take advantage of new family leave policies adopted in New York State and elsewhere?

I hope and pray that the likelihood of this happening is high. An equally, if not more important question here is how likely will coworkers and supervisors be to support dads who would like to take advantage of these types of policies? There is quite a bit of well-done and easy to understand research out there on what hinders or helps workers utilize the benefits that their employers offer. When it comes to opt-in benefits like parental leave, a critical factor is the extent to which workers feel they are supported by their supervisors and coworkers if/when they choose or need to take such leave. The reality of the workers’ job-related tasks also has to be considered (i.e., could the organization still function if Bob took a couple of weeks on leave?). So going back to this question, the likelihood of men taking family leave from work will be highest when men feel it is realistically feasible given their job responsibilities and when they feel safe and encouraged do so.

How can young fathers strike the right balance between career and family?

In all honesty, the “right” balance is unique for every father and every family. It is probably more reasonable to think not of achieving balance, but rather of engaging in a continuous balancing of work/career and family/nonwork demands. What makes this even more interesting and challenging is that these two life domains (work and family) are changing all the time, so our techniques for managing them also have to constantly adjust. The sooner we all come to grips with this reality, the sooner we can start supporting each other as we all try our best every day to keep all the balls, pins, knives, torches, etc. in the air.

What would a local public health agenda focused on men look like?

This is an interesting question and one that has impacted me directly. When my wife and I were expecting our first son, I benefitted from some pre-parenting courses offered by a local non-profit organization and targeted at soon-to-be-fathers. These courses served a couple of major purposes, including helping me understand that being a dad is a reality that many adult, working men share at about the same point in their lives. I also learned a bunch of critical dad skills, including (from a “daddy boot camp”) how to change a diaper in 30 seconds. Over the years, I have seen similar courses develop for dads at other stages of parenting, targeting topics such as how to speak with your teenagers about relationships, how to be patient, how to be more fun, and so on.

Pulling from these personal experiences and also what I’ve seen in the public and occupational health fields of my area of applied psychological science, the most effective local public health agenda for men needs to be designed to fit the reality of the men it hopes to serve. For example, if you are trying to help men in a community for which every working adult commutes more than an hour each way every day, then this has implications not only for the scheduling of your programming, but also for the topics you might choose to emphasize. Similarly, if you are working with men in a community that revolves around outdoor or adventure lifestyles, then focus the programming to fit needs that are relevant there. The best way to find an appropriate answer to this question is to ask the men who would ultimately be impacted by a particular agenda; meet the dads where they are, how they want and need to be met.

Methodology

To determine the best and worst states for working dads, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across four key dimensions: 1) Economic & Social Well-Being, 2) Work-Life Balance, 3) Child Care and 4) Health.

We evaluated those dimensions using 20 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for working dads.

We then determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Economic & Social Well-Being – Total Points: 30

• Median Family Income (Adjusted for Cost of Living): Double Weight (~12.00 Points)Note: “Family” refers to those with kids aged 0 to 17 and in which the father is present.
• Unemployment Rate for Dads with Kids Aged 0 to 17: Full Weight (~6.00 Points)
• Share of Kids Aged 0 to 17 (with Dad Present) Living in Poverty: Full Weight (~6.00 Points)
• Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate for Men: Full Weight (~6.00 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of male high school students who graduated on time.

Work-Life Balance – Total Points: 30

• Parental-Leave Policy Score: Double Weight (~15.00 Points)
• Average Length of Work Day (in Hours) for Males: Full Weight (~7.50 Points)
• Average Commute Time for Men: Full Weight (~7.50 Points)

Child Care – Total Points: 30

• Day-Care Quality Score: Double Weight (~7.50 Points)
• Child-Care Costs (Adjusted for Median Family Income): Full Weight (~3.75 Points)Note: “Family” refers to those with kids aged 0 to 17 and in which the father is present.
• Pediatricians per Capita: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
• Quality of State School System: Double Weight (~7.50 Points)Note: This metric is based on WalletHub’s States with the Best & Worst School Systems ranking.
• Share of Nationally Accredited Child Care Centers: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)
• Number of Childcare Workers per Children Under 14: Full Weight (~3.75 Points)

Health – Total Points: 10

• Male Uninsured Rate: Double Weight (~2.22 Points)
• Men’s Life Expectancy: Double Weight (~2.22 Points)
• Male Suicide Rate: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)
• Male Mental Health: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)
• Share of Men in Good or Better Health: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of men who reported having good or better health as part of a public health survey, data for which are collected and maintained by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).
• Share of Physically Active Men: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of men who reported engaging in adequate or any physical activity as part of a public health survey, data for which are collected and maintained by the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).
• Unaffordability of Doctor’s Visits: Full Weight (~1.11 Points)Note: This metric measures the percentage of men who could not afford to visit a doctor in the past 12 months due to unaffordable costs.

 

Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Council for Community and Economic Research, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Education Statistics, National Partnership for Women & Families, Child Care Aware of America, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and WalletHub research.

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