Queuing Theory and the Distribution of Resources by Low-Income Fathers

Abstract

Purpose – This chapter investigates fathers who have both biological and social children from different relationships in order to examine how they prioritize between their children, both in theory and in practice.

Methodology – Interviews were conducted with 57 low-income fathers in Oakland experiencing multiple-partner fertility.

Findings – These fathers used nine criteria to prioritize children: timing of life course interruptions, distance, formal child support, desirability of the pregnancy, restraining orders, other resources available to the child, age of the child, gender of the child, and the child's reaching-out behavior.

Research implications – These fathers distribute finite resources of time and money using priority-ordered queuing. This method allowed them to maximize their impact by focusing on a small number of children, rather than having their scarce resources become so diffuse that they became virtually meaningless.

Practical implications – These fathers utilized priority-ordered queuing, in contrast to the equal-distribution queuing method preferred by child support enforcement agencies. The difference in queuing model preference may explain fathers’ noncompliance with child support orders.

Value – In contrast with previous research findings, this chapter finds that these fathers were more likely to be simultaneously “good fathers” and “bad fathers” to different children at the same time, rather than one or the other (Furstenberg, 1988). This chapter also demonstrates a novel use of queuing theory for family research.

Citation

Myers, M.J.U. (2012), "Queuing Theory and the Distribution of Resources by Low-Income Fathers", Lee Blair, S. (Ed.) Economic Stress and the Family (Contemporary Perspectives in Family Research, Vol. 6), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 259-283. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1530-3535(2012)0000006013