Fathers In Australia Research Articles

Perinatal Support from Chinese Fathers in Australia

Ineffective perinatal support can leave women susceptible to poorer health outcomes. Fathers today are expected to provide perinatal support. However, many feel hesitant on how to provide optimal support and Chinese fathers navigate this with additional social and cultural expectations. The aim of this paper was to describe the perinatal support experiences of Chinese fathers in Australia. Ten Chinese men were interviewed. Qualitative Descriptive Methodology and Thematic Analysis were used. Results: Fathers adapted their support to meet their partners’ changing perinatal requirements and healthcare providers influenced their ability to do so. Postnatally, fathers were guided by Chinese cultural practices.

Age and gender patterns in health service utilisation: Age-Period-Cohort modelling of linked health service usage records

BackgroundHealth service utilisation changes across the life-course and may be influenced by contextual factors at different times. There is some evidence that men engage less with preventive health services, including attending doctors’ clinics, however the extent to which this varies temporally and across different age groups is unclear. This study aimed to describe age or cohort effects on engagement with GPs among employed mothers and fathers in Australia, and differences in these trends between men and women.MethodsWe linked data from the ‘Growing up in Australia: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children’ with administrative health service records from Medicare. We used a small-domain estimation Age-Period-Cohort method to describe patterns in health service use among working-age male and female parents in Australia while adjusting for employment status and controlling for time-invariant factors. Our small-domain method assumes a smooth response surface of Age, Period and Cohort.ResultsMale parents have lower health service engagement than women of the same age at the same time period. Men’s pattern of health service use across time is likely explained entirely by ageing. That is, we find that patterns in health service utilisation among men are largely driven by age effects, with no evidence of periods or cohort effects in health service engagement for men between 2002 and 2016.ConclusionsDifferences in health service utilisation between male and female parents at all age-period-cohort combinations highlight a need for more research to examine the extent to which this level of health service use among Australian men meets men’s health needs, as well as barriers and enablers of health service engagement for men. Absence of evidence for period effects suggests that there is little shift in gendered patterns of health service utilisation during the observed period.

Men’s and women’s changing attitudes towards fatherhood and working fathers in Australia

Since the Second World War there have been significant changes in the gender systems of industrialised countries, largely driven by increased female labour force participation. Changes in men’s domestic participation have been comparatively incremental, and researchers contend the gender revolution will only be complete when men’s and women’s commitments are matched. Prior research on attitudes about gender roles has concentrated on women, but in this research, the focus is on men. Using growth curve analyses of Australian longitudinal data ( N = 24,397), this article examines attitudes towards fatherhood and working fathers and how they changed between 2001 and 2015. Workforce status, relationship status and parenthood are strong predictors of different attitudinal outcomes and change for men and women, indicating that views were influenced by interest and exposure in ways that differed by gender. Further, the authors find attitudes towards fatherhood and working fathers have changed over the last 15 years, particularly amongst working fathers and mothers, which have become more supportive of greater father involvement in the care of children and the ability of working fathers to meet the needs of their children.

A Father's Perspective on Bridewealth in the Making of the Transnational Papua New Guinean Household

ABSTRACTThat people value ‘people’ over ‘things’ is argued often by anthropologists, but how people value specific forms and qualities of relations as they do in the example of bridewealth is less so. I explore the perspective of Papua New Guinean‐born fathers in Australia as they advocate innovations in bridewealth traditions and thereby enable daughters to marry for love, cultivate a companionate marriage, and create a Papua New Guinean household. Past generations gauged the worth of traditional bridewealth by the quantity and distribution of items given and the number of exogamous clan connections forged as an index of past and future relations between clans. The current generation judges the value of even alternate forms of bridewealth for making new possibilities for those who share in it. If bridewealth enables the transnational household to emerge as the unit of decision making that replaces the clan, then innovations in bridewealth support, rather than undermine, a new normativity of companionate marriage that empowers that much wider net of kin. Drawing on a theory of value as the importance of social action towards the goal of the new normativity of the transnational household, I show how choosing a spouse is cultivated by women's fathers who refuse bridewealth, as often as it is by their husbands who provide new forms of wealth at marriage.

Financial journeys of Australian parents after separation – transitions into and out of poverty

AbstractIt is well established that relationship separation has greater negative economic consequences for mothers than for fathers in Australia and other developed countries. While research has shown that, at an aggregate level, such negative impacts tend to diminish with time, the rate of change is generally slower for mothers than fathers, and a higher proportion of mothers than fathers continue to experience entrenched financial difficulties. Less is known about the variability of economic journeys experienced by women and men, taken separately, and factors influencing diverse economic trajectories. Drawing on data from the Longitudinal Study of Separated Families (LSSF), which followed up a large sample parents at three post‐separation points, this article examines poverty rates across a 4‐year period, transitions into and out of poverty and factors affecting these pathways.

How do young aboriginal fathers in Australia ‘stay on track’? – Perspectives on the support networks of aboriginal fathers

ABSTRACT Scholarship dedicated to documenting the roles and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian fathers is scarce, with most works focusing on rural and remote areas, with little dedicated to Aboriginal fathers living in regional and urban areas. Utilizing and building upon the preliminary research undertaken the University of Newcastle’s ‘Stayin’ On Track’ programme, which seeks to provide online support and assistance to young Aboriginal fathers, this paper brings to light the unique challenges and sources of support afforded to young Aboriginal fathers from regional and urban New South Wales. It finds that, contrary to prevailing stereotypes, Aboriginal fathers respond favourably to the demand for paternal responsibility, which can take on meanings of masculinity as well as respect towards Elders. Furthermore, these fathers demonstrate a keen awareness of their Aboriginality, referencing the benefits of large, close-knit families and their tendency to support fathers and co-raise children.

“Learning to become a better man”: Insights from a fathering programme for incarcerated Indigenous men

AbstractThis paper reports a qualitative study of incarcerated Indigenous fathers in Australia, using a framework of generative fathering. Researchers interviewed 28 imprisoned Indigenous men about their experiences of parenting and their responses to a parenting programme. Participants identified how the programme supported their learning and their capacity to embrace the role of parenting the next generation. Responses indicate that the programme's format and content were relevant to their experience as Indigenous fathers, and enhanced by the skills of the facilitator, and provision of a safe learning environment. It facilitated their growth as individuals and as parents through acknowledging their cultural identity and roles.

Language usage and culture maintenance: a study of Spanish-speaking immigrant mothers in Australia

This article discusses the usage of the Spanish language by Hispanic mothers with their children, their views on language maintenance and culture within their bilingual families and their opinions on the benefits of bilingualism in a globalised world. Drawing upon detailed case studies of 16 native Spanish-speaking mothers married to English-speaking fathers in Australia, this article explores how mothers retain their language and culture in their adopted country in order to pass them on to their children. The analysis of personal opinions made by the participants in this study revealed a positive commitment to the maintenance of Spanish language and culture by the majority of participating mothers. This study also found that the majority of mothers see the importance of bilingualism for their children in that it enables them to have a fuller relationship with their relatives overseas, promotes broad-mindedness and potentially creates future opportunities that an ability to speak another language brings.

Australian and New Zealand fathers and sons during the Great War: expanding the histories of families at war

Fathers with sons of eligible military age have not figured in social and cultural histories of the Great War. The focus of these histories has emphasized bonds between mothers and sons and has been based largely on soldiers' letters home. Widening the range of sources beyond soldiers' personal correspondence, this article demonstrates the array of emotional and material support offered by fathers in Australia and New Zealand to their sons during the war. This article relies largely on the military archive, rather than the personal archives in public repositories, for its evidence thereby using the military archive to illuminate civilian experience. Fathers' tenacious connection with their sons, and advocacy on their behalf, was an attempt to mitigate the extreme physical separation experienced by families in Australasia and the disruption of their roles as protectors of and providers for their children. Evidence from sons' requests for early repatriation as well as from sources revealing fathers' grief demonstrates the strong bonds of affection as well as duty between fathers and their adult sons during this period. A persistent theme in the evidence is the tension between duty to one's family and that to the empire, illuminating men's complex and often ambivalent feelings about war and their role in it.

“Some of My Children Are Worth More Than Others”: Perceptions of Nonresidential Fathers with Second Families as to the Fairness of the Australian Child Support Agency's Handling of First Family Child Support Financial Arrangements

One in three Australian marriages end in divorce, and over half of such divorces involve children. Research indicates that men tend to repartner within 1 to 2 years of a divorce and women within 3 to 5 years. A significant issue for repartnered men is the provision of financial support for children from both their first and second families. Although only 6% of all Australian first family children spend near/equal time (shared care) after divorce with both parents, fathers in Australia are mandated under child support legislation to provide financial support for their first family children, whether they reside with them or not. However, it is argued by this study's nonresidential fathers that the Child Support Agency, when considering the level of financial support for first family children, tends to overlook the needs of second family children, thus creating an advantaged and disadvantaged set of siblings. This finding is reviewed through a distributive justice theory lens. Finally, some future directions for research aimed at exploring the impact of Child Support Legislation on second families are suggested.

Sad Dads: A Challenge for Pediatrics

A standout feature of the current generation of 67.8 million US fathers1 is their involvement with their children. Time-diary studies have revealed that US fathers increased time spent on child care duties from 2.5 hours/week in 1965 to 7 hours/week in 2000, an amount greater than fathers in Australia, Canada, France, Britain, and Holland.2 In 2006, 24% of 11.2 million preschool-aged children whose mothers work are cared for by their fathers during their mother's working hours.3 The notion of “family pediatrics,” as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics report on fathers and pediatrics, encourages clinicians' active support of fathers, especially in light of today's changing families and the positive outcomes associated with father involvement.4,5 However, operationalizing provider support for fathers is not always straightforward. In this issue of Pediatrics … Address correspondence to Craig F. Garfield, MD, MAPP, NorthShore University HealthSystem, 1001 University Place, Evanston, IL 60202. E-mail: c-garfield{at}northwestern.edu

‘It’s Not Just About the Money’: Non-resident Fathers’ Perspectives on Paying Child Support

This article explores the question ‘Why do fathers resist paying child support?’ through interviews with 26 separated or divorced non-residential fathers in Australia. Drawing on Zelizer’s typology we argue that the men in this study attempt to define child support as a gift — a payment that emphasizes the power and beneficence of the payer and the obligation of the receiver — but struggle to do so in legal and bureaucratic structures that position its receipt as an entitlement. The tension between child support as a gift and child support as entitlement is informed by gendered power over money, a key element of fathering in traditional and non-traditional family structures.The payment and non-payment of child support is used to reinforce the economic dimensions of fathering identities and define family relationships in remarkably traditional ways.

Sir Joseph Banks: The "Father of Australia,"

Sir Joseph Banks: The "Father of Australia,"

Sir Joseph Banks, the “Father of Australia”

IN an old gazetteer we read that Botany Bay was discovered in 1770 by Captain Cook, who so named it from the great quantity of herbs which he found on its shores. This statement is true, of course, as to the main fact, but it is otherwise inaccurate and incomplete, for no doubt the name was suggested by Sir Joseph Banks's report on the vegetation of the country around their first landing-place in Australia and the very rich botanical collections obtained. After circumnavigating New Zealand the question arose whether the Endeavour should sail in search of the supposed southern continent or make for the coast of New Holland, and the latter course was determined upon because the condition of the ship was not considered equal to encounter the stormy southern seas. The expedition arrived in the bay on April 28 and left on May 6, and an entry in Banks's journal, dated May 3, runs as follows: Sir Joseph Banks, the "Father of Australia". By J. H. Maiden. Pp. xxiv + 244. (Sydney: William Applegate Gullick; London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., 1909.) Price 6s. net.