Good Father Research Articles

Just Call Me Dad: Health and Social Benefits to Fathers and their Children

In the past 20 years, social change and expectations for both maternal and paternal responsibilities have highlighted the need for services for families to better understand the role of a father in family relationships. In Australia, as well as internationally, there have been many contested understandings about what constitutes ‘good fathering’ in research, social media and in the political sphere. More specifically, there has also been an emerging trend to understand the challenging task of recruiting and maintaining men's involvement in child and family services programmes, particularly those fathers who are deemed a risk to children and mothers, violent or have been separated from their children. That many child and family/welfare services have exercised dedicated effort to work with fathers is still a relatively recent phenomenon, and has only emerged following criticism that services have been too geared towards working only with mothers. Despite this increasing interest, there is still ongoing need for more research to be undertaken in Australia. An important area of focus is the views of professionals about their perception and engagement of fathers, particularly the views of fathers who are described as being absent from family-based services. The purpose of this article is to report briefly on a study undertaken to examine how child and family welfare workers engage fathers in their work. First, this paper will describe some of the social and health benefits to fathers and their children, focusing on the key role of attachment through play. Research into effective service delivery involving fathers will then be presented, concluding with key practice factors necessary for fathers to be involved in family life.

The Good Father: African American Fathers Who Positively Influence the Educational Outcomes of Their Children

African American men are not commonly thought of favorably as fathers, especially in regard to their children’s education. Using an adapted qualitative version of the quantitative fathering involvement scale, which is based on engagement, accessibility, and responsibility, this study investigates how 9 African American men attempt to be good fathers as well as what they do to help their children in school. The findings suggest that African American men can indeed be good fathers and positively influence their children’s educational outcomes. The interviewed African American fathers’ parental strategies included the following: 1) continuing the fathering role into and after college, 2) conspicuous use of communication, and 3) concentrating on being a good role model. The implications for researchers is that the fathering involvement scale may be a viable lens to support objective perspectives of fathers.

Are All of the Good Men Fathers? The Effect of Having Children on Earnings

This study reconsiders the empirical question of whether men's earnings increase because of children. Large Norwegian register data are used for brother and twin pairs who are followed over their life cycle from their first entry into the labour market. The data permit family-fixed effects to be modeled in various ways, as well as observing earnings growth before and after having children. The simple conditional correlation between children and earnings is positive. When only variation from between-sibling differences is used, the earnings effect post entry into first-fatherhood declines. The effect becomes small and non-significant when we use twins.

A Conflict of Wills. The Seventeenth-Century Diarist Isaac Archer and His Father

Isaac Archer (1641-1700) was a godly man, an Anglican minister, a good father to his nine children and the son of a possessive father. The order in which his life roles are listed here is not random. For a considerable part of his life he kept a diary in which he recorded the many struggles with his sinful nature and presented himself as a man whose priority was to submit to the will of God. His humbleness was frequently and most painfully tested in the context of his parenthood, but it was the challenges that he faced in the relationship with his own father that seemed to have had the greatest impact on his spiritual as well as daily life. This article is a portrait of this very turbulent relationship between a seventeenth-century adult son and his strong-willed father. Parents and their adult children Family life, both in the present day and in the past, has been governed by certain norms regulating parent/child relationships. Recent studies clearly show that the model of formal, unaffectionate contacts between parents and their offspring in early modern England, described by Lawrence Stone in the 1970s (Stone 1977), cannot be universally applied to all English families, and that there was, in fact, much space in family life for love, affection, care and commitment (Pollock 1983; Ozment 1983; Macfarlane 1987, Houlbrooke 1990; Woods 2006; Fletcher 2010). This new interpretation of historical evidence does not, however, invalidate completely the traditional view of early modern parenting. Affectionate and caring or not, parents were seen as agents of God's will, and their roles as nurturers, disciplinarians, providers and educators had a divine mandate. The children, in return, were obliged to honour and obey their parents because obedience to them was obedience to God (O'Day 1994: 46- 49). Parents' role was to prepare their children to live in the world, while children's duty was to follow the prescriptions and demands of their parents (Ben-Amos 2000: 292). But how long was this supposed to last? How long were parents obliged to be involved in the lives of their children, and to what extent were adult sons and daughters supposed to meet their parents' expectations? What was the nature of parental/filial love in the period beyond adolescence and early youth? Theoretical traditions such as attachment theory, family solidarity theory, exchange theory, bioevolutionary approaches, social integration theory, and psychoanalytic theory, used in studies on contemporary family life, emphasize the importance of the parent/child relationship over the course of life. Children's financial independence or physical distance are seen as less important than a distinctive history, a set of experiences, carried by family members and connecting them throughout their lives (Umberson 1992: 664-665).

‘Virtuoso ideal daddy’: Finnish children's perceptions of good fatherhood

Changes in family structures, such as the increase in the number of cohabiting couples, divorces, and blended families pose new challenges for fatherhood and research on fatherhood has been mainly adult-centred. This research studied how Finnish children perceive good fatherhood and what expectations they set for fathers. The following research questions were set for the study: (1) How do Finnish children describe a good father? and (2) How do Finnish girls' and boys' perceptions of a good father differ from each other? The participants of this study comprised pupils (n = 39; 21 girls and 18 boys aged 10–12 years) from 3 to 6 grades at a typical northern Finland school. This was a narrative study in which pupils' narratives of a good father were used as the data. The pupils' narratives of a good fatherhood could be categorised into seven main types which are introduced as findings of the study. Also a metanarrative of a good father was composed based on the children's narratives. In conclusion, a good father's virtues as the basis on a good father–child relationship are discussed.

The road not taken or how I learned to love the liver: A personal perspective on hepatitis history

The road not taken or how I learned to love the liver: A personal perspective on hepatitis history

아버지교육 참여자 경험을 통해 살펴본 아버지교육의 의미

This study aimed to explore the meanings of fathers` experiences as they participated in educational programs for fathers. In-depth interviews with 3 fathers with children attending elementary school and middle school were implemented to examine their participation experiences in educational programs for fathers and their expectations for educational programs for fathers. The findings of this study showed that fathers wanted opportunities to carry out more active roles with their children instead of passive father roles. They learned interaction with their children and wives through participating in educational programs. The education programs impart a broader perspective and knowledge of father roles, and participation may encourage improvement of their relationships with their children and wives. They felt the importance of father roles in educational programs, which helps a father be a good father. But, they complained about harsh circumstances to participate in educational programs. So educational programs for fathers should be provided to all fathers that are geared to the level and need of each father. Further studies for more revelatory documentation were also suggested.

Masculinity, Nostalgia and Polishness in Somers Town

The Office for National Statistics estimates that between December 2003 and June 2009 the Polish-born population of the United Kingdom increased from 75,000 to 503,000. These statistics provide a contextual background for Shane Meadows’ Somers Town (2008) , a film which portrays a British teenager, Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) who befriends a young Polish photographer, Marek (Piotr Jagiełło), and his father, who is a guest-worker at the King's Cross reconstruction site. This article explores the ways in which Somers Town responds to increased transnationalism and mobility (be it migration or tourism) both in its thematics and through its context of production, and explores the effects of globalisation on British working-class masculinity. In particular, this article looks at how the film offers Polish migrant working-class masculinity as a nostalgic pre-modern foil, which embodies many characteristics of the old British working class. While Meadows' films consistently suggest that British working-class fathers have been harmed irretrievably by the Thatcherite years and post-industrial decline, the working-class community of migrant workers (defined primarily by its strong work ethic) seems to offer a (mythologised) model of good fatherhood and stable masculine identity. In so doing, the film explores what Anthony Giddens calls the move from modern to late modern society, and confirms the preoccupation of Meadows' oeuvre with nostalgia.

Openness and avoidance – a longitudinal study of fathers of children with intellectual disability

Fathers' interactions with children who have intellectual disabilities (ID) or developmental delays (DD) have increased over the past few decades and may be expected to continue to increase as maternal and paternal roles, along with other gender roles, become more equal. The aim of the present study was to explore fathers' experiences of parenthood in relation to a child with ID/DD from the initial discovery of the disability to 5 years later. Fathers' experiences of parenting children with ID/DD were explored in a longitudinal framework. Seven Swedish fathers of young children with ID/DD participated in a series of semi-structured interviews from 2005 to 2010, and their accounts were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. The analysis revealed three themes: (1) An interrupted path - no longer taking things for granted, which describes the fathers' reactions to their children's diagnosis; (2) Being a good father, which describes the fathers' overall perceptions of their parenting of a child with ID/DD; and (3) Dealing with the unexpected, which describes fathers' individual ways of integrating, managing, and living with the knowledge of their child's disability over the 5 years during which fathers were interviewed. Fathers' individual paths need to be taken into consideration when offering psychological support to families of children with ID/DD.

Becoming a father is an emotional roller coaster – an analysis of first‐time fathers′ blogs

To identify and describe the process of fatherhood during the partner's pregnancy among expectant, first-time fathers. Pregnancy seems to be a demanding period for expectant fathers, and this period is a part of their transition to fatherhood. Blogs can be seen as personal diaries and offer an alternative method of collecting data as they are an arena for sharing experiences and narratives. An explorative qualitative design. Blogs from the Internet by eleven first-time fathers living in Sweden were included in the study. Qualitative content analysis was used for the analysis of the blogs. A theme emerged expressing the latent content of the text: 'Becoming a father for the first time is an emotional roller coaster where the role of the expectant father is not obvious' and five different categories describing the manifest content: the pregnancy, a new life, to make the child real, preparations for the delivery and the arrival of the child, and a new role in life. The metaphor 'roller coaster' indicates the tension between different feelings about the men's future as fathers. They are searching for answers on how to be a good father. They feel excluded when they visit antenatal care centres and have difficulties finding out how to support their partner. This is an existential period when they understand themselves as adults and also miss relatives who have died. During pregnancy, the men start to communicate with their child, and this interaction gives a sense of reality and creates hope and joy about being a father. Staff involved in antenatal care can use the knowledge from this study when meeting with expectant fathers. Perspectives expressed in blogs may enhance the professionals' understanding that the transition process of fatherhood is complex.

Ephraim and Malik

Ephraim and Malik Avery Irons (bio) I was a young, dumb kid when my son Malik was born six years ago. His mother Michelle was on point and tried to get me on the right track. To finish school. To find a job. I love her, but I wasn’t trying to hear her back then. In my defense, I did know that my son was all that really mattered. I was just stupid about how I tried to prove it. Unless I was working, me and him were inseparable and dressed in matching clothes, sneakers, boxers, and Caesar cuts. I thought keeping him in Hilfiger, Rocawear, and Nikes would let him (and everybody else) know that I was a good father. The cops that busted me had a good laugh when they went through my book bag. They found a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a new pair of little Timberlands, and the rocks I had planned on selling that day (enough to get me a ten-year bid even after a plea). As the cuffs clicked and tightened around my wrists, I finally understood what Michelle had tried to tell me—Malik wouldn’t care that the boots, books, and toys never made it to him. It’s me that he would miss and need. A lesson learned too late. I worked hard for two years trying to convince Michelle to bring Malik up here for a visit. She always refused, saying she didn’t want Malik in some sweaty room with tough guys with dirty tattoos, or gang tattoos, or shaved heads. “It’s not gonna be like that,” I had told her. “It’s a special visit just for kids.” “I just don’t think it’ll be good for him, Ephraim. Being in there. Seeing you in there.” She held her ground as usual. “I know, ‘Chelle, but it’s not like it’s only been six months. I’ve been gone two years. If I’m gonna do what I can to teach him, and actually be his father, we gotta see each other, not just talk on the phone.” I wanted to say more. I wanted to beg. But the hard, impatient eyes of the guys in line for the phone forced me to keep it together. Michelle was silent. I heard the hospital floor swirling around her: the beeps, the intercom pages, and the murmur of voices. I’d never seen her in her real nurse’s scrubs. I’d gotten busted a few weeks before she finished her associate’s degree. “It’ll be alright, ’Chelle. I wouldn’t bring Malik into anything that would hurt him,” I went on. Silence always meant she was softening. “We painted the visiting room. We wrote letters and some stores donated cookies, juice, games, crayons and coloring books. There’s even gonna be a clown.” I waited, nervous and desperate, through more silence and more beeps. She’d said no for so long, I was shocked when actually she said yes. Thirty minutes into the two-hour visiting period, Michelle and Malik still hadn’t shown up. I can’t even tell you how I was feeling. I sat there alone at the folding table reserved for my family praying that she hadn’t changed her mind. The other fathers looked over with nods of support. They read picture books to the sons and daughters in their laps or oohed over a report card or a newly drawn picture that would soon get taped to the walls of their cells. My stomach cramped and my hands sweated so much I nearly rubbed holes in my pants to keep them dry I imagined everything that could have gone wrong from Michelle’s little Honda breaking down on the expressway to the chicken pox. I had let myself get too excited. For weeks, from wake-up to lights-out I told all kinds of stories about my little man. When we lifted weights in the yard, I’d tell the guys how Malik could hold his own even before he could walk. My favorite was the story about the time one of my [End Page...

The banana emperor: D. Pedro II in Brazilian caricatures, 1842–89

ABSTRACTVisual caricatures were important in the political, social, and cultural context of the Second Brazilian Reign (1842–89). With Pedro II as a central figure in the monarchy, most satirical artists concentrated on attacking his public image. Nevertheless, the results were always ambivalent. On the one hand, caricatures showed the monarchy becoming weaker and weaker throughout the period, and, in fact, it ended the year after the abolition of slavery in 1888. On the other hand, they transformed Pedro II into a kind of “good father” and increased his popularity. Images are central in understanding the regime: Sometimes, it is hard to say if they were consequences or causes, if they reflected, were part of, or were even the origin of the events of the day.

Doing Morally Intelligible Fatherhood: Swedish Fathers' Accounts of Their Parental Part-Time Work Choices

This article examines how moral norms shape fathers’ ability to choose their care commitments. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews with 21 Swedish fathers, it considers the ways men negotiate moral intelligibility vis-a-vis the prevailing ideals of fatherhood and masculinity when accounting for their decisions to either exercise or not their right to parental part-time work. The analysis shows fatherhood to be heavily permeated by moral norms. The constraints these norms impose upon and the possibilities they offer for present-day Swedish fathers’ agency when choosing and articulating their commitments are investigated. The moral discourses the fathers engaged with allowed for various ways of doing “good fatherhood” to be made morally intelligible, either enabling or excluding part-time work as a morally possible option.

Hope for Gender Equality? A Pattern of Post-conflict Transition in Masculinity

Challenging the findings of existing studies on masculinity in conflict situations and post-conflict transition in masculinity, some former soldiers in the Cambodian civil war during the 1970s have constructed peaceful and responsive masculinities in a new gender order in post-war Cambodia. This is mainly because of the new dominant social discourse on maleness pervading the country, which expects men to be model husbands and fathers able to uplift their families by raising their economic and educational status. Family members, particularly wives, play an important role in actualizing the social discourse among these former soldiers. This study provides hope for gender equality through engagement with men and boys. They can be motivated to promote gender equality and end violence against women through the development of popular discourses on responsive masculinity and good fatherhood.

The Good, The Bad, and the Invisible Father: A Phenomenological Study of Fatherhood in Men with Substance Use Disorder

Parental substance abuse undermines caregiving competency and increases the likelihood of abuse and neglect of children. Both research and clinical interventions focus disproportionally on maternal substance abuse, whereas the role of fathers with addictions is largely ignored. The study used a qualitative design to investigate fatherhood from the perspective of men with a substance addiction. Eight fathers in residential rehabilitation treatment programs participated in focus group discussions. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to identify three figures of fatherhood: The good father, the bad father, and the invisible father. The three constructs are discussed in relation to Western trends and discourses of fathering and implications for childcare. Gender expectations and the father’s right to participate on equal terms as the mother in the child’s life are discussed against the notion of the best interest of the child. Conclusion: The drug-problem, gender expectations, couples conflicts, and professional practices related to child protection issues all influence these men’s active participation as fathers. The fathering role in at-risk populations and the issue of co-parenting needs more attention in research, clinical interventions, and service programs. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

Young Men With Cancer

The impacts of cancer on young men are reportedly different from the experiences of others. These impacts may adversely affect the health and the healthcare of young men. The purpose of this article was to conduct a literature review to examine what is known about the experiences of young men with cancer. A systematic strategy was used to locate original research that included 4 electronic databases using the search terms men, young men, male, father, parents, and cancer experience. Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Twelve studies used qualitative methodology, and 4 studies used a quantitative method; no mixed-method studies were found. Of the studies reviewed, 6 focused on the experiences of men but not young men aged 20 to 44 years exclusively, 10 studies had male and female respondents. Analysis revealed 5 themes: (1) manhood in question, (2) the good father or not, (3) family and that special bond, (4) silencing cancer talk, and (5) living with uncertainty. Young men are building resources while creating family bonds, and they identify themselves through their work. Young men with cancer have needs specific to their gender and cohort. Methodological and conceptual recommendations are presented. This includes conducting research focusing on this cohort and using a life-course perspective. Understanding the overall experience of this cohort will enable the development of clinical interventions for young men with cancer. Supportive care in a nonthreatening environment is needed to help young men cope with the problems described.

Assesment of Father’s Involvement in Child Care Development

Fatherhood is the act of being a father, as opposed to merely a child. The father has an important potential role at each developmental stage that his children pass through. During pregnancy and birth, the father-to-be plays crucial roles in the transition of the family. Fathers discipline with respect and with love, the goal being to help socialize their children in positive ways. Good fathers set limits and are firmThe present study was undertaken to assess the Impact of father's involvement in child care and development . The study was based upon the sample 120 respondents in South City, RajniKhand, RuchiKhand and Banglabajar were selected purposively from semi urban area in Lucknow city in U.P Interview schedule as used for data collection and Purposive sampling method was used for sample selection. F test and Chi square analysis was used for data analysis. . The result revealed that father's education and occupation had highly significant impact on father's involvement in child care and development. more involved in infant care giving have infants with greater cognitive development. Fathers involved with their children become high in level in their daily activities; they show higher level of sociability and high level of school performance. Psychologist have claimed father's responsibility is the most important for a child's developmental wellbeing (Russel-1983). Fathers have a critical role play in ensuring positive outcomes for their children. There is consistent evidence that father's interest and involvement in their children's learning (which was measured in terms of interest in education, outings and reading to the child ) is statistically associated with better education outcomes (controlling for a wide variety of to their influencing factors). These out comes included better exam results, a higher level of educational qualifications, greater progress at school, higher level of education qualifications greater progress at school, higher educational expectations more positive attitude and better behavior at school. Fathers tend to challenge children to try out and explore, acquire experience and become more independent. This might be one of the reasons that they influence their children's competence. Challenged children are more likely to develop problem-solving skills. Father are involved in their children's lives in a multitude of ways that go beyond the traditional roles of economic provider and playmate. However ,few studies that include fathers tap all aspects of fathers involvement in children's lives. Furthermore, the quality of father- child interactions is not as frequently studied or as well understood as is the quantity of father-child contact. Children with involved, caring fathers have better educational outcomes. A number of studies suggest that fathers who are involved, nurturing, and playful with their infants have children with higher IQs, as well as better linguistic and cognitive capacities. Toddlers with involved fathers go on to start school with higher levels of academic readiness. They are more patient and can handle the stresses and frustrations associated with schooling more readily than children with less involved fathers. The influence of a father's involvement on academic achievement extends into adolescence and young adulthood. Numerous studies find that an active and nurturing style of fathering is associated with better verbal skills, intellectual functioning, and academic achievement among adolescents. For instance, a 2001 U.S. Department of Education study found that highly involved biological fathers had children who were 43 percent more likely than other children to earn mostly As and 33 percent less likely than other children to repeat a grade. OBJECTIVE 1. To impact of father's occupation involvement in child care and development. 2. To influence father's education in child care and development..

Male Kin Relationships: Grandfathers, Grandsons, and Generativity

In a qualitative interview study of narratives grandsons told about their grandfathers (n = 14), we found evidence that grandsons perceived the role of grandfathers to be generative on several dimensions. Our analysis centered on the influence grandfathers had on the meanings grandsons made about fatherhood. All seven generative work domains, along with nine concepts describing grandfathers' generative efforts (consciousness of the family's lineage, skill sharing, meaningful emotional bonds, renewing bonds, who we are and what we do, sacred family spaces, culture of good fathering, multigenerational family generativity, and inter- and intragenerational improvement), were present in the data. Findings revealed the complexities of grandfather–grandson relationships and the impact grandsons reported their grandfathers had on them.

Divorced mothers' self-perception of their divorce-related communication with their children

This is a qualitative study of divorce-related communication between mothers and children, as recounted by 20 Jewish Israeli mothers. We adopt the communication privacy management theory, focusing on mothers' subjective experiences of communication, their management of dialectic tension between concealment and disclosure – namely, not only what mothers choose to disclose to and hide from their children, but also the feelings, concerns and perceptions that drove their communication. The mothers' reports convey the challenges and dilemmas they faced when communicating with their children about their divorce and its repercussions; the main one being their obligation to maintain a good father image and their wish to preserve a strong maternal figure. The ‘child's well-being’ was the dominant criterion in the mothers' decision to reveal or conceal divorce-related information. Clinical suggestions are made.

The Good Mother, the Good Father, and the Good Parent: Gendered Definitions of Parenting

Focus groups were conducted with parents of young children to explore definitions of good parenting. For mothers, good mothering is distinct from good parenting, and includes attention to detail resulting in gatekeeping efforts to control fathers' participation. For fathers, good fathering and good parenting are the same. Though providing relatively little child care, fathers feel they have access to children when they want to be involved. They do not perceive paid work or maternal gatekeeping as obstacles to good parenting, but view their role as equally influential despite disparities in the types and amount of care provided.