Fathers,adolescent daughters and gender in a low-income South African community

Knowledge about father–adolescent daughter relationships is mostly based on research in North-American and European contexts. Furthermore, it tends to rely on either fathers' or daughters' perspectives, and not on dyadic data. Informed by a social constructionist perspective, this study investigated the fatherhood constructions of fathers and adolescent daughters in a South African low-income community. We used Charmaz' social constructionist grounded theory method. Forty-two interviews were conducted separately with fourteen fathers and their adolescent daughters. Five conceptual categories were identified: (i) Predominance of fathers' provider role; (ii) Fathers and daughters having an ‘understanding’ in which daughters apparently complied with fathers authoritarian positions; (iii) explicit expressions of affection were mostly limited to special occasions; (iv) Fathers wished a better future for their daughters and attempted to keep them on track to such a future and (v) lastly, Fathers' expected daughters to follow their instructions and not their bad examples. Our findings highlight the influential and constricting role of dominant masculine and feminine gender notions in the discourses and practices of the fathers and adolescent daughters in our study. However, some evidence of contestations were present that suggests the potential of a shift towards more equitable gender relations.     

FATHERS AND CHILD ABUSE ALLEGATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF PARENTAL SEPARATION AND DIVORCE

Fathers' role in child abuse in the context of parental separation and divorce has been the subject of continuous stereotyping over the last several decades. This article examines the stereotypes projected against current research, particularly findings from a study of an experimental family court program designed for the better management of residence and contact disputes where child abuse allegations had been made. These findings are discussed in regard to similar studies internationally. While the two prevailing but opposing stereotypes of fathers' role in child abuse in this context were not confirmed by the research, aspects of the stereotypes regarding fathers' views and mothers' views of each other were supported. Problems associated with the paradoxical position of fathers as the most frequently alleged perpetrators of abuse, the most frequently substantiated perpetrators, and also the most frequently unsubstantiated perpetrators tend not to be fully addressed by the current court process for these disputes.     

‘Done to death by father or relatives’: Irish families and infanticide cases, 1922–1950

In February 1929 the Bishop of Ossory commented on the fact that in Ireland illegitimate infants were often ‘done to death by father or relatives’ (Irish Catholic, 16 February 1929). There were many instances where family members of unmarried women who gave birth were the sole defendants or co-defendants in infanticide cases in post-independent Ireland. Although illegitimate infants were ‘done to death’ by their fathers in a number of cases that were tried at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin between 1922 and 1950, this article will focus on cases where infants were murdered or suspected of having been murdered by relatives of the birth mother both in the Twenty-Six Counties and in Northern Ireland (Irish Catholic, 16 February 1929). For the purposes of this article I have referred to the murder of illegitimate infants as ‘infanticide’ even though there was no separate charge of infanticide in the Irish Free State until 1949. The English infanticide acts of 1922 and 1938 also applied to Northern Ireland. This article discusses the motives of the relatives of single mothers who played a part in the deaths of illegitimate infants. Unmarried motherhood was severely frowned upon in Ireland and the relatives of single pregnant women assisted their female kin in destroying the evidence of extra-marital conception in order to protect the family's honour and moral reputation in the wider community. The records of infanticide trials provide a great deal of insight into the ways in which mainly working-class families dealt with the strain of pregnancy outside wedlock in Ireland between 1922 and 1950.     

‘I am not Mr. Mom:’ a qualitative analysis of at-home father’s struggle for legitimacy

Although scholarship on at-home fathers explores how men negotiate their masculinity and wrestle with social stigma, research has yet to address how language and micro-level interactions are used to undermine, or contest, men’s abilities to parent as well as to reconstruct dominant forms of masculinity and fatherhood. As such, the purpose of this study is to explore the challenges at-home fathers face when gender becomes a frame for evaluating their abilities to parent. Drawing on interviews with men who are primary caregivers, the focus here is on how language situates and delegitimize men’s parenting practices. The findings suggest that gendered discourses constrain men’s ability to parent and create struggles for them as they interact with family, friends and their community. Additionally, these findings demonstrate the flaws in redefining masculinity to incorporate childcare and the implications this process has on existing gender inequalities.     

Paradoxical correlates of a facilitative parenting programme in prison—counter-productive intervention or first signs of responsible parenthood?

Parenting programmes are rarely part of prisoners' rehabilitation, and evaluations of such programmes are lacking.     

The parenting possible selves of young fathers in prison

Abstract

Even when motivated to desist from crime, many high-risk offenders fail quickly following release from prison. One cause may be a lack of preparation for release. Recent research with child-sex offenders has demonstrated that men who avoided reconvictions not only had better plans made for life on parole prior to their release, but plan quality also added significant incremental validity to the prediction of recidivism after controlling for both static and dynamic measures of risk. This study examined release planning in high-risk violent prisoners in an intensive cognitive-behavioural rehabilitation programme. We compared the predictive validity of plan quality with three well-validated risk assessment instruments. Men who were reconvicted had significantly higher scores on all three risk instruments and significantly poorer plans, but plan quality did not significantly improve prediction when risk was controlled. Plan quality was also significantly poorer in men who were reimprisoned, and did significantly improve prediction over and above each risk prediction instrument. Findings suggest that higher quality release plans may protect offenders from being quickly reimprisoned, despite high levels of assessed criminal risk, and that enhancing resources put into release planning may lead to improved parole outcomes.     

THE DIVIDED WORLD OF THE CHILD: DIVORCE AND LONG‐TERM PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENT

This study evaluated the extent to which divorce creates the “divided world of the child,” as well as consequences of this “divided world” for long‐term adjustment. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,375 young‐adult university students completed retrospective measures of parental nurturance and involvement, and current measures of psychosocial adjustment and troubled ruminations about parents. Results indicated that reports of maternal and paternal nurturance and involvement were closely related in intact families but uncorrelated in divorced families. Across family forms, the total amount of nurturance or involvement received was positively associated with self‐esteem, purpose in life, life satisfaction, friendship quality and satisfaction, and academic performance; and negatively related to distress, romantic relationship problems, and troubled ruminations about parents. Mother‐father differences in nurturance and involvement showed a largely opposite set of relationships. Implications for family court practices are discussed.     

SITUATED IDENTITIES OF YOUNG, AFRICAN AMERICAN FATHERS IN LOW-INCOME URBAN SETTINGS

Young, low-income, African American fathers have been at the center of research, practice, and policy on families over the past decade. This article uses a "voicing" analytic technique to examine identities among young, low-income, African American fathers living in an urban setting; the intersections of these identities; and the fathers' perceptions of the influences of familial, peer, and legal systems as barriers and resources in their development as fathers and the sustainability of their fathering roles. The primary questions addressed urban fathers' representations of their transition to fatherhood, intergenerational relationships, transformative events, and visions of a possible self. Results from a survey, focus groups, and interviews suggest that the fathers seek to reinvent themselves and reconstruct their identities by separating from street life, redefine home as a place of stability, and challenge the practices of social and legal systems that appear to work against their responsible fathering.     

SERVING FATHERS WHO LEAVE PRISON

This article describes characteristics, service experiences, and outcomes for 350 ex-offenders with minor-aged children who were served at the John Inman Work and Family Center (WFC), a multiservice program offering assistance with employment, child support, and family reconnection. Following their visit to the WFC, fathers had higher rates of employment and child support payment. They also returned to prison at lower rates than the general offender population. Although the findings suggest that parents who leave prison benefit from a collaborative facility that offers multiple services, more rigorous research over longer periods of time is needed to reliably assess the effectiveness of reentry programs.