Source: Doherty, W. & Craft, S. (2011). Single mothers raising children with ‘‘male-positive’’ attitudes. Family Process, 50(1), 63-76 Introduction Many children now grow up in the increasingly common scenario of a father’s absence or reduced presence following their parents’ breakup. Among the challenges facing single mothers, who often assume care and custody of the child, a … Read more
Social Fathers & Biological Fathers The limited research on the role of “social fathers” – men who are not the child’s biological father but play some kind of paternal role – has found that their active involvement can benefit children, especially where biological fathers are absent. For this reason, much of the research on “social … Read more
Introduction A growing body of multidisciplinary research is considering how fathers’ health consciousness, practices, and outcomes relate to their children’s quality of health and care. One implication from this research is in understanding and accounting for how fathers make decisions regarding their health and style of fathering. Connecting Fathers’ and Children’s Health Although the public … Read more
How Active Fathering Impacts Child Development Nearly 30 years ago, leading child psychologist Michael E. Lamb reminded us that fathers are the “forgotten contributors to child development.” Since then, much work has been done to explore the ways fathers uniquely contribute to the healthy development of their children. Scholars now know that boys and girls … Read more
I WAS watching one of those fun weekend adult-versus-youth football games when I noticed a skinny, lanky kid struggling on the pitch to keep up with the speed, agility and skill level of his teammates which included my two sons. Not surprisingly, the teenager was replaced after about 15 minutes and he stood at the … Read more
Introduction The following summarises research presentations and salient points of the discussion on fathering across diversity for Panel 2 of the first Asia Fatherhood Research Conference entitled Fatherhood in 21st Century Asia: Research, Interventions, and Policies. Notable Research Findings Culture and Conduct of Fatherhood in India: Are They in Synchrony?: Dr Anjula Saraff, Stanford University The … Read more
Padilla-Walker, L.M. & Coyne, S.M. (2011). “Turn that thing off!”: Parent and adolescent predictors of proactive media monitoring. Journal of Adolescence, 34(4). Background Parents are typically wary that the media may influence their children’s values and behaviours in ways that are inconsistent with their own aspirations for their children. This is especially true for fathers who … Read more
Findings from the Singapore Fatherhood Public Perception Survey 2009, commissioned by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), point to the need and desire in Singaporean fathers to be more involved in active fathering. 97% of Singaporeans are of the view that fathers play an important role in their children’s lives, according to … Read more