The prevalence of divorce in Australia has resulted in thousands of children being denied the opportunity of having normal family lives with both parents living in the same home. Consequently, the ability to maintain quality relationships with both parents is often problematic. Family life in the residential family and the non-residential family need to be restructured. However, the non-residential parent, usually the father, is at a disadvantage, due to access difficulties. This study is an exploration of the restructuring of family life of non-residential fathers and their children, as perceived by the father. The quality of interactions between the parents and the quality of interactions between the father and his children are considered in association with family functioning in the non-residential father-child family. Focus is on the father's perception, in an attempt to understand his relationship with his children from his perspective.

Most attention on divorced families has concentrated on the residential parent, usually the mother and the children, with very little attention being given to the father (Arditti, 1995; Arendell, 1995; Esposito, 1995; Hetherington & Hagan, 1986; McMurray & Blackmore, 1993). Recently, several researchers have identified the growing need for research on the experiences of non-residential fathers (Arditti, 1992; Arditti, 1995; Arendell, 1995; Esposito, 1995; Fox & Blanton, 1995; Frieman, 1994; Hoffman, 1995; McMurray & Blackmore, 1993; Minton & Pasley, 1996; Seltzer, 1991). As research on non-residential father perspectives is scarce, there is a need to rely on anecdotal evidence. Non-residential fathers suggest that the ability for them to have a family life with their children after separation and divorce is difficult.

In most situations, children of divorce live with one parent, either the father or the mother in a sole custody arrangement. In fewer cases, they will live in a joint custody arrangement, spending equal time with both parents. However, most children will live with the mother, only seeing their father at appointed times. This arrangement is often fraught with difficulties. Consequently, a large proportion of fathers give up contact with their children all together (Furstenberg, Nord, Peterson & Zill, 1983; McMurray & Blackmore, 1993; Munsch, Woodward & Darling, 1995). A recent West Australian study revealed that only 27% of separated fathers had weekly contact with their children, 35% had monthly contact and 38% had less than monthly contact with their children (McMurray & Blackmore, 1993). These figures are also consistent with other studies on father contact after separation (Furstenberg et al., 1983; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980).

The literature suggests that non-residential fathers are faced with financial problems, dealing with ex-wives, attending to their own emotional state and being inadequately equipped to deal with child care (Frieman, 1994). Further, they often struggle to maintain relationships with their children while feeling ostracised, anxious, without roots and suffering with low self-esteem, depression, poor work performance and disturbed sleep (Greif & Kristall,1993). According to Wallerstein and Kelly (1980), much of the suffering can be attributed to the transition from being a full-time parent to a part-time parent. They often see practical issues, such as parenting and how to spend time with their children during contact time as distressing. Some are concerned with the fear of losing their children and feel powerless (Fox & Blanton, 1995). However, Maccoby, Buchanan, Mnookin and Dornbusch (1993) found that non-residential parents could maintain close relationships with their children, including when there is limited contact.

Fulfilling the parent role is also difficult for non-residential fathers due to travelling distance from their children. Research suggests that parent-child contact is facilitated by closer living arrangements between fathers and their children (Furstenberg et al., 1983; Seltzer, 1991). However, this often requires the mother's cooperation (Arendell, 1995). Dissension between estranged spouses often makes mutual cooperation difficult. Incidences of child abduction have resulted in tragic circumstances in recent years over custody disputes. This highlights the need to consider the perspectives of non-residential fathers. Arendell (1995) reported that approximately twelve percent of his sample had abducted their children at some point of time, in protest of being disregarded in divorce settlement issues.

Relationships between fathers and their children following marital separation become very disrupted, often leaving the children feeling lonely and vulnerable (Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980). Children often experience their parents being close and aggressive toward each other in a short space of time. However, regardless of the parental problems, children depend on having a continuing relationship with both parents (Wallerstein & Blakeslee, 1989; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980). While mothers will often claim that their children do not miss their fathers, Wallerstein and Kelly (1980) found that they often yearned for their fathers after their parents separated.

Limited father contact affects various aspects of children's lives such as self-esteem, scholastic achievement, emotional stability and psychological well being (Cockett & Tripp, 1994; Curtner-Smith, 1995; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980). Recent amendments to the Australian "Family Law Reform Act" (1995) acknowledge problems associated with limited father-child contact in divorced families. Further, Funder (1995) states that contact with both parents is still in the best interests of the children. Unfortunately, access disputes (Johnston, Kline & Tschann, 1989; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980), the mother's undermining and doubting of the father's ability to be a good parent (Curtner-Smith, 1995; McMurray & Blackmore, 1993; Wolchik, Fenaughty & Braver, 1996) or the mother discouraging the relationship between the father and his children (Hetherington & Hagan, 1986) often make the transition to a restructured father-child relationship most difficult.

The notion that father-child relationships are greatly influenced by parental relationships is largely substantiated in the literature (Hoffman, 1995; Johnston et al., 1989; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980). Research indicates that the more conflict existing between parents, the more likely the children are to be involved in their disputes (Johnston et al., 1989; Kurkowski, Gordon & Arbuthnot, 1993). Residential parents will also often replace the missing parent with the children, discussing the parental problems with them openly (Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980). Children living in an environment with parental hostility are likely to be more depressed and withdrawn, have more somatic problems, find difficulty in communicating and show more aggression than others less exposed to parental conflict (Johnston et al., 1989).

Problems associated with parental relationships are widespread in divorced and separated families. According to Emery (1995), the parental relationship is essential to the establishment of stability in parent-child relationships. However, parental communication is often wrought with pain and anger, resulting in the inability to resolve troublesome issues on a most basic level (Frieman, 1994). Residential and visitation disputes are common and often fuel the already existing anger as parents argue over who the children will live with and how much time they can spend at the other parent's house. Since mothers initiate approximately three-quarters of divorces (Funder, 1992; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980), it is likely that fathers will often have unresolved emotional issues. Separated spouses often have lingering attachments for each other, which are often accompanied with feelings of ambivalence, anger and hostility (Hetherington & Hagan, 1986; Spanier & Thompson, 1984). Thus, the emotional state of divorced spouses, particularly immediately following the separation, is often in a state of turmoil, which may remain for some time.

Problems often occur around the issues of visitation (Arditti, 1995; Kruk, 1991). Fathers commonly complain that mothers argue about visitation, are unwilling to change visitation at the father's request, change visitation themselves at short notice (Wolchik et al. 1996) and have the upper hand in the divorce process (Arditti, 1995; McMurray & Blackmore, 1993; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980). Mothers often complain that children are spoiled by their fathers, they are difficult to manage after access visits and that fathers provide a bad role model for the children (Wolchik et al. 1996). Perception of conflict has been found to be reported more often by mothers than fathers, while fathers more specifically report being distressed about lack of control in the divorce arrangements (Bay & Braver, 1990).

The father's involvement and sense of some control in the decisions involving his children's upbringing is important. Braver, Wolchik, Sandler, Sheets, Fogas & Bay (1993) found that perceived control in non-residential parents was related to high involvement in various aspects of their children's lives, including child support payment. Often non-residential parents calculate benefits and costs of continued involvement and child support (Braver et al., 1995; Seltzer, Schaeffer & Charng, 1989). Although concerns remain about the trading of financial support for visitation rights, fathers may simply be more contented when they see their children regularly, therefore being more compliant with child support requests. The father’s involvement requires a cooperative parental relationship after marital separation, which is often difficult. Hobart (1990) comments that often ex-spouses have to deal with relationships that are bitter and hostile, while simultaneously continuing with obligations to their children, involving communicating with the other parent.

In view of the previous literature regarding the many obstacles faced by non-residential fathers and their children (Arendell, 1995 Furstenberg et al., 1983; McMurray & Blackmore, 1993; Munsch et al., 1995; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980), it is evident that when the new relationship begins, many fathers are unsure of what to expect and how they will handle the situation. Becoming a part-time parent has changed the dynamics of the family substantially and the experience is often overwhelming. When fathers have time with their children, they are generally unsure of what they should do, often exerting their time and energy into recreational activities (Arendell, 1995). This sometimes becomes very difficult, as finances are often limited due to poor income or excessive maintenance payments (McMurray & Blackmore, 1993).

The new family situation for the non-residential father and his children is an extremely difficult and challenging one. Wallerstein and Kelly (1980) comment that while courts and hostile partners have done their best to impose severe restrictions and conditions on visitation rights, it has been detrimental to a relationship that is fragile and in need of encouragement. Hetherington and Hagan (1986) state that while divorce ends the marital relationship, parental roles should not be terminated. Parenthood is a joint venture whether the parents are together or apart. As parenthood involves family living, fathers and their children need to be able to function as a family, just as mothers do with their children.

The family functioning of non-residential fathers and their children needs to be explored, with consideration given to the parental relationships (Esposito, 1995; Kitzmann & Emery, 1994). Restructuring parental relationships are important as they offer stability to the children (Kitzmann and Emery, 1994). Further, a structure for individual roles within a maritally disrupted family facilitates harmonious relationships (Johnston, 1990). By investigating the family functioning of non-residential fathers and their children after divorce, an understanding can be gained of how fathers and their children restructure their relationships. Both parents are key persons in the family lives of children (Munsch et al., 1995; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980). Therefore, each needs to have a special relationship that has emotional closeness, loyalty, relationship roles, discipline and all the other characteristics of a family.

This study attempted to replicate a study of family relationships between non-residential fathers and their children (Esposito, 1995). The Circumplex Model was used as a theoretical basis for the study. Cohesion and Adaptability were investigated in association with the quality of the interactions between the parents and also between the father and his children. The study incorporated more stringent controls than the Esposito (1995) study and added a qualitative dimension, as suggested for family research by Sells, Smith and Sprenkle (1995). Esposito (1995) found that parental interaction quality and father-child interaction quality predicted Cohesion. However, he did not find any association between parental interaction quality or father-child interaction quality and Adaptability. This finding was unexpected, leading the author to consider that perhaps Adaptability was difficult to measure in separated families. This study used a Multimethod (Sells et al., 1995) approach in an attempt to provide more information about the family functioning of non-residential fathers and their children.

A survey questionnaire, correlational research, cross sectional design was used. Data was collected mostly by mail, with some participants receiving materials in person. Forty-eight non-residential fathers from various sources participated in the study. Participants received three questionnaires. Esposito (1995) developed the first two scales, the Measure of Parental Interaction Quality and the Measure of Non-custodial Father-Child Interaction Quality. They included questions about general communication, including both positive and negative interactions. The third was the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale III (FACES III) (Olson, Portner & Lavee, 1985), which was adapted for the Esposito (1995) study to suit the non-residential father-child family situation.

The qualitative investigation involved one hour semi-structured, face to face interviews. Interviews were taped and recorded in note form, as recommended for qualitative data analysis (Riessman, 1993). Five non-residential fathers were interviewed. Fathers were asked to complete a pre-interview form, which recorded demographic information, the father’s perception of (a) the quality of interactions between himself and his children's mother, (b) the quality of interactions between himself and his children, (c) how he sees his family situation with his children and (d) what is the biggest obstacle in preventing him and his children from being a family. The first two questions were on a likert type scale with five options ranging from very poor to very good. The third was semi-structured, allowing for multiple answers and the fourth was open ended. The purpose of the pre-interview form was to obtain some information that provided a link between the quantitative and qualitative segments of the study, to facilitate the participant's focus on his family relationships and to prepare each participant for the interview. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by use of an interview schedule, which was constructed according to the theoretical components of the Circumplex Model.

Two separate standard multiple regression analyses were performed through SPSS for Windows to predict Cohesion and Adaptability from parental interaction quality and non-residential father-child interaction quality. Testing of assumptions indicated that there were no univariate or multivariate outliers among the data and no assumptions were violated prior to analysis. The correlation coefficient matrix indicated that parental interaction quality and father-child interaction quality were not significantly related (r = .112). Data with missing cases were not included in the study, N=48.

Table 1 illustrates correlations between Cohesion and the two predictors, the unstandardised regression coefficients ( B ) and the standardised regression coefficients (Beta). R for regression was significantly different from zero, F(2,45) = 8.89, p < .001. The R Square of .28 (adjusted R Square = .25) indicates that 28% of the variance in Cohesion can be explained by the linear combination of the predictors. However, individual regression coefficients indicated that only the quality of non-residential father-child interaction was significantly related to Cohesion at .52 (p < .001). Whereas parental interaction quality showed almost a nonexistent relationship with Cohesion in the non-residential father-child family (.06, p > .05).

Table 1

F (2, 45) = 8.69, p < .001
R Square = .28; Adjusted R Square = .25
* p < .001

Table 2 displays correlations between Adaptability and the two predictors, the unstandardised regression coefficients ( B ) and the standardised regression coefficients (Beta). Results indicated that R for regression was not significant, F(2,45) = .12, p > .05. Therefore, neither parental interaction quality nor father-child interaction quality significantly predicted Adaptability in the non-residential father-child family.

Table 2

Demographic details were tested to see if any significantly related to the dependent variables. There were no significant relationships to cohesion or Adaptability when measured with the years spent with the children's mother, years separated from the family, number of children, sex of children, frequency of visitation, child support paid, fathers highest education, father live-in relationships or mother live-in relationships. Further analysis was conducted to investigate the possibility of interactions between the predictors with cohesion and adaptability. Results indicated that there were no significant interactions between the predictors with either Cohesion or Adaptability when tested at the .05 level.

The pre-interview form showed that perceived interaction quality with the children's mother ranged from very poor to satisfactory. Non-residential father-child interaction ranged from poor to very good. Three participants said that they did not see themselves as a family at all, while one father said they try to be a family and it sort of works out okay. Two participants reported doing okay at being a family while together. Four participants reported that contact time was an obstacle to being a family with their children. Two reported that the mother's interference was an obstacle and two considered that distance was an obstacle. One participant said that the inability to make lasting decisions was also an obstacle to them being a family.

Results from the interviews indicated that several common themes emerged for issues related to Cohesion. All fathers reported an interdependent relationship with their children. Four reported that they shared feelings with their children. The exception reported having difficulty with openly showing his feelings. Four participants commented that father and children like time together and time apart. The other participant had very limited contact time with his child, which would not allow him this option. Three participants reported that limited time affected different aspects of family Cohesion. Other common themes that emerged relating to Cohesion were emotional closeness, communication, contact time and loyalty.

Two fathers who had unlimited access time reported more family loyalty, while those who were unsure of their children’s loyalty reported very poor relationships with their children's mother. They also reported the mother as being interfering and being an obstacle to their ability to experience family life with their children. One of the two had limited access time, while the other has reasonable weekend access every second week. Fathers who reported distance as being an obstacle to the ability to experience family life also commented that they were sad about not being able to share emotions with their children. This seemed to be important when the children were unwell or having normal everyday life experiences. Fathers had a general sadness about missing special spontaneous times when feelings are generally shared.

Fathers who scored better ratings of perceived parental interaction quality also reported having contact with their children outside the normal designated access time. Further, all fathers having two or more children of different sexes noticed differences between them, as assessed by aspects of Cohesion. Fathers reported their daughters to be more open than their sons in displaying their emotions. All fathers appeared to have a reasonably close and loving relationship with their children. They also indicated that they were able to communicate with their children on a personal level.

More common themes emerged for Adaptability than for Cohesion. They included four on which all participants agreed. Negotiating with children, believing in discipline, having rules and boundaries and using various parenting methods applied to all non-residential fathers. Four fathers saw that limited time with their children hindered their parenting role. The fifth participant, not included, appeared to have the best relationship with his children's mother, had unlimited contact outside access time and showed great pride in his parenting role. All fathers except one who had very limited access time, reported having reasonably good parental control.

Three participants appeared to take an authoritative role in decision making and reported an inclination to teach their children through correction and negotiation. Two participants, both with very poor relationships with their children's mother, mentioned having an expectation of greater cooperation from the mother. A pattern emerged with the same two participants in four areas. Both reported being aware of their anger in disciplining their children and had definite opinions about not hitting but reasoning with their children. They also reported the need to repeat instructions at times and both stated they expected to always be there for their children. They also demonstrated the closest attachments to their children of the five fathers.

Questions that related to role identity and expectations were of particular interest. Rather than common themes, a range of individual experiences emerged through the interviews. Comments also indicated that other non-residential fathers known to participants, shared in similar experiences. Results regarding Adaptability suggest that non-residential fathers were quite balanced in their ability to adapt to situational and developmental changes in their children's lives. However, some influential factors make the parenting role very challenging for the father and normality in family living most difficult to achieve. Limited time and geographic isolation emerged as causing the most difficulties for family life with non-residential fathers and their children.

The outcome of this study revealed that fathers are capable of demonstrating good parenting skills including nurturing ability, sound disciplinary strategies, good negotiation skills and creative decision making ability. They also demonstrated having democratic parenting styles, which included balanced views of structure within the family and flexibility to allow for adapting to changes. Time and distance obstacles to cohesion and adaptability in the family were considered stressful to non-residential fathers, due to discontinuity in the parenting role.

The understanding gained on the family functioning of non-residential fathers and their children through this study is substantial. As the parenting role of the non-residential father is found to be valuable to the disrupted family (Curtner-Smith, 1995; Munsch et al., 1995; Wallerstein & Kelly, 1980), it is evident that facilitating means for father involvement with their children is necessary. Therefore, the need for improved services for mediation, counselling and post divorce co-parenting education is becoming increasingly evident. Parents need to be made more aware of the necessity for positive restructuring in the entire disrupted family. Results from this study suggest that fathers who had better relationships with their children's mother were more secure in their parental role than those with poor parental relationships. Professionals working with divorced families need to give more attention to parental roles and provide adequate strategies that enable parents to understand their importance. This highlights the need for parental awareness and preventative education that assists in helping separated and divorced parents to be more informed, more understanding and hopefully more cooperative in restructuring family lives for their children.