Researching fathers: Back to basics
Bruce Smyth and Ruth Weston
Paper presented to National Strategic Conference on Fatherhood
Parliament House Canberra, 18-19 August 2003
Fathers are overlooked in many areas of research. In the divorce literature, for instance, much of what we know about fathers comes from talking with mothers. The same is true of fertility research, and of research about caring for children. Yet we know that men and women often have quite different views and experiences.
The importance of fathers in their children's lives and in families is attracting significant interest. Amid a sea of social and economic change, a sea change is emerging about the need to examine fathers and their roles in families.
In recent years, increasing research attention is being paid to fathers. In Australia, small pockets of research exist but the gaps in our knowledge remain large and fundamental. For instance, around one million children under 18 live with one natural parent but have another parent living elsewhere. For 88% of these children, the parent with whom they live is their mother. Around one in three children of these one million children, moreover, have little if any contact with their father. Yet we know very little about paternal disengagement, and about the nature and quality of father-child contact where it occurs. The Institute is currently exploring these issues but much work needs to be done in this area.
Some countries are further down the track on some issues than Australia. In the area of improving data and research about fathers, the US is a case in point. In 1998, more than 100 researchers, policy analysts, and officials met to improve the quality of data and research into the area of fatherhood (Federal Interagency 1998). Building on ideas from that and other forums, at least three policy recommendations related to family law research in Australia suggest themselves.
Policy Recommendation #1 - Mapping the empirical terrain: Publish an audit of all data collections and research reports over the past two decades in Australia pertaining to fathering issues, including their personal wellbeing and their contribution to the wellbeing of their children, partners and families.
Policy Recommendation #2 - Mapping change: Develop indicators that allow change to be measured in relation to key areas of fathers' lives. The Fathering Indicators Framework (FIF) is a cutting edge 'evaluation tool designed to help researchers, practitioners, and policymakers examine and measure change in fathering behaviours' (NCOFF 2000: 2). This framework has much potential utility for investigating issues relating to fathers, families, children and the law.
Policy Recommendation #3 - Better measures and smarter research designs: Improve the way in which many domains of wellbeing and fathering are measured. Since life is dynamic, it is important to draw on data from longitudinal surveys, as well as from qualitative approaches in order to gain a better understanding of the many factors affecting fathers' personal and family trajectories. The Australian Government, through the Department of Family and Community Services, is funding three longitudinal studies of important relevance to fathering: The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (which is already yielding insights in relation to father's involvement in children's lives); the Growing Up in Australia study (which will provide rich data on father involvement and child wellbeing), and the yet to be developed Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children.
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