This thesis is an examination of the problems confronting the young mother with small children today. The first section is concerned with methodology. It explains how the choice of subject was made; it describes how the study was designed, and it records how the sample was selected for the survey. The second section provides a historical background by discussing the various changes affecting the position of women in this country, during the last one hundred and fifty years. From the point of view of this survey, three major consequences are noted. 1. The status of women, in relation to men, has risen considerably. 2. The number of roles which women can perform, in society, have increased and become more varied. 3. Women have experienced an extension in the freedom of choice as to which roles they wish to perform. The third section is a discussion of the results of the interviews. These were conducted with forty eight middle class mothers and forty eight working class mothers. All the mothers in the survey were aged thirty or younger, and had at least one child under five. The most important facts to emerge are: 1. Some of the mothers, more particularly the working class mothers, felt themselves to be leading rather isolated lives. 2. At the time of the interview all the mothers saw their childrenas the central focus of their lives; the role of mother took precedence over all other roles. 3. At the same time the majority did not feel entirely at home in this role. Mothers, both working class and middle class, found themselves unprepared for the responsibilities of motherhood, and for the restrictions it imposed on their lives. 4. Both the middle class and the working class mothers had enlisted the support of their husbands in facing their problems. The middle class husband gave his support by co-operating with his wife in extending her interests outside the home and the children. The working class husband gave his support by devoting his leisure to sharing his wife's roles within the home, and participating regularly in all the household activities. 5. Ninety percent of the total sample was planning to work when the children were older. The significant factor here was thatthis return to work seemed an automatic process, the special decision was to remain at home. The wives in both samples were aware of the conflicts between the role of mother and the role of worker. On the other hand the great majority did not feel that a conflict existed between the role of wife and the role of worker. The concluding section considers the findings of the survey against the wider background of the position of women in this country today. It is suggested that mothers with young children have aspecial problem. There is a conflict of interests between the role of motherhood and the many other roles which women can perform today. The inability to resolve this conflict has meant that many mothers find themselves isolated, in a cul-de-sac, cut off from the central activities of society. In conclusion several methods of improving the situation are proposed: 1. A re-analysis of the education of girls. This would take as its starting point the fact that girls will be performing many different roles at different stages in their life. 'Home' or 'Work' should not be posed as mutually exclusive alternatives. The educational process itself should be divided into three stages. 1) School. 2) Further education or training. 3) Re-training for re-entry to work after a period of absence. 2. A re-examination of the roles and capacities of women as workers. In particular retraining schemes would have to be allied closely to work opportunities. Employers too would have to be educated in: 1) the real nature of women's capabilities, 2) the special problems that married women may encounter owing to their domestic responsibilities. 3. The re-direction of mothers and young children, back into the main stream of society. This could be done: 1) by the promotion of organisations parallel to the Parent Teacher Association, which give mothers the opportunity to relate to each other, to their local community, and to society at large. 2) by the general improvement in the facilities which society provides for young children. 3) by encouraging the community to include young children in a whole range of situations, from which, at present, they are excluded. The aim of all these proposals would be to enable mothers with small children to perform their traditional roles as mothers in ways that complemented rather than curtailed their other contemporary roles.

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore care leavers’ experiences of parenting. Although research has previously been carried out on this area, there is a lack of research on mature care leavers’ experiences of parenthood which this study attempts to address. It was hoped that this research might further illuminate our understanding of care leavers as parents, and highlight potential areas of clinical need and ways in which these could be addressed therapeutically. Method: This study employed a qualitative design through the use of semi-structured interviews with six care leavers who were mothers; the majority of whom were in their late 30’s to early 40’s. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to develop a rich and multi-layered account of participants’ experiences. Results: Four main themes emerged across participants’ accounts. These were: ‘Fear of the past and its impact on the future’, ‘Trying to do better’, ‘Parenting is hard but rewarding’ and ‘Connecting and disconnecting: the push and pull.’ Implications: The study highlights the importance of holding the complexity of care leavers’ experiences as parents in mind; acknowledging both their strengths and struggles. Participants’ sense-making of their parenting in relation to their pasts as well as their resources and the processes surrounding learning to parent, were discussed in light of the themes that arose and previous theoretical and research literature. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

No description available.

This thesis consists of three empirical chapters on the work and family demands of parents in the UK and Germany. The chapters are related in their focus on how parents combine employment careers with family demands, the consideration of financial constraints facing families, as well as the longitudinal approach to answering the research questions. First, the Introduction discusses the overall topic, both in broad terms and in relation to the individual chapters. Chapter 1 analyses the effect of fatherhood on men’s work hours and work hour preferences in the UK. The study shows that it is not fatherhood alone that has an effect on men’s work hours, but that it also depends on the partners’ employment status. It is also shown that the effect of fatherhood in this respect is mainly limited to households with children between one and five years of age. Chapter 2 analyses how UK mothers’ and fathers’ work hour demands affect the time they spend with their children in structured outdoor leisure activities, eating dinner together, and talking about important matters. Parents who work relatively long hours spend less structured outdoor leisure time with their children than other parents, but only in households where both parents are employed. For fathers, longer work hours also affect their frequency of eating with the family, while talking about important matters is not affected. The focus of Chapter 3 is on the relevance, in Germany, of both partners’ resources and especially the impact of career uncertainties for mothers’ returns into full-time and part-time employment after the birth of a child. The results show that both partners’ earning prospects play an important role for mothers’ (re-)entry decisions. Also interesting is that mothers seem to compensate for the negative effects of their partners’ unemployment experiences with increased labour force participation. The thesis finishes with a conclusion that summarises the results of my research.

In this thesis I explore, both philosophically and empirically, the moral significance of genetic relatedness within the father/child relationship. In doing so I utilise a novel ‘empirical bioethics’ approach, in which I use specifically gathered qualitative data to inform the philosophical debate. I present qualitative data, gathered over 12 focus groups, which explores men’s normative constructions of fatherhood. The data suggests that fatherhood is essentially a social relationship, constructed within a narrative of responsibility, and that there is a distinction between being a ‘father’ and being a ‘progenitor, both of which give rise to different kinds of responsibilities and rights. I go on to construct a normative framework of paternal rights and responsibilities, which is informed by the qualitative data. I make a distinction between ‘material’ and ‘paternal’ responsibility, and in doing so I argue that a man can cause a child to exist, and be fiscally responsible for a child, without being a father. I argue that a man becomes a father (in a valuable sense), and earns paternal rights, when he accepts paternal responsibility and forms a paternal relationship with a child.

Objective To examine the father’s role when his partner and child are admitted to a perinatal mental health unit. Background Establishing attachment in the first months of life is crucial for infant mental health. Parental mental health and separation can interrupt the formation of attachment. Maternal postnatal mental health is known to affect the father’s well-being and mental health. A systematic review conducted found paternal depression in the first year after birth affects child behavioural and emotional difficulties. One previous study has gathered limited evidence of fathers experiences of a perinatal mental health unit. Method Eight interviews were conducted with fathers whose partner was a current or former inpatient in a perinatal psychiatric unit in Scotland. Grounded Theory was utilised in the collection and analysis of data. No participants reported symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, or Stress at time of interview. Transcripts were coded by the researcher and supervisors and categories were compared. Additionally, results were validated by a participant before completing analysis. Results Maternal postnatal mental illness and hospitalisation was challenging. Long admissions with infrequent visits were most difficult. The overarching category ‘managing the self and other relationships’ captured the father’s experience and how he tried to understand and manage, whilst making and maintaining family bonds. Five subcategories were Bonding with Baby, Keeping the Family Together, Feeling Contained, Feeling Overwhelmed, and Experiencing Uncertainty. Fathers had concerns about bonding and regarded the mother-baby bond as vital. Relationships were strained. Fathers experienced anxiety regarding illness and felt relief on admission. Fathers experienced demands such as work and travel. They tried to retain normality, take each day as it comes, and use family support to cope. Fathers were uncertain about illness and treatment and desired improved communication with professionals. Conclusion Severe maternal postnatal mental illness and inpatient admission affects fathers. Fathers have multiple demands which impact on participation in the unit. Fatherinfant bonding was affected by father availability. Recognition of the father’s experience and increasing father’s knowledge of illness and skills in caregiving is likely to improve the father’s experience and benefit the family.

Over recent decades there have been dramatic changes in the employment patterns of men and women, with particularly significant increases in employment rates among mothers. Government policy has also increasingly given attention to encouraging parents, particularly lone mothers, into work, with a focus on paid work as a defence against poverty. These trends and policy changes affect the everyday lives of both parents and children, and give rise to questions about the potential impact that parental employment patterns have on children and young people. The main aim of this thesis was to investigate any relationships between patterns of parental employment and young people's educational and emotional well-being. Using data from the British Household Panel Survey and its associated Youth Panel, logistic regression techniques were used to assess the association between parental employment patterns and a number of outcomes. A forms of capital (Bourdieu, 1983) approach was adopted to contextualise and explain the relationships between parental employment patterns and outcomes for young people. The main conclusions are that parental employment and unemployment impact upon young people's outcomes in a number of ways, with different mechanisms observed for different outcomes. Young people living in a currently workless household were more likely to have poorer educational outcomes (truancy, leaving school at age 16), operating through the impact on family socio-economic circumstances (financial capital). Maternal part-time employment appeared to offer young people some protection against poor emotional well-being, operating through a mechanism of social capital. The influence of parental employment patterns on the formation of educational attitudes and expectations appeared to operate through a mechanism of cultural norms and expectations (cultural capital). Understanding the impact of parental employment patterns on outcomes for adolescents, using this recent data source, offers a key contribution to the literature and to policy debates.

Research in recent decades has identified a conception among fathers, and others, of a widespread qualitative change in the potential nature of fatherhood for men. This widely circulated ideal of contemporary, participatory fatherhood is characterised as new, intimate, involved and productive of new practices of ‘masculinity’ (Henwood and Procter, 2003). A belief that fathers play a major part in family life and family a major part in fathers’ lives may, first, change the nature of the life course transition entailed in becoming a father. Second, ‘new’ fatherhood is new in that it is distinguished from a model of authoritarian distance associated with ‘traditional’ fatherhood. What is new is that the primary focus of fatherhood is intimate relationships with children. Third, intimate relationships are generated through fathers’ involvement in family life alongside mothers in a more equitable sharing of the responsibilities of parenting. Finally, as distinctions between maternal and paternal are blurred, some of the lines between ‘masculine’ and ‘not-masculine’ are redrawn. These aspects which the ideal of ‘new’ fatherhood constructs as arenas of change correspond to the domains in relation to which diversity among contemporary fathers are explored in this thesis. Accounts of becoming and being fathers were generated in semi-structured qualitative interviews with a diverse sample of 31 fathers. The first dimension of fatherhood analysed is the place of visions of family and fatherhood in the process of becoming a father. Participants’ situated their orientation to fatherhood in the life course and in the partner relationship. In examining how participants construct family’s needs and parents’ responsibilities, I argue that imagined and lived family relationships are significant for men’s orientations to fatherhood, for their attitude to having further children and for evaluating the resources, material and otherwise, for doing so. The second dimension considered is intergenerational legacies. Participants with different experiences of the father-child relationship engage with their parenting heritage and characterise the legacy they would like to pass on. Connections and breaks with the previous generation of fathers are understood in terms of parent-child relationships, biographical narratives and the relational and discursive resources and constraints of the present. The relation of fatherhood to motherhood is the third dimension explored, through analysis of the different ways in which participants in couples construct, first, the relation between their own practice and their partner’s in the parenting partnership and, second, the relation between caregiving, provision, paid work and career in their own practice. I argue that fathers’ practice is worked through in the lived relationship with their partner, in terms of the division of labour and responsibilities and in the negotiation of similarity and difference, equality and authority, and with reference to a range of discursive resources. Many fathers seek to balance their commitments to the different dimensions of fatherhood in relation to paid work, but in other dimensions of personal life. The fourth aspect of the analysis examines accounts where fathers speak of co-existing contradictory orientations, to freedom and commitment, for example, and moments of ambivalence in relation to the normative articulations of ‘masculinity’ and fatherhood. On the basis of this four-fold analysis of diversity in contemporary multidimensional fatherhood, I argue for a plural focus on the practices of doing family, doing fatherhood and un/doing gender makes conceptual space for engaging critically with the diverse practices through which fathers sustain the relationships and fulfil the responsibilities of multi-dimensional fatherhood.

The fastest growing family type in the UK is the stepfamily with social parenting an increasingly normal practice. Parenting policy and practice, which has increased exponentially over the last two decades, has historically been modelled on the biological nuclear family model with marginalised families the main recipients. The possibility that parents in marginalised stepfamilies might have separate and discrete parenting support needs to biological parents seems to be overlooked in policy, practice and research. Rather, the historical legacy of deficit, dysfunction and a ‘whiff’ of poor parenting in marginalised stepfamilies lingers on. The focus of the research was to determine marginalised parents’ perceptions and experiences of parenting in their stepfamily and their parenting support needs. An interpretivist research paradigm with an inductive research strategy was utilised, based on a situated methodology, which was a pragmatic approach to gathering a sample of marginalised parents, who are often difficult to access. Theoretical sampling elicited fifteen parents from ten couples. The choice of loosely structured in-depth interviews enabled previously silent voices to be heard. Thematic analysis of the data revealed accounts that were interwoven throughout with strong moral undertones which seemed to categorise their lives. The parenting issues were different and more complex than those they had encountered before. The parents adopted biological family identities, but these didn’t fit with their social roles and often rendered them powerless in their relationships with stepchildren. This appeared to have a cumulative effect which impacted on the already fragile couple relationship. Despite the parents easy articulation of the parenting issues there was a contrasting unease and ambivalence in discussing parenting support needs. Parenting support seemed to be an irrelevance that could be disregarded. Ultimately the moral significance of the parents marginalised class positions appeared to be central to their lives, which has important implications for policy and practice.

Most industrialised countries have witnessed a shift in the 'male breadwinner' model of family life as new generations of mothers have increasingly combined employment with parenting responsibilities. This has had implications for the role of fathers and their contributions to childcare and domestic work have increased as a result. However the change in fathers' contributions has not kept pace with the change in women's economic activity, suggesting there are social, political, economic and cultural barriers in place. Two sweeps of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) are used to explore some of the conditions under which fathers become more actively involved in childcare and housework when cohort children are aged nine months and three years old. This question is examined cross-sectionally and longitudinally within the context of a two parent, heterosexual household in Britain. Three data classification techniques are used to derive two latent measures that represent two dimensions of paternal involvement (engagement and responsibility). Multiple regression is used to model involvement at aged nine months; logistic regression is used to model what type of caregiver a father is when the child is aged three. The main findings are: · Patterns of maternal and paternal employment have the strongest association with paternal involvement at both time points. When children are aged nine months, the hours that a mother works appear to have a stronger association with paternal involvement than fathers' own work hours (although this is still important). The likelihood of a father being involved with his three year old also increases dramatically the longer the hours the mother spends in paid work. Fathers' own work hours have a slightly stronger association with whether they take on a primary caregiving role at age three. · There are considerable variations in involvement when the child is aged nine months by ethnicity as involvement is lower for fathers with an Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi background. Responsibility for housework, however, is slightly higher for black/black British fathers. · Various demographics also have a small association with involved fathering atage three. For example, fathers are more likely to be involved when their child is a boy, when there are no other children in the household and when they took leave following their child's birth. The thesis exposes some of the employment and demographic conditions associated with greater paternal involvement with young children. In doing so it also brings to light some of the barriers to greater gender equity in the division of domestic labour (childcare and housework). The findings emphasise the importance of employment hours with long work hours hindering involvement and mothers' participation in the labour market encouraging it. The thesis provides a foundation from which to develop further analyses so that a better understanding of the variations in paternal involvement can be achieved.