Thesis (M.A.)--Northern Kentucky University, 2008. / Made available through ProQuest. Publication number: AAT 1454373. ProQuest document ID: 1568974081. Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-43)

Inaug.-Diss.--Frankfurt am Main. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 155-158.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Sociology. / Bibliography: leaves 71-73.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-89).

Thesis (Psy. D.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-70).

M.A. (Clinical Social Work) / This research involves exploring how middle childhood boys at a primary school experience the phenomenon of growing up with an absent father both functionally and psychosocially. The absent father being defined as a living father who does not live with his son and has chosen to be uninvolved in a financial, physical, emotional or spiritual way and has little contact with his son. The goal of the study was to investigate the effect of absent fathers on middle childhood boys and to gain an understanding of how they view the absence of a father in their lives. The objectives included exploring the experience of the boys in growing up with an absent father, to determine the boy’s perception of how their father’s absence has impacted on their lives, as well as to make recommendations for social work and other social service practitioners. A qualitative approach was selected for this study with a view to allowing participants to give rich descriptions of their individual experiences of growing up with an absent father. It is an exploratory study, informed by phenomenology. Exploratory, as it necessitated gaining insight into a situation and phenomenological as it entailed describing the participants experience of their life story. The research population for this study was defined as all boys in Grade Seven at the primary school. The boys were aged between twelve and thirteen. Purposive sampling was used as it allowed the researcher to select the participants based on necessary and relevant criteria. Five participants were selected as the researcher believed that it would give a sufficient overview of the phenomenon being researched and would reach data saturation. The interviews were all started with the same request namely, “Tell me about your relationship with your father?” Thereafter a semi-structured interview schedule was used as a backup tool when relevant questions needed to be asked. Participants were prepared for the interviews prior to the commencement of the study. Data was analysed according to a phenomenological method namely, Familiarisation; Immersion/Bracketing; Inducing Themes; Coding; Elaboration and Interpretation. These procedures were followed until a full description of the participants’ experience of absent fathers was disclosed. Four themes namely, emotions, loss, self-esteem and the single mother were identified ...

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Until recently, most parent-child research has focused on the mother-child dyad or the father-infant or young child relationship. The present study investigated strengths of the father-young adult relationship with respect to the following variables: individuation, intimacy, intimidation, age, marital status, gender and birth order. College students at a large mid-Atlantic university and their fathers completed instruments regarding the above aspects of their relationship. The instruments administered were the Personal Authority in the Family System Questionnaire (PAFS-Q) and the Family Assessment Measure (FAM-III). Correlation, analysis of variance, and step-wise multiple regression were used for statistical analysis. Results indicated that fathers and young-adult children had significantly different perceptions of the dyadic relationship strength. There was a strong relationship between intergenerational individuation and intimacy with relationship strength. Birth order proved to be a significant factor in the assessment of intimacy, intimidation and relationship strength. Individuation and intimacy were the only variables that explained a Significant percentage of variance in dyadic relationship strength. Explanations for the findings, therapeutic implications, and suggestions for future research were explored. / Ph. D.

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / In recent years, the issue of fathers’ involvement with their families has increasingly gained support and currently more research focuses on fathers’ involvement and what fathers must do to become more involved with their families. The aim of this study was to gain insight into boys’ perception of fathers’ involvement in the lives of boys. The participants were boys in Grade 7 and 8 whose parents are married and who both live in the same house with them. The data of this explorative, qualitative study were gathered by means of focus group discussions. The 18 participants who complied with the inclusion criteria were randomly divided into three focus groups of six participants each. The groups were asked an open question and the discussion was audio-recorded. The group discussions were transcribed, after which the data were loaded onto the Atlas.ti program for analysis. In this analysis technique, related aspects (termed ‘codes’, which are formed by related quotations by participants) are grouped to form families (of codes). Based on the description by Lamb, Pleck, Charnov and Levine (1987) of fathers’ involvement and the qualitative data analysis, content could be given to the families responsibility, accessibility and engagement. The family responsibility, which includes any activities of the father regarding the child’s direct care or arrangements regarding the care of the child, is the largest family in terms of number of codes and quotations. The most prominent code in this family in terms of number of quotations compared to the other codes, is to provide. This is followed by the codes discipline, set right and protect. Accessibility is the second largest family and entails the father being present as well as his availability to his son. The most important codes in this family are talking, to be there for the child and to pay attention to the child. The third family, engagement, includes the experience of caring, direct contact and interaction between the father and his son. The most important codes that emerged in this family are to demonstrate love and to hug. The specific content given to the three components of fathers’ involvement can be applied with success in the development and presentation of parent guidance programmes.

This study was predicated on the belief that a father brings something unique to the family, thus, making irreplaceable contributions to the life of a child. Fathers are unique in that they provide something different from mothers. They are irreplaceable because when they are absent, children are said to suffer emotionally, intellectually, socially, and behaviorally. The contributions of fathers to a child's well being cannot be fully replaced by better programming, ensuring child support programs, or even by well-intentioned mentoring programs. A review of literature relevant to delinquency and adolescent behavioral and academic success revealed that there may be a correlation between a male role-model and the teaching of self-control and socially appropriate behaviors. Indeed, much of what the large body of research pertaining to fatherhood reveals is that, compared to children raised in two-parent homes, children who grow up without their fathers have significantly worse outcomes, on average, on almost every measure of well being (Horn, 2002). In addition, an understanding of the factors that may influence delinquent behaviors, in particular within the family unit, can better equip parents and educators to support those who may be exhibiting the beginning signs of delinquent behavior. This study was designed to determine the influence of, or correlation between, juvenile delinquency and the presence or absence of a father-figure in a child's life. Responses made on the Delinquency Check List between two sample sets, delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents, were examined. The study attempted to determine if delinquent activity among adolescents was differentiated by the absence or presence of a father-figure in a child's life. This study also investigated the frequency and severity of delinquent activities between adolescents in the determined sample groups.