Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

The purpose of this study is to examine if a relationship exists between paternal involvement during emerging adulthood and eudaimonic well-being in sons involved with Cru in the Great Lakes region in the United States. In order to execute this study, sons involved with Cru were surveyed through an adapted Father Involvement Scale and Carol Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale. The design for this research is an explanatory, quantitative method. This quantitative research focused on emerging adult sons, involved with Cru in the Great Lakes region, between the ages of 18 to 25. An online survey was implemented to gather data regarding paternal involvement and well-being. The quantitative data were administered through Google Forms, and the results were analyzed through the execution of paired t-tests, Pearson’s r, Statcrunch, and multiple regression analysis. After the statistical analysis of collected data, 12 sons who completed the quantitative survey and agreed to be interviewed were randomly selected. These interviews served to illustrate quantitative results. The data indicate three aspects of father involvement, companionship, emotional development, and social development correlated to a son’s positive relationships and self-acceptance. Specifically, the data predict the more relational a father was with his son during the ages of 18 to 25 the healthier his son was in accepting himself and establishing positive relationships with others.

This study aimed to address how fathers made sense of their experience of losing their baby due to stillbirth after receiving one-to-one counselling/therapy. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to explore the unique lived experience of each father. Eight semi-structured interviews were carried out with fathers of a stillborn baby who had experienced some form of one-to-one counselling/therapy in the aftermath of their loss. The research found that fathers developed an embodied relationship and continued to experience an ongoing relationship with their stillborn child. The fathers were changed by their experience of having a stillborn baby in fundamental and complex ways. The fathers also re-addressed aspects of their ‘masculine selves’ in response to this profound loss. It was meaningful for the fathers when their relationship with their stillborn child was validated and legitimised in their one-to-one counselling/therapy. Moreover, some fathers were able to address the confusion and ambiguity around the nature of their loss and their experience as men. The fathers expressed the unique ways they were transformed by their experience emotionally, psychologically, and existentially. Some fathers could begin to make sense of this and find meaning in their experience when it was recognised in their individual therapy. Finally, a critique of the limitations of the research process and methodology was provided and suggestions for further research were offered.

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This study is an exploration of theoretical propositions and their integration with a clinical illustration in order to facilitate an understanding of the universal role of the good-enough father in the psychic development of the child. The premise underlying this study rests on the theoretical object relations framework of Margaret Mahler (197 4), extended by Abelin (1971, 1975), and taken into the phase of adolescence by Blas (1967,1985,1991), which provides a solid, clinical basis for understanding the dynamics of the separation-individuation process. This theoretical basis is expanded by an understanding of analytical psychology, providing the Jungian perspective on individuation, which is encapsulated in the archetypal themes of union, separation, and the capacity to sustain the tension of opposites. As a synthesis of these conceptual frameworks, the writer adopts the propositions put forward by Seligman (1986) that the absent father causes the child to remain enmeshed with the mother. Without a father's emotional support, it becomes almost insurmountably difficult for a child to negotiate the unavoidable separation from the mother, a prerequisite for the confirmation of his identity and the establishment of an autonomous lifestyle. As a treatment modality, Seligman (1986) further proposes that the analyst be "used" by the client's unconscious psyche to build up a live paternal presence within, a symbolic reinstatement of the father image, necessary for the crucial completion of the separation-individuation process. With the re-emergence of the father image, thus enabling a reconciliation of the inner parents, the mother can gradually be relinquished. Those aspects of the client's personality which had been committed to a real or imaginary "oneness" with the mother, and were thus unavailable for the enrichment of his own life, are restored to him, making him more "alive". The illustrative case study demonstrates this therapeutic approach with an adolescent boy who experienced father absence and presented in clinical social work practice with the symptomology of role confusion I individuation avoidance.

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The relationship between involvement in children's health care, the moderating effects of parenting beliefs between involvement and child health status and use, and the mediating effects of family integrity in fathers' involvement and child health were examined in two separate studies. The first study includes 760 fathers from a national survey project. Involvement, parenting beliefs, and demographic variables were used to predict child health and health use. Fathers' residency status was correlated with the number of times the doctor was consulted and predicted the child's height-to-weight ratio. Participation in fun activities and shopping was associated with sickness and child height-to-weight ratio. No moderation effects were found for parenting beliefs. The second study uses a mixed methods design to which fathers' perceptions of involvement, motivations, barriers, and support by their child's mother are examined qualitatively. The associations between father demographic variables, barriers to attendance, family integrity, and modernity in predicting involvement are and child health status are tested. The mediating effects of family integrity between involvement and child health were also studied quantitatively. Seventeen fathers were included in the qualitative analysis. Fathers perceived that participation in their child's health care is important and felt supported by their child's mother. Barriers to involvement included work-related difficulties and a poor relationship with their child's mother. A total of 52 fathers were included in the quantitative analysis. Fathers' biological relationship to the child was associated with involvement. Additionally, family integrity and parenting beliefs predicted involvement. No evidence was found for mediation effects of family integrity between involvement and child health. These results have implications for community programs and practitioners with the aim of improving child health. / Ph. D.

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.