Wednesday 13 July 2011

25. Dr Heather Geddes, 2008: Reflections on the role and significance of fathers in relation to emotional development and learning


Quotes from the paper:
1. “There is grave concern at the moment about the underachievement in school of boys and girls who are struggling with issues of social inclusion and participation and whose behaviour can be a concern and a fear both within schools and in the broader community. At the extremes of the behaviour continuum are the alarming images of gangs of young men dominating housing estates and resorting to violence, knives and guns. Such images are tragic. It is all too easy to see such gangs as marauding vandals provoking our need to control and punish, but harder, perhaps, to appreciate the fear and helplessness behind such behaviours  their unbearable sense of being ‘lost and bewildered children’ (Kassman, Guardian, 23 May 2007). The factors affecting this extreme vulnerability may also reflect something about fathers.

The risk factors associated with conduct disorder behaviours are more or less identified, conflict in the family, family breakdown, single parent families, low income and social housing, inconsistent discipline, hostile and rejecting relationships, abuse, parental criminality, mental illness, drug misuse and unresolved death and losses. The NSPCC Report (2001) links ‘maltreatment’ in childhood to the risk of poor educational achievement, behaviour difficulties, bullying and school exclusions. Such adverse experiences, when of a traumatising nature, are also associated with later mental health (van der Kolk, 1989). They are the frequent experiences associated with vulnerability in children and can affect behaviour and educational outcomes. Such experiences are also reflected in the numbers of pupils disaffected and absent from school or leaving education with little development of literacy and numeracy skills. Educational outcomes and access to opportunity are clearly linked to history and experience, families and relationships.”

The importance of fathers:

2. “Trowell (2003, p. 17) suggests that ‘the reduction in the significance of fathers and their exclusion in reality from our thinking, the lack of recognition of their significance, may be a factor in the current apparent increase in mental distress and the more severe mental and psychological problems’.”

3. “There is considerable research and comment concerning the role and importance of fathers which indicates that ‘positive’ father involvement is associated with more desirable outcomes for children and young people and in education and achievement in particular. The National Child Development Study (NCDS, 2001) gathered data concerning a large sample of children (17,000) since their birth in 1953. A summary of the findings relating to father involvement in childhood, whether present within the family or not, showed it to be associated with:
. good parentchild relationships in adolescence
. satisfactory relationships in adult life
. fewer behavioural difficulties in adolescence
. less likelihood, particularly for boys, of engagement in delinquent acts involving the police
. greater academic motivation
. in separated families, significant protection from psychological problems in adolescence and   against later mental health problems.

4. Closeness to fathers has been associated with educational and occupational mobility in adult sons and daughters (Amato, 1993). Fagan and Inglesias (1999) found that father involvement and nurturance are positively associated with children’s intellectual development, social competence, internal locus of control and empathy with others. Similarly, Pleck (2004) reported higher self-esteem, a greater internal locus of control and capacity to believe they can control what is happening in their lives. Flouri and Buchanon (2004) found that children close to their fathers were psychologically well adjusted and do better at school.