39. Herbert et al (2009). An Examination of Paternal Influence on High-Achieving Gifted Males

39. An Examination of Paternal Influence on High-Achieving Gifted Males

Thomas P. Hebert

Alexander R. Pagnani

The University of Georgia

Daniel R. Hammond

The University of KansaS

Thomas P. Hébert is professor of educational psychology in the College of Education at the University

of Georgia in Athens where he teaches graduate courses in gifted education and qualitative research

methods. Alexander R. Pagnani is a doctoral student in educational psychology–gifted and creative

education at the University of Georgia in Athens. Daniel R. Hammond earned his master’s degree in

educational psychology–gifted and creative education at the University of Georgia. He is a doctoral

student in counseling psychology at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS.

CLICK HERE FOR RESEARCH: 

This paper highlights how positive paternal influence assists the education and development of gifted males, and identifies 6 significant themes underpinning a father's support for producing a high achieving gifted son : 

 unconditional belief in son, 

strong work ethic, 

encouragement and guidance, 

maintaining high expectations and fostering determination, 

pride in son’s accomplishments, 
and 

mutual admiration and respect. 

35. Prof. Lamb 2012. McIntosh misleads on attachment

CLICK HERE FOR RESEARCH: Professor Michael Lamb is the Fellow and Director of Studies at Sidney SussexCollege and the Editor of the Journal of Psychology, Public Policy and Law. He is one the world's leading authorities on attachment theory for infants and child development, especially in terms of the benefits for children in developing close bonds to both of their parents. 

Whilst much of John Bowlby's work on attachment has been verified and is applicable today, his views on monotropism, where he believed a child mainly attaches only to one primary caregiver, has been rejected by the scientific community. 

Dr Jennifer McIntosh has become a renowned detractor of shared parenting and appears to have abused an opportunity afforded to her within a Special Review of the Family Court Review. 

Professor Lamb rebukes McIntosh's performance in the editorial:

"The Family Court Review Special Issue, edited by McIntosh, provided a misleadingly narrow view of attachment theory and of previous attempts to explore the implications of that theory and related research for family court professionals. She thus represented Bowlby’s notion of monotropy as though it was an established and accepted fact; neither the research (which shows the idea to be incorrect) nor Bowlby’s own later disavowal of the idea were addressed, although the implications are profound. More generally, the extensive relevant scholarship was ignored and unrepresented, leaving the unchallenged focus on the editor’s own research and on opinions that accord with her own."

The Professor reveals and criticises how Dr Jennifer McIntosh abused her opportunity to edit the special edition of Family Court Review in July 2011. He writes: ".....the FCR special issue under review was dominated by a large number of interviews conducted by the issue editor with people sharing her convictions about attachment research and its implications for parenting plans. Strikingly, none of the interviewees reported new findings or commented thoughtfully on some of the controversial claims and counterclaims that have impeded progress in making attachment theory relevant to the everyday dilemmas being addressed by family courts around the world.

"As a result, the special issue was truly extraordinary, with only two conventional scholarly articles published alongside the transcripts of a series of interviews steered by a special issue editor who saw no need to include dissenting views. This risked misleading professionals who are accustomed to balanced arguments in Family Court Review and might thus mistakenly conclude that there were no alternative extant views of the attachment literature.

"the special issue provided a platform for one viewpoint rather than providing a forum within which a number of scholars could present and discuss research and theory thoroughly and thoughtfully.....In fact, where possibly discrepant views emerged in the interviews, the issues were dropped rather than engaged.

"As a result, readers could well conclude (by virtue of having been misled by Dr McIntosh)* that monotropy was a well-established fact.

"When Bowlby first referred speculatively to monotropy in the middle of the last century, of course, there was no relevant empirical research. However, over the ensuing decades, researchers have actually studied the formation of attachments to both mothers and fathers. All of the relevant research, as reviewed most recently by Lamb and Lewis (in press), suggests that infants in fact form attachments to fathers and mothers at the same time, rather than sequentially.

"For an archival scholarly journal, this was a glaring omission, particularly damaging to the journal’s reputation as a forum for balanced, scholarly presentations."

Professor Lamb's Advice for family law professionals: 

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

• Most children in two-parent families form attachments to both of their parents at the same stage in their development.
• Relationships with both their mother and father profoundly affect children’s adjustment, whether or not they live together.
• Professionals need to be careful when generalising from research which may have involved families in circumstances quite unlike those experienced by the individuals they are trying to assist.

*added by blog owner

34. Beard 2011. The importance of fathers to children

CLICK HERE FOR RESEARCH: The importance of fathers in the lives of their children (2011)

Christopher Beard Bio:

Chris has been working in the field of parental involvement and responsible fatherhood for over 15 years. He is a recognized parent educator who has trained thousands of parents and professionals on why parental involvement, both mom and dad, is vitally important to the healthy development of children of all ages. As a former Program Manager and Director with the Urban League and National Fatherhood Initiative, Chris oversaw various state and federal projects designed to help organizations improve their parental involvement and promote family-friendly policies. He has traveled to over 35 states to work directly with local nonprofits and state agencies to help improve each organization’s capacity to promote effective parental involvement. A seasoned technical writer, Chris also co-authored NFI’s successful fatherhood reentry curriculum called “Inside Out Dad,” which is currently being used in over 300 juvenile and adult correctional facilities across the country in all 50 states.

Beard outlines the benefits of positively engaged fathers to their children: 

"Time, research, and empirical data from grassroots programs have brought clarity to the debate about the importance of fathers in the lives of children. The consensus is that when fathers are positively involved with their children and attentive to their physical and emotional needs, children’s well being increases. Studies now show that children with involved fathers display: better cognitive outcomes, even as infants; higher self-esteem and less depression as teenagers; higher grades, test scores, and overall academic achievement; lower levels of drug and alcohol use, and higher levels of empathy and other pro-social behavior (Horn & Sylvester, 2005). family situations where the dad is simply not in the picture. "

He accepts that, despite the above, fathers are pushed out of their children's lives:

"Public policy discussions have especially been one-sided, choosing to focus attention on codifying paternity and child support issues in state and federal law, largely ignoring the benefits of promoting fathers as caregivers. Consequently, the challenge for those children is to shift the focus of the conversation, not away from the mother’s equally important parenting role, or even away from the father’s financial responsibility to his children, but more toward how shared, involved, committed, and responsible parenting by the father can increase the happiness and wellbeing of the child, and imparts with this advice:

"The challenge moving forward is to continue to support the strengthening of America’s families and build the capacity of those in state organizations committed to empowering fathers to and become full partners in their children’s lives."

27. Mike White, 2010; Disadvantaged young fathers-to-be

CLICK HERE FOR RESEARCH:   Mike White runs a course for young fathers-to-be and is a director of a community-based organisation working with young parents in Wiltshire, UK

He writes about the successes of his course and similar initiatives to involve young fathers with the pregnancies and rearing of their children.

His advices should bear some consideration at a time when social, legal and UK Government practices do not encourage or require non resident fathers to engage with their children in any way but to contribute financially.

Quotes from Mike White’s paper:

“Attachment theories, in focusing on the mother, tend to underemphasize the role of the father in caregiving.”

“studies have shown that children with active fathers do show greater general sociability and ease with strangers (Frascarolo, 2004), improved cognitive functioning (Nugent, 1991) and fewer behavioural problems (Aldous et al., 1998).”

Mike White’s conclusion:

"Perhaps it is too much to hope that a national pilot project for young dads-to be is funded and properly evaluated to determine its value for young parents, their children and our society as a whole. Such a project would need to run for several years, but those of us who are parents know that parenthood lasts for the rest of our lives. Perhaps, as a nation, we should be developing a longer-term view of the needs of a particularly disadvantaged group of young people and the ways in which we might meet them. It may not be too fanciful to suggest that this intervention might be one way of impacting on the cycle of disadvantage.

"In many cases these young people are the children of parents who have been part of that cycle. By supporting them over a significant period of time, the possibility exists of improving their own life chances, and might also enable their children to break out of that cycle. However, we would need to take a generational view of such an intervention. Of course, the chances of that happening when politicians cannot usually see beyond the next election might present a particular challenge, but perhaps this is the time to encourage them to adopt such a view."