Guishard, Jeune Alyson; (2002) Beyond father absence: An investigation into black fathering and child outcomes in Britain. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

While there is an enormous range of psychological and social research into fathering, and some considerable attention paid to the possible influences upon child development of father absence, there is a paucity of research on many aspects of black fathering. Chapter 1 reviews this literature before specifying the particular aims of this dissertation which is devoted to addressing this imbalance, by collecting fathering and child development information from a number of multi-racial British samples. Chapter 2 presents an overview of the epistemological considerations. The core chapters of the thesis report on four empirical studies involving distinct samples. Chapter 3 reports on the first pilot study that aimed to ratify the procedure and materials for obtaining information from teachers and children on family functioning in father-resident and father-non-resident families. This first study revealed that participants who reported a closer relationship with their fathers (whether resident or not) achieved higher scores on the measure for intellectual skills. At the same time, there was some evidence according to child reports that non-resident fathers were less involved in their children's lives. This first Pilot Study suggested possible moderating influences upon the potentially harmful effect on children of having a non-resident father. Namely, the role of the extended family is explored. Subsequent Studies reported in this thesis further explore these same issues in relation to children's self-esteem, intellectual, emotional and social development (Chapter 4) and, in a second Pilot Study (Pilot Study Two), fathers' reports of the activities that (mainly black) resident and non-resident fathers engage in support of their children (Chapter 5). Finally, Chapter 6 returns to children's reports of parenting activities that their fathers engage in, their reported relationships with their parents, and the influence of this on their psychological development and academic achievement. The concluding chapters summarise the findings, drawing special attention to the need for further research on fathering, race and ethnicity from the child's perspective. The current series of Studies suggest that children's own experiences of parenting in conjunction with careful attention to race and ethnicity and the incidence and meaning of non-resident fathering, are likely and important influences upon diverse aspects of child development.

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