‘Daddy, are you Mummy or Daddy?’: Parent and child adjustment in UK stay-at-home father families

• In Event: 1-084 - Modern fathers and their children

Integrative Statement

Introduction: Within psychological literature, emphasis is placed on the importance of the mother as the main attachment figure (Bowlby, 1969), leading fathers to be often overlooked within child development research. In particular, relatively little is known about families in which the father is the primary caregiver and the mother the breadwinner. Research on primary caregiver fathers in gay adoptive families indicates that fathers show high quality parenting and their children are well-adjusted (Farr et al, 2010; Golombok et al., 2014). However, different stigma experiences and higher pressure to conform to hegemonic masculinity among heterosexual stay-at-home fathers mean these findings cannot necessarily be extrapolated to this group of fathers. At present, research on stay-at-home father families is largely qualitative, mostly focusing on the experience of the father himself. Hence, there is scarce data on the wider influence of having a stay-at-home father on other family members, particularly on the child. Given the rise in the number of primary caregiving fathers (ONS, 2016), it is of great interest to increase understanding of this non-traditional family form.

Hypotheses: Research has shown that fathers can demonstrate high-quality parenting. Therefore, it was hypothesised that stay-at-home fathers and stay-at-home mothers would not differ in parenting quality and children with a stay-at-home father would be well-adjusted, yet the fathers’ wellbeing may be affected by exposure to stigma.

Study population: The present study compares three family types; stay-at-home father, stay-at-home mother and dual-earner families comprised of heterosexual couples with a child aged 3-6 years-old. The study is ongoing; 100 families have participated and data on 130 families is expected to have been obtained by March 2019.

Methods: Fathers’ quality of parenting and adjustment, and the adjustment of their child, was assessed using a standardized interview (Quinton & Rutter, 1988) administered to parents, alongside comprehensive questionnaires. To examine parent-child relationship quality, father-child dyads completed a 5-minute goal-directed play task.

Results: Preliminary analyses conducted on the present sample indicated high-quality parenting and positive child adjustment in stay-at-home father families, with no differences in children’s adjustment between family types. Stay-at-home fathers and stay-at-home mothers did not differ in terms of parenting quality. Compared to breadwinning fathers, stay-at-home fathers displayed higher-quality parenting and higher quality father-child dyadic interactions. Overall, the stay-at-home fathers were well-adjusted; however, they reported higher levels of anxiety than stay-at-home mothers, with higher levels of anxiety among stay-at-home fathers related to lower levels of social support.

Discussion: The preliminary findings hold theoretical and practical
interest. Firstly, the findings are in line with a large body of work showing family processes are more influential than family structure (Golombok, 2015). The finding that stay-at-home fathers and stay-at-home mothers did not differ in parenting quality adds to the growing body of literature showing mothers are fathers are equally capable at primary caregiving. Further, the involvement of all family members in the present study highlights the relevance of using a family systems approach to study new family forms. With regards to policy applications, these fathers could benefit from more readily accessible support networks.

Authors

• Catherine Maria Jones, University of Cambridge
  Presenting Author

• Susan Golombok, Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge
  Non-Presenting Author