MIB

1
MIB

• FAMILIES
• Towards a Psychology of Liberation

2
Professional Experiences

• Youth worker
• Taught in primary, secondary and community
  schools in Birmingham and London
• Trained as an Educational Psychologist in 1988
• Lectured at UCL and Birmingham Universities
• Talks and workshops at national and international
  conferences
• Trained as a counsellor
• Most recent training in couples and family
  therapy
• Worked in health, education, social services and
  voluntary sector as psychologist

3
Findings from PhD thesis

• Beyond Father Absence Black Fathering and
  Child Outcomes
• www.nineninepine.com

4
Background

• The role of black men in families is one of the
  most conspicuously neglected areas of family
  research." 
• Taylor, Chatters, Tucker and Lewis (1990, p996)

5
Background

• Paternal Deprivation
• Lower IQ scores
• Poorer academic outcomes
• Lower self/esteem and achievement motivation
• Feminised cognitive profile
• Underachievement of African/Caribbean boys
• Consistently lowest level of 5 GCSE passes Grades
  A-C

6
Background

• Is there a link between being reared in a black
  lone mother households and poorer psychological
  outcomes?
• If yes, are the magnitudes of the effects greater
  for boys than for girls?

7
Introduction

• The thesis was a new direction in the study of
  underachievement in black children. Through a
  comprehensive analysis and review of research
  into family life, fathering behaviour and
  academic achievement. Using a multi-racial
  sample, the research focused on children from
  African and Caribbean backgrounds and examined
  the links that existed between family structure
  and the educational outcomes for
  African/Caribbean boys in particular
• Reconstructionist vs. Constructionist

8
Review of Literature

• Limited resource base
• Literature underlined the caricatures and
  stereotypes of the promiscuous, violent, absent
  and/or irresponsible fathers.
• Clarke (1957) depicted Caribbean families as
  matrilineal and as marginalising males.
• Clarke, E. (1957). My Mother Who Fathered Me A
  study of the Family in Three Selected Communities
  in Jamaica. London Allen and Udwin.

9
Review of Literature

• Stycos and Back (1964) found that although
  Jamaican fathers were frequently absent from the
  household, this was in fact part of the life of
  many families.
• Non-resident fathers had their specific and
  distinct role to play particularly in making
  financial provision and to discipline their sons.
  
• Stycos, J. and Back, K. (1964). The Control
  of Human Fertility in Jamaica. New York Cornell
  University Press.

10
The role of the father in child development

• Being there
• Residency contributes to positive outcomes
• Snarey, J. (1993). How Fathers Care for
  the Next Generation A Four Decade Study.
  Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press.
• Provider-Protector
• Bread-winner and disciplinarian
• Griswold, R. (1997). Generative fathering
  A historical perspective. In A. Hawkins and D.
  Dollahite, Generative Fathering Beyond Deficit
  Perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.
• Generative Fathering
• From the Eriksonian theory of generativity
• Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society.
  New York Norton.
• Hawkins, A., and Dollahite, D., (1997).
  Beyond the role-inadequacy perspective of
  fathering. In A. Hawkins, and D. Dollahite
  Generative Fathering Beyond Deficit
  Perspectives. California Sage.

11
Review of Literature

• Nobles and Goddard, (1984) stated that there is a
  difficulty in comparing black fatherhood and
  masculinity with Eurocentric standards when the
  concept of Africanity is considered. They argued
  that the concept of white masculinity perhaps
  stems around individual progress and the
  accumulation of wealth and power over others,
  whilst black masculinity incorporated a sense of
  community and family achievement. An example of
  this was the idea and success of the Million Man
  March that took place in America in 1997.
• Nobles, W. and Goddard, L. (1984). Understanding
  the Black Family A Guide for Scholarship and
  Research. California Black Family Institute.

12
Review of Literature

• The contemporary discourse on black fatherhood
  centres on the demythologisation of the black
  father as uninvolved and absent.
• Closer examination of the positive aspects of
  the fathers presence should be carried out, that
  includes a picture of what non-residential
  fathers and resident fathers actually do.

13
Review of Literature

• The black perspective on the contemporary theory
  of generative fathering amplifies the theory in
  highlighting the importance of family and
  connectedness (a sense of belonging) as being
  linked to developing ideas on manhood. How a
  black man measures up in manhood terms is
  inextricably linked to his ability to fulfil the
  roles that he expects of himself.
• Amin, K., (1997). Fathers and Fathering
  Recent Research. Runnymede Trust.

14
Review of Literature

• The significance of the kinship network in
  contemporary black families is that older
  relatives are seen as a resource to provide
  answers to black fathers on how to face
  challenges, as it is likely that they have a
  history that will demonstrate how these same
  challenges were overcome for them and are able to
  present a balance of hope and wisdom.

15
Diagram 1A African kin network
Child
Uncle/ Father Uncle
Aunt Mother Aunt/ Friend of
Friend of Father Mother

Paternal Paternal
Maternal Maternal
Grandfather Grandmother Grandmother Grandfathe
r
16
Diagram 1B Fatherless African kin
network
Child
Uncle Aunt
Mother Aunt/
Friend of
Mother
Paternal Paternal Maternal
Maternal Grandfather Grandmother Grandmot
her Grandfather
17
Diagram 2A Nuclear family
Child
18
Diagram 2B Fatherless Nuclear family
Child
Mother
19
Review of Literature

• Allen and Connor (1997) concluded their
  description of generative black fathering by
  suggesting that there is a need for more research
  that incorporates the viewpoint not just on what
  black fathers do but also what they should do.
• Allen, W., and Connor, M., (1997). An
  African-American perspective on generative
  fathering. In A Hawkins and D Dollahite.
  Generative Fathering Beyond Deficit
  Perspectives. Current Issues in the Family
  Series, Vol 3. (pp52-70). Beverley Hills, CA
  Sage.

20
Review of Literature

•   Despite the generally poor image of black
  fathers, there is evidence to commend black men
  that seems to escape the attention of researchers
  and writers on the area when they stated
• We choose in our definition to emphasise the
  competence of African American men, prosperous
  and poor, young and old, over the past 400 years.
  Without this competence, so many of us and our
  families would not be doing as well as we are.
  (Allen and Connor, 1997)

21
Review of Literature

• The research did not only provide a description
  of what black fathers do, but also enabled a
  reappraisal in order to identify the things that
  black fathers should do more or less of i.e.
  Fathering style.

22
Constructs

• Father availability
• Residence vs non-residence
• Frequency of contact with the child
• Father involvement
• Scores on care-giving measures
• Father-child relationship
• Ratings of closeness
• Fathering style
• Health, hygiene and grooming finance
  leisure emotional discipline intellectual
  supports

23
Design of the Studies

• Four Studies (Two Pilot/Two Main)
• Three of the studies examined the views of over
  600 children on role of the father one asked
  fathers themselves
• Focused on specific perceptions of children from
  African descent
• Also accessed perspective of children of South
  Asian descent
• First ever research examining family life using
  multi-racial group of children done in Britain

24
Review of Literature

• Generative fathering for black fathers emphasises
  overcoming the image of being a victim.
• Given this assertion, we would expect to see the
  childs raised self-esteem as a consequence of
  generative black fathering.

25
Findings Pilot Study

• Children gave more favourable ratings for the
  involvement of their non-resident fathers than
  their resident fathers.
• Idealisation of the absent father, (Furstenburg
  and Nord, 1985).
• Resident father feels he is contributing well by
  virtue of the fact that he is present in the
  childs home i.e. feel that their role is best
  summarised in terms of them just being there
  (Snarey, 1993).

26
Findings Pilot Study

• Useful in dispelling myths that absent fathers
  are less active than present ones.
• The worldview (beliefs, values and opinions) of
  the father is more important than his residence
  in shaping his relationship with and support of
  his child.

27
Findings Contact with father

• There were benefits of father availability to the
  self-concepts of children
• Fathers appear to be important for childrens
  psychological development but this is not an
  isolated independent effect but is linked to the
  quality of marital and parental relationships in
  the family context within which the child grows
  up. Paternal warmth, emotional closeness and
  playfulness appear particularly important in
  fostering a successful father-child relationship.

28
Findings Father self-ratings

• Black fathers were asked to rate their level of
  involvement with their children.
• These fathers rated their fathering style as
  focusing on health, hygiene and grooming, and
  intellectual activities.

29
Findings Father self-ratings

• Their ratings showed that the children with
  highly involved fathers obtained significantly
  higher scores on the global self-esteem measure.
• Higher levels of black father involvement with
  intellectual activities and emotional support
  were found to improve behaviour self-esteem

30
Findings Fathering style

• One of the differences found between the
  White/European and African/Caribbean fathers was
  that black fathers emphasised more of a
  discipline role through self-report.
• Married, black fathers were most likely to enact
  this role.
• The child-report of black fathering is wholly
  different, suggestive of a more nurturing,
  stimulating role of the father.

31
Findings Fathering style

• For black fathers a lower level of emotional
  support to his children was also linked to
  significantly lower behaviour self-esteem.

32
Findings Fathering Style

• The findings suggested that black fathering
  should feature increased emotional and financial
  support to promote the optimal conditions for the
  childs academic success. These fathering styles
  were linked to elevated behaviour and school
  self-esteem.

33
Findings Fathering style

• To maximise the opportunities for children, black
  fathers also need to consider redressing the
  balance between the activities that are utilised
  to increase social and moral development.
• The findings would further suggest that black
  fathers should redress the balance between the
  financial support of their sons to a fathering
  style that emphasises emotional support, if we
  are to even begin to measure the effect on both
  the actual and perceived emotional behaviour of
  boys in schools.

34
Findings Marital Status

• Several significant findings were reported for
  married black fathers.
• The level of involvement of resident married
  black fathers was significantly higher in
  comparison to resident unmarried black fathers.
• Married black fathers were significantly more
  involved in providing discipline for the child,
  and in supporting them in their recreational
  activities. Increased social self-esteem was also
  found to be an outcome for black children with
  married fathers.

35
Findings Age of the child

• Black fathers also rated themselves as having
  more involvement with their primary school-aged
  children than their secondary school-aged
  children and their younger children.
• The black father also rated himself as making
  higher financial contributions to his older
  children

36
Findings Gender

• There was a trend towards a higher level of
  financial involvement with their sons, which may
  indicate that in their view, black fathers
  attempt to model the role of a financial provider
  for their sons.

37
Findings Gender

• Black girls rated their fathers as providing more
  emotional support compared to black boys. This
  significant finding may be a contributory factor
  in the overrepresentation of boys with emotional
  and behavioural difficulties

38
Findings Residence of the father

• In the two main studies, black children rated
  their non-resident fathers as significantly less
  involved in their lives.
• The findings were that the school and social
  self-esteem are most affected by the lack of a
  father in the home.

39
Findings Residence of the father

• The residence of the father was significantly
  related to positive outcomes for the
  African/Caribbean child.
• Two of the studies provided support for the
  notion that an outcome of quality black fathering
  is improved self-esteem. Children who had a
  resident father also had significantly higher
  school and social self-esteem.
• The African/Caribbean sample in one study
  provided further support for the finding that
  more advanced number skills is a potential
  outcome of having a resident father.

40
Findings Intellectual Development

• Although the African/Caribbean group had a
  significantly higher number of lone-mother
  families, no significant differences between one-
  and two-parent children were found for either
  their cognitive/intellectual development or their
  academic achievement except for one Study which
  produced the findings that black children with
  resident fathers had significantly better
  developed number skills.

41
Findings Family Structure

• The Studies were not able to show that the
  extended family structure provided psychological
  advantages for African/Caribbean children, there
  was some indication of the relative importance of
  contact with the grandparents within the
  African/Caribbean culture(s) and the
  configuration of the black extended family to
  support lone-mothers.
• High mother involvement also had benefits for the
  self-esteem of the children

42
Conclusions

• The black extended family household configures
  around the non-residence of the black father.
• Suggests that the black extended family household
  reflects the social support system used to
  describe the black extended family as it
  manifests in America
• Further, it exemplifies the concept of
  Africanity that represents the cultural
  connection between Africans throughout the
  diaspora.

43
Conclusions

• It was a joint and balanced effort from both
  parents that was more likely to contribute to
  scholastic success.
• Although the relationships with the parents are
  paramount, children, women and men all benefit
  when men are actively involved in the family. In
  short, when fathers assume an equitable parenting
  role, this increases psychological development.

44
Conclusions

• For black families it is positive involvement
  that should be noted as opposed to more
  involvement
• Black fathers would need to develop their own,
  personalised repertoire of physical and
  emotional verbal and non-verbal signs, signals
  and actions to demonstrate the equity of their
  commitment to the emotional development of their
  sons and daughters.

45
Conclusions

• Teachers also have a role even by adjusting their
  perceptions Consideration should be given to
  developing groupwork or individual counselling
  for children of divorce/relationship breakdown.
• Loss groupwork in Child and Adolescent Mental
  Health Services

46
Conclusions

• It is clear that the adults in the childs
  network of support have important roles to play
  in minimising the possible effects of
  marital/relationship breakdown
• Potential parents need to begin to discuss their
  parenting arrangements and styles at the moment
  of conception.
• Is it possible to reverse the legacy of slavery
  and to choose a parent that you want to spend
  your life with?

47
Conclusions

• Given the consistent pattern of unmarried
  mothering within the African/Caribbean
  communities, the communities must feel empowered
  to define what is good and desirable and what
  is bad and undesirable from the standpoint of
  their own interests and conditions of existence.
• The survival of the black family in any form is a
  miracle indicating that the strengths of black
  families remain the kin networks, and extended
  family network.

48
Conclusions

• The finding that the fathers physical presence
  in the home is linked to the advancement of
  number skills is important in that there were no
  specific activities linked with this.
• This suggested that just being there is of
  crucial importance and that black men should be
  simply encouraged to come in to the school and
  justbe there.

49
Conclusions

• However, this thesis is the beginning of a
  demonstration that clearly fathers cannot be
  conceptualised as mothers, given the impact of
  the financial provider role through the eyes of
  both fathers and children.

50
Conclusions

• The perspective of the child is of huge
  importance, as it is the impact of fathering
  behaviour that needs to be explored and
  contrasted with the opinions of the mothers and
  the fathers themselves, particularly when
  examining its relative influence on child
  outcomes.