Fathers and Fathering

In the past few decades, research and writing on fathering/fatherhood has burgeoned into a major field of theoretical and empirical inquiry. This scholarship has been multidisciplinary, cross-cultural, and diverse in terms of theoretical underpinnings and methodological approaches. Research on fathering has occurred within psychology, social work, family studies, sociology, feminist studies, and economics. The diverse theoretical perspectives that have underpinned this research have included feminist theories, theories of masculinities, symbolic interaction, family systems theories, role theory, poststructuralism, and varied versions of critical theory (informed by Karl Marx or Michel Foucault). Studies on fathering have employed multiple methodologies, including both qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as a range of theoretically informed methodological approaches (such as grounded theory, narrative analysis, and varied versions of ethnography).

The proliferation of interest and research on fathers and fathering has arisen partly out of the profound social changes in women's and men's lives over the past 40 years, particularly within North America, Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand, and much of Europe. Such changes include men's declining wages; increasing male unemployment; a downward turn in traditional, male-dominated employment fields; sustained growth in women's labor force participation, especially mothers of preschool children; the decline of the nuclear family; a rise in divorce rates; increased incidences of step-fathering and nonresident fathering; and changing ideologies and discourses associated with men's and women's roles and identities.

These have been combined with a strong social emphasis on men's involvement in the domestic sphere and fathers' active participation in all aspects of child rearing. Furthermore, these large socioeconomic and structural changes have been accompanied by an interest in how active or engaged fatherhood can lead to positive and generative results for men, women, and children, as well as by a concern about the effects of fatherless families on childrens' well-being. In short, researchers of diverse political and theoretical orientations have increasingly turned their critical gaze to understanding fathering/fatherhood.