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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how professional men in dual-career relationships craft and enact their fatherhood role ideologies during the transition to fatherhood. In particular, the authors focus on the impact that the development of a more involved approach to fatherhood has on the mother's ability to combine career and family.

This study utilizes a longitudinal, qualitative methodology. Pre- and post-natal interviews were conducted with 18 professional men in dual-career heterosexual relationships.

Although the traditional mode of fatherhood that is rooted in breadwinning continues to be the dominant approach among working fathers in the US, new modes of more involved fathering are emerging. The results of the study indicate that a general shift away from a strict, gendered division of household labor is taking place in today's dual career couples, and this is leading to an increase in men's involvement in childcare. Further, although much of the extant research conceptualizes fatherhood as a role typology, the results reveal that all fathers are involved in caring for their babies, though to varying degrees. Thus the authors propose a continuum of involvement. Finally, the authors discovered how men are finding creative ways to use official and unofficial workplace flexibility to be more involved at home.

The findings offer novel insights into the factors that encourage involved fathering. The authors encourage organizations to create more supportive environments that foster involved fathering by extending paid parental leave benefits to men and providing more access to flexibility.

The purpose of this paper is to characterize such a feature of the gender contract of Russian men as fatherhood escape, as well as to determine the social consequences that it has for family relationship.

The study was carried out in the design of qualitative sociology. The methodology is based on the theoretical construct of a gender contract, adapted to modern Russian society and the concept of social practices. The empirical base consists of six expert interviews with specialists in family psychology and conflictology.

The fatherhood escape in modern Russia is characterized by the depreciation of emotional labor; marking communications with children and caring for them as exclusively female activities; presentation of their employment in the public sphere as a legitimate reason for avoiding family problems; the active use by men of the technique of ignoring replicas of the interlocutor as a technique in communication with family members. This worsens the quality of intra-family communication, leads to the separation of family members from each other, especially children and leads to an increase in their deviant behavior.

The design of a qualitative study makes it impossible to assess the level of prevalence and severity of the phenomenon, this study is a pilot. Its purpose is to record the very fact of the existence of fatherhood escape in everyday family (social) practices. Subsequent studies should be able to show the relationship between fatherhood escape and domestic violence, as well as the role of this trait of the male gender contract in the reproduction of toxic masculinity.

The phenomenon of fatherhood escape and its social consequences in modern Russia is under-studied. This study contributes to the description of this phenomenon on Russian materials and also reveals some of the social consequences of this feature of the male gender contract, in particular its effect on intra-family communication, increasing the risk of deviant behavior of children and complicating the fulfillment by women of the “working mother” gender contract.

This paper's aim is to explore the available evidence on whether becoming a young father can enhance desistance.

Recent literature on young fathers in the justice system was reviewed, alongside the major desistance theories. The findings from the review were explored in five semi‐structured interviews with five young fathers under probation supervision.

Despite the correlation between young fatherhood and offending, very little research has been conducted into the impact of young fatherhood on desistance from crime. Overall, there are good indicators that fatherhood can be a motivational “hook” for enhancing desistance.

Very little is known about the experience or context of fatherhood amongst young male offenders, nor about the relation between young fatherhood and desistance from crime. This paper fills some of the gaps.

This study, inspired by the theory of the separate spheres, considers the social circumstances of employee benefits, examining the needs of fathers in dual-earner families to cope with work and family responsibilities. The purpose of this paper is to explore how high-tech managers view the work-family interface of R & D engineers and analyzes the typical package of discretionary, non-financial, work-family employee benefits.

Relying on the phenomenological approach, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 22 private-sector managers disclosed their shared perception and experience, revealing the informal level at which underlying social principles becomes business strategy, often intuitively.

Values of gender are assimilated into the informal environment and reflected in the selection of benefits which have been effective in attracting labor in demand. Recently these values have been challenged by new ideas of more involved fatherhood, and these are inadequately addressed by the package of benefits.

Larger samples from various socio-cultural settings are needed.

Managers are advised not to be blinded by the financial worth of discretionary employee benefits and consider how these meet the actual, as opposed to stereotypical, needs of employees and their family members. Observing social dynamics and considering non-financial consequences of employee benefits are essential for business-society continuity. Also, organizations of relatively low-social diversity should not alienate themselves from their multicultural environment.

The study unveils the reciprocity between organizations and people. Traditional fatherhood is being contested and negotiated at the work-family interface, as embedded to ongoing changes in the social meaning of gender. That employee benefits help to maintain the masculinity of high-tech, reflects also on gender segregation in the workplace.

The study illustrates how businesses apply social values and describes how such values are processed and reinstated in society as employee benefits.

Due to the limited research on fatherhood and dyspraxia, this study is critical as it highlights the challenges that fathers face in parenting a child that presents with dyspraxia. The purpose of this study is to inform various interventions while simultaneously highlighting a largely neglected area of research.

The principal aim of this study was to explore the subjective challenges that fathers experience in parenting a child that presents with dyspraxia in the Cape Metropole area. This study adopted a qualitative approach utilising an exploratory design to understand and provide in-depth information about fathers' subjective experiences of parenting a child that presents with dyspraxia (Mack et al., 2005). Data were collected using semi-structured individual interviews with fathers.

The authors’ findings highlight that fathers' roles are inextricably more complex, shifting between more traditional conceptions such as the provider toward the all giving and nurturing care. Future research would benefit from adopting a more masculinity-focused framework to determine the effect that learning disorders have on constructing and challenging more traditional gendered constructions of what it means to be a man, masculinity and what it means to be a father, fatherhood and fathering.

The study was limited to the challenges faced by fathers whose children were engaged in some or other treatment plan. In addition, the study was limited to children who presented with dyspraxia, rather than those who had received an official diagnosis and this relates directly to the obscurity and ambiguity surrounding diagnosis of the disorder itself.

The study has shed light in terms of the common features between dyspraxia and that of other developmental disorders. This is further extended to include the comorbidity of this disorder with other learning disabilities.

Mental health professionals may benefit from identifying the issues raised by fathers within this study and to further aid and support both children and parents in the treatment of dyspraxia.

The study has shed much needed light on two very neglected areas – the area of learning disabilities, in particular, the issue of dyspraxia and second, including fathers’ voices in the discussion of their experiences.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of co-parenting, childhood experiences, and satisfaction with fathering in a sample of men in a long-term residential drug rehabilitation program.

A paper and pencil survey was completed by 128 men between the ages of 18 and 68 (M age=30.42 years) in a court ordered residential rehabilitation center for drug misuse. Of the 128 respondents, 40.625 percent (n=52) were fathers and completed a longer survey to assess their co-parenting relationships.

The percentage of men with positive role models did not differ between the fathers and non-fathers, with 40.4 percent of fathers having had a positive role model growing up, χ²(1, n=127)=0.54, p=0.816. Fathers were more likely to report witnessing IPV between their parents during childhood than non-fathers, χ²(1, n=125)=4.7888, p=0.029. Linear regression models examining factors associated with co-parenting agreement and exposure to conflict were significant, but witnessing IPV as a child was the only significant individual predictor.

Exposure to IPV in childhood was a common experience for fathers in residential treatment for substance misuse. Fathers reported significant problems in their co-parenting relationships indicating a need for fatherhood and co-parenting focused services available within residential treatment programs.

There is little research about fathers with co-occurring histories of substance misuse and IPV in residential treatment. This paper is the first to examine co-parenting in this specific population.

Young incarcerated male offenders are at risk of poorer sexual health, adolescent parenthood and lack opportunities for formative relationship and sexuality education (RSE) as well as positive male role models. The purpose of this paper is to report the process of co-production and feasibility testing of a novel, gender-transformative RSE programme with young male offenders to encourage positive healthy relationships, gender equality, and future positive fatherhood.

Using a rights-based participatory approach, the authors co-produced an RSE programme with young offenders and service providers at two UK prison sites using a sequential research design of: needs analysis, co-production and a feasibility pilot. Core components of the programme are grounded in evidence-based RSE, gender-transformative and behaviour change theory.

A needs analysis highlighted the men’s interest in RSE along with the appeal of film drama and peer-group-based activities. In the co-production stage, scripts were developed with the young men to generate tailored film dramas and associated activities. This co-production led to “If I Were a Dad”, an eight-week programme comprising short films and activities addressing masculinities, relationships, sexual health and future fatherhood. A feasibility pilot of the programme demonstrated acceptability and feasibility of delivery in two prison sites. The programme warrants further implementation and evaluation studies.

The contribution of this paper is the generation of an evidence-based, user-informed, gender-transformative programme designed to promote SRHR of young male offenders to foster positive sexual and reproductive health and well-being in their own lives and that of their partners and (future) children.

Considers the exclusionary processes arising from the way in which fathers are excluded from childcare activities. Outlines the parental leave provisions in the UK and explores the nature of the assumptions made about fatherhood. Compares the take up of parental leave by both men and women in other European countries. Concludes that whilst the current system supports a balanced work and home life but the significant gender differences in take‐up of parental leave between men and women means that legislation may be making gender division with respect to early childcare more marked rather than reduced.

This paper seeks to focus on the role of organizations in mediating the impact of national work‐life balance (WLB) policy on employees, in particular fathers.

It presents existing research about WLB policy implementation in organizations as well as the findings of empirical work in insurance and social work in France and the UK (questionnaire survey, case study analysis, interviews with national and sector‐level trade union officials).

These indicate that fathers' take‐up of WLB policies is the outcome of a complex dynamic between national fatherhood regimes, organizational and sector characteristics and the individual employee. They suggest that fathers tend to use WLB measures to spend time with their families where measures increase their sense of entitlement (state policies of paternity leave) or where measures offer non‐gendered flexibility (reduced working time/organizational systems of flexi‐time). In line with other studies it also finds that fathers extensively use informal flexibility where this is available (individual agency).

These findings have implications for the way WLB policies are framed at national and organizational level. At national level they indicate that policies work best when they give fathers a sense of entitlement, by giving specific rights linked to fatherhood (e.g. paternity leave or “daddy month”‐type arrangements), and or by providing universal rights (e.g. to reduced working time and/or flexible working time); however, where measures are linked to childcare they are often framed as mothers' rights when translated to the organizational level. The research also shows that informal flexibility is used and valued by fathers within organizations, but that such informal arrangements are highly subject to local variation and intermediation by line managers and co‐workers; hence, for effective and even coverage they would need to be backed up by formal rights.

Cross‐national comparative research into WLB policy and practice at national and organizational level is very rare. The empirical work presented in this paper, although exploratory, makes a significant contribution to our understanding of WLB policy and practice, particularly as it relates to fathers.

The purpose of this paper is to extensively report the implications of the global trend of declining fertility rates and an increasingly ageing population. The experiences of childless men are mostly absent from gerontological, psychological, reproduction, and sociological, research. These disciplines have mainly focussed on family formation and practices, whilst the fertility intentions, history, and experience of men have been overlooked. Not fulfilling the dominant social status of parenthood provides a significant challenge to both individual and cultural identity. Distress levels in both infertile men and women have been recorded as high as those with grave medical conditions.

The aim of this paper is to provide some insight into the affect involuntarily childless has on the lives of older men. This auto/biographical qualitative study used a pluralistic framework drawn from the biographical, feminist, gerontological, and life course approaches. Data were gathered from in-depth semi-structured biographical interviews with 14 self-defined involuntary men aged between 49 and 82 years from across the UK. A broad thematic analysis highlighted the complex intersections between involuntary childlessness and agency, biology, relationships, and socio-cultural structures.

Diverse elements affected the men’s involuntary childlessness: upbringing, economics, timing of events, interpersonal skills, sexual orientation, partner selection, relationship formation and dissolution, bereavement, and the assumption of fertility. The importance of relationship quality was highlighted for all the men: with and without partners. Quality of life was affected by health, relationships, and social networks. Awareness of “outsiderness” and a fear of being viewed a paedophile were widely reported.

This is a study based on a small self-selecting “fortuitous” sample. Consequently care should be taken in applying the findings to the wider population.

Health and social care policy, practice and research have tended to focus on family and women. The ageing childless are absent and excluded from policy, practice, and research. Recognition of those ageing without children or family is urgent given that it is predicted that there will be over two million childless people aged 65 and over by 2030 (approximately 25 per cent of the 65 and over population). The consequences for health and social care of individuals and organisations are catastrophic if this does not happen.