Generative Fathering Beyond Deficit Perspectives

by Alan J. Hawkins; David C. Dollahite

• ISBN13: 9780761901174
• ISBN10: 0761901175
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-11-07
• Publisher: Sage Publications

Summary

Much of contemporary scholarship on fathers comes from a deficit model, focusing on men's inadequacies as parents. This edited volume assembles a group of prominent scholars who go beyond a deficit model of fatherhood to what the editors call a generative fathering perspective. The generative fathering approach, inspired by the developmental theories of Erik Erikson and building on the pioneering research of John Snary, sees the work fathers do for their children in terms of caring for and contributing to the life of the next generation. The editors describe generative fathering, placing it in contrast to the role-inadequacy perspective of fatherhood. Contributors then elaborate on generative fathering in terms of gender, ethnicity, and historical perspectives and present research that helps us understand generative fathering in challenging life circumstances, such as special-needs children, teenage fathering, and divorce and remarriage. Applications for the generative fathering perspective are presented in terms of family life education, clinical work, and scholarly discourse. The editors conclude the volume with a chapter on ways to teach about generative fathering in college courses. Supported by both qualitative and quantitative research, this book goes beyond the frequent identification of fathers as primarily absent, abusive, deadbeat, deficient, or unnecessary, and helps us to understand fathers as men working to build caring bridges across generations.

Table of Contents

Foreword

The Next Generation of Work on Fathering

PART ONE: BUILDING A PERSPECTIVE OF GENERATIVE FATHERING - Alan J Hawkins and David C Dollahite

Beyond the Role-Inadequacy Perspective of Fathering - David C Dollahite, Alan J Hawkins and Sean E Brotherson

Fatherwork

A Conceptual Ethic of Fathering as Generative Work - Kathleen Gerson

An Institutional Perspective on Generative Fathering

Creating Social Supports for Parenting Equality - William D Allen and Michael Connor

An African Amercian Perspective on Generative Fathering - Robert L Griswold

Generative Fathering

An Historical Perspective

PART TWO: EXPLORING GENERATIVE FATHERING IN CHALLENGING CIRCUMSTANCES - Sean E Brotherson and David C Dollahite

Generative Ingenuity in Fatherwork with Young Children with Special Needs - J Lyn Rhoden and Bryan E Robinson

Teen Dads

A Generative Fathering Perspective versus the Deficit Myth - Kay Pasley and Carmelle Minton

Generative Fathering after Divorce and Remarriage

Beyond the `Disappearing Dad' - Alfred DeMaris and Geoffrey L Greif

Single Custodial Fathers and Their Children

When Things Go Well - Anna Dienhart and Kerry Daly

Men and Women Cocreating Father Involvement in a Nongenerative Culture

PART THREE: ENCOURAGING THE APPLICATION OF GENERATIVE FATHERING IN PRACTICE AND SCHOLARSHIP - Glen F Palm

Promoting Generative Fathering through Parent and Family Education - Anna Dienhart and David C Dollahite

A Generative Narrative Approach to Clinical Work with Fathers - Rob Palkovitz

Reconstructing `Involvement'

Expanding Conceptualizations of Men's Caring in Contemporary Families - William J Doherty

The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

Fathering as a Contested Arena of Academic Discourse - David C Dollahite, Stephanie N Morris and Alan J Hawkins

Questions and Activities for Teaching about Generative Fathering in University Courses