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December 12, 2007

Right-Wing Think Tank Launches Father Report

A literature review undertaken by the Maxim Institute, generally considered a Right-Wing Think Tank, found that fathers do indeed provide a unique contribution to their children’s lives. The benefits of father involvement ‘held true after controlling for a range of factors’.

The ‘unique contribution’ was due to father-child attachment, role modelling, fathers play and some other factors, and includes benefits such as better socio-psychological adjustment, educational outcomes and plain happiness.

The author, Daniel Reed, also says that there is a ‘joint’ positive contribution of mothers and fathers, which would not exist if either one was absent.

Amongst other recommendations the author thinks that a ‘cultural change’ is required that values fathers ‘as parents in their own right rather than simply being viewed as support persons for mothers’. Failure to do so by friends, family and people working with the family was a major predictor in reduced father involvement.

The report is also highly critical of media portrayal of fathers and reminds broadcasters that Codes of Standards require them to be ‘socially responsible’. This includes soaps, sit-coms and advertisements:

“Portrayals of men as ineffective parents needing constant supervision and guidance from their spouse or partner […] subtly and overtly affects the way fathers view themselves affect social expectations about their value as fathers”, the report says.

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