Exploring mothers as barriers to young fathers’ involvement in their children’s lives: the perspectives of young men and women.
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Date
2020
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Abstract
More than half of children in South Africa do not have regular contact with their biological
fathers. Children and families without a father figure have been associated with negative life
outcomes, including poverty, violent behaviour, and emotional disturbances. Emerging
research on fatherhood suggests that many young fathers want to be involved in the lives of
their children. They want to play positive roles and become good role models for their
children. However, there are many factors that hinder father involvement, including
interpersonal relations, especially the relationship between biological parents; the financial
situation of the father and cultural practices such as inhlawulo and ilobolo. Therefore, the
overall aim of this study is to explore how mothers may become a barrier to young fathers’
involvement in their children’s lives. To achieve this, the study draws on rich findings
obtained from conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews with seventeen young men
(seven) and women (ten) who were students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The
findings suggest that young fathers want to build a stable relationship with their children,
change the stereotypes about them and build a new narrative of fatherhood. However, they
cited financial constraints as inhibiting them from achieving their status of fathers. Young
mothers, on the other hand, felt that a father who is supportive during pregnancy is likely to
be a good father; whereas a father who is not supportive is likely to abandon his child. The
entry of a new sexual partner created conflict and tension in the relationship and subsequently
affected father involvement. Young mothers used the child as bait to force the father into
staying in the relationship. Additionally, regularly passing negative remarks about the father
created a long-lasting memory in the child’s mind that is likely to adversely affect the fatherchild
relationship. The study, therefore, concludes that poor interpersonal relations between
biological parents disproportionately affect father involvement in their child’s life, especially
for young unemployed and student fathers. In this regard, mothers are encouraged to make
decisions that are in the best interest of the child. Psycho-social initiatives and future research
should focus on strategies that would support the involvement of young unemployed fathers.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.