Publication type
Report
Series
Contemporary Fathers in the UK
Authors
Publication date
January 1, 2024
Summary:
Content:
‘The kids are alright’ review of longitudinal studies investigates the quantitative data about fathers of adolescents (ages 10-18 years inclusive), father-adolescent relationships, and coparenting during adolescence that has been collected in six large-scale UK longitudinal studies. It is aimed at an audience of researchers and research funders. The six longitudinal studies reviewed are: the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), the first ‘Growing Up in Scotland’ birth cohort study (GUS), the first and second Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE) studies (Next Steps and Our Future) and ‘Understanding Society’ (the UK Household Longitudinal Study). Resources for research studies are tight, and these multi-purpose studies have broader aims than researching fathers. Yet collecting equivalent data about fathers and mothers is central to researching the lives and development of children, including adolescent children.
Aims:
This review’s aims are to identify ‘fathers-in-adolescence’ data collection and data analysis gaps, the implications of study design for data about fathers, and opportunities for future analysis.
Methods:
Using study documentation available online, a desk review was carried out of: 1) the ‘father-factor’ content of the questionnaires and interviews which collected data from fathers, mothers and children during children’s adolescence in the six selected longitudinal studies; 2) features of study design connected to the breadth and quality of the fathers-in adolescence data collected. ‘The kids are alright father-factor framework’ was developed for categorising data collected in the six longitudinal studies about father involvement (three types: engagement, accessibility and responsibility), father-child relationships, co-parenting and other aspects of fathering during children’s adolescence. To identify analysis gaps, the breadth of fathers-in-adolescence’ data which had been collected by the six longitudinal studies was compared with the content of published analyses of these studies in the Fatherhood Institute’s extensive and systematically collected Literature Library. In this way, it was identified where data collected has not been analysed within publications in the Literature Library.
Subjects
Link
#568143