AUSÊNCIA PATERNA E SUAS REPERCUSSÕES SOBRE O DESENVOLVIMENTO INFANTIL

O presente estudo teve por objetivos a) investigar as repercussões da ausência paterna sobre o desenvolvimento da criança; b) descrever o conteúdo intrapsíquico de crianças com pais presentes e de crianças com pais ausentes no lar. Para tanto foram estudados três casos de crianças em idade escolar que freqüentavam uma instituição não governamental da cidade de Santos e utilizou-se dos instrumentos entrevista semi-estruturada com as mães e Procedimento de Desenho-Estória com Tema com as crianças. A aplicação foi feita nos seguintes termos, pediu-se ao participante que desenhasse uma criança e, em seguida que contasse uma estória sobre o desenho. Após, foi solicitado à criança que desenhasse o pai dessa criança e que contasse uma estória sobre esse mesmo desenho. Optamos também por aplicar o Teste das Matrizes Coloridas de Raven - Escala Especial com as crianças. Embora cada caso tivesse revelado suas peculiaridades, os resultados mostraram indicativos de distúrbios da identidade sexual, desamparo, insegurança, tendências depressivas, além de associação entre a ausência paterna, déficit cognitivo e/ou inibição intelectual. Foi também observado em um dos casos, dificuldades da mãe em permitir que o pai paternasse . Concluiu-se que a ausência paterna foi percebida pela criança não somente como a falta da pessoa do pai no lar, mas sim por sua omissão; somando-se ao fato de que a internalização da figura paterna não pareceu determinada pelo laço biológico, mas sim pela possibilidade de oferecimento à criança de identificação e afeto. Entendeu-se com esse estudo que o desenvolvimento psíquico saudável pode ser facilitado pela introjeção das boas figuras materno/paternas pela criança. Sendo assim, estudos dedicados ao tema da paternidade são tão importantes de serem explorados na atualidade quanto o foram aqueles destinados à maternidade ao longo da história da psicologia do desenvolvimento e da psicanálise. (AU)

The influence of fathers and other significant male figures on girls' well -being and achievement in early adolescence

Changes in the demographic structure of American families have highlighted the need to reevaluate fatherhood. Research illustrates that paternal involvement positively affects child development, but father absence has increased due to rising rates of divorce, cohabitation, and non-marital childbirth. There is evidence that other male figures can function as effective father surrogates. However, information is limited, particularly with respect to female development. ^ This study examined differences in well-being, achievement, and paternal support among girls in four father categories: (a) Biological Father, (b) Step-Father, (c) Surrogate Father, and (d) No Father. Maternal support, economic hardship, and life stressors were included as potential covariates. Interviews were conducted with an ethnically and economically diverse sample of 694 sixth and eighth grade children. The sample included boys to assess the extent to which the findings were unique to girls. Measures included quantitative and qualitative support from father figures and indices of self-esteem, loneliness, and depression. Standardized test scores and classroom grades were also obtained from school records. ^ Girls with biological fathers had higher achievement test scores than girls in the other father categories, but there were no other differences related to the presence or absence of a father-figure. Biological fathers also provided greater quantitative and qualitative support than step- and surrogate fathers. Surrogate fathers provided a greater amount but lower quality of support than step-fathers. ^ Girls who received lower levels of support from biological fathers reported lower self-esteem and greater loneliness, compared to fatherless girls and those receiving low support from other father figures, suggesting that low support from biological fathers may be especially distressing. On the other hand, girls with low biological father support had higher achievement scores compared to fatherless girls and those who received low support from step- and surrogate fathers. Thus, the mere presence of the biological father appears to facilitate achievement, regardless of the level of support he provides. ^ This study highlights the supportive characteristics of different father figures and their influence on well-being and achievement in females. Future research should focus on the dynamics of surrogate father relationships and the specific characteristics that differentially affect developmental outcomes. ^

Understandings of transnational families in debates on Migration and development

International migration sets in motion a range of significant transnational processes that connect countries and people. How migration interacts with development and how policies might promote and enhance such interactions have, since the turn of the millennium, gained attention on the international agenda. The recognition that transnational practices connect migrants and their families across sending and receiving societies forms part of this debate. The ways in which policy debate employs and understands transnational family ties nevertheless remain underexplored. This article sets out to discern the understandings of the family in two (often intermingled) debates concerned with transnational interactions: The largely state and policydriven discourse on the potential benefits of migration on economic development, and the largely academic transnational family literature focusing on issues of care and the micro-politics of gender and generation. Emphasizing the relation between diverse migration-development dynamics and specific family positions, we ask whether an analytical point of departure in respective transnational motherhood, fatherhood or childhood is linked to emphasizing certain outcomes. We conclude by sketching important strands of inclusions and exclusions of family matters in policy discourse and suggest ways to better integrate a transnational family perspective in global migration-development policy.

Evaluation of a Brief Intervention to Assist Health Visitors and Community Practitioners to Engage with Fathers as Part of the Healthy Child Initiative

Aims: To improve engagement of Health Visitors and Community Practitioners delivering the Healthy Child Programme with fathers. To evaluate a one-day, father-focused workshop with a supporting handbook for Practitioners. To identify institutional and organisational barriers to engagement with fathers. Background: The UK government policy encourages health professionals to engage with fathers. This derives from robust evidence that fathers’ early involvement with their children impacts positively on emotional, behavioural and educational development. Yet, there is little evidence that the importance of engaging fathers is reflected in Health Visitor training or that primary-care services are wholly embracing father-inclusive practice. The Fatherhood Institute (FI), a UK charity, has developed a workshop for Practitioners delivering the Healthy Child Programme. Method: A ‘before and after’ evaluation study, comprising a survey followed by telephone interviews, evaluated the impact of the FI workshop on Health Visitors’ and Community Practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in practice. A total of 134 Health Visitors and Community Practitioners from eight NHS Trusts in England attended the workshop from November 2011 to January 2014 at 12 sites. A specially constructed survey, incorporating a validated questionnaire, was administered before the workshop, immediately afterwards and three months later. Telephone interviews further explored participants’ responses. Findings: Analysis of the questionnaire data showed that the workshop and handbook improved participants’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviour in practice. This was sustained over a three-month period. In telephone interviews, most participants said that the workshop had raised their awareness of engaging fathers and offered them helpful strategies. However, they also spoke of barriers to engagement with fathers. NHS Trusts need to review the training and education of Health Visitors and Community Practitioners and take a more strategic approach towards father-inclusive practice and extend services to meet the needs of fathers.

«We need more women in managerial jobs» – Gender equality and management in the Nordic context : Deconstruction and critical perspectives

Focusing on the Nordic context, this article highlights complexities between gender equality discourse established at the societal level and discursive practice in organizations, particularly in relation to management, managing and managers. This research task is carried out by deconstructing a management text, and grounding the deconstruction in critical feminist literature. This analysis illustrates how managerial discourse is challenged and questioned by pro-egaliterian arguments in the Nordic context. However, it also demonstrates the pervasiveness of the gendered elements in managerial discourse, which relies on specific conceptions of parenthood where motherhood is constructed as problematic whereas fatherhood remains absent – and thus unproblematic. It is suggested that the ‘Nordic case’ provides a fruitful basis for similar studies in other societal contexts in Europe.

Job-related strain and sexual health difficulties among heterosexual men from three european countries: The role of culture and emotional support

Introduction. Epidemiological evidence for the association between job-related stress and sexual difficulties in men is largely lacking. Little is known about the factors that may mediate or moderate this relationship. Aim. This study analyzes the association between job-related difficulties and men’s sexual difficulties. Main Outcome Measures. Job-related difficulties were measured by 10 yes/no questions that addressed a range of adverse workplace situations. The experience of sexual difficulties in the past 12 months was assessed by using seven dichotomous indicators developed in the National Study of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) 2000. Method. Analyses were carried out using data from a 2011 online study of Portuguese, Croatian, and Norwegian men (N = 2,112). Multivariate logistic regression and mediation analysis were used to test the hypothesized association. Results. Men with job-related concerns reported lower sexual satisfaction than men without such concerns did (F = 7.53, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed the association between job-related and sexual health concerns. The odds of experiencing one or more sexual health difficulties in the past 12 months were about 1.8 times higher among men who reported the highest levels of workplace difficulties than among men who experienced no such difficulties. The odds of reporting sexual health difficulties were significantly reduced by a higher income (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.87, P < 0.01), emotional intimacy with one’s partner (AOR = 0.93, P < 0.001), having children (AOR = 0.62–0.66, P < 0.01), and country-specific effects (AOR = 1.98–2.22, P < 0.001). In all three countries, the relationship between job-related and sexual health difficulties was mediated by anxiety and depression. Conclusions. The findings suggest that negative mood is the mechanism behind the association between workplace strain and sexual difficulties. Emotional support, such as couple intimacy and fatherhood, can reduce—independently from sociocultural and socioeconomic factors—the risk of sexual health concerns.

Convergence of gender roles in a globalized world: international comparison of family and gender roles

This paper examines emerging and changing gender roles in different regions of the world. Using data on 12 countries from last three ISSP Special Modules “Family and Changing Gender Roles” (1994, 2002 and 2012), we compare the evolution of gender roles about motherhood and fatherhood and its relation with the extension of women as breadwinners around the world: four Western Europe countries, representatives of different models of Welfare State (Germany, United Kingdom, Norway and Spain) plus United States, three former Soviet nations (Russia, Poland and Czech Republic), two Latin American countries (Chile and Mexico) and two Asian nations (Japan and Taiwan). Data show that family change (measured both in terms of attitudes and social practices) is spreading from Western contexts to other regions of the world, although the pace of this change varies from one country to another, depending on cultural, economic and political factors.

La théorie du comportement planifié appliquée à l’engagement paternel lors de la transition à la parentalité

L’engouement de la recherche pour la paternité, observé depuis les années 80, a permis d’identifier une liste de variables considérées comme déterminant l’engagement paternel. Toutefois, peu d’efforts ont été faits pour comprendre le processus par lequel les hommes deviennent pères et comment ces différents facteurs interagissent pour mener aux comportements des pères. À cet égard, la théorie du comportement planifié (Ajzen, 1991), postulant que le comportement est déterminé par l’intention d’un individu, elle-même déterminée par les attitudes envers le comportement, la norme subjective et la perception de contrôle sur le comportement, constitue une avenue intéressante et peu étudiée afin d’expliquer les comportements d’engagement paternel de nouveaux pères. Ainsi, 300 couples hétérosexuels attendant leur premier enfant ont complété des questionnaires pré et postnataux évaluant les différentes composantes de la théorie du comportement planifié. Les résultats suggèrent que la présence de croyances d’essentialisme biologique chez les hommes et leur perception que des éléments de leur environnement limitent leur engagement sont associés négativement avec leur intention de participer aux tâches de soin. Il apparait également que les intentions des hommes à être engagés auprès de leur enfant, formulées avant la naissance de leur premier enfant, permettent de prédire leurs comportements postnataux. De plus, des variables postnatales maternelles sont liées à la participation des pères aux tâches de soin, plus particulièrement les attitudes d’essentialisme biologique des mères, qui de surcroît interagissent avec l’intention prénatale des pères dans la prédiction des comportements paternels. Ainsi, de plus faibles croyances essentialistes chez les mères sont associées à une plus grande participation des pères, particulièrement dans le contexte où ceux-ci avaient de plus faibles intentions prénatales. Il est donc important de considérer davantage les croyances et attentes des hommes avant qu’ils deviennent pères et l’interaction de ces caractéristiques avec celles des mères, afin de mieux comprendre les comportements d’engagement paternel dans des familles biparentales. Des interventions visant à réfuter les croyances essentialistes de futurs ou nouveaux parents quant aux compétences des hommes et des femmes s’avèrent une piste prometteuse pour favoriser un plus grand engagement paternel.