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Researching Young Men and Family Formation: Two Stories
Abstract
Young men are underrepresented in Australian research on family formation, especially young men who are nonmarital fathers, and are not university educated. In this pilot project, an interdisciplinary research team (demography, sociology, and gender studies) based in Australia set out to design an approach that would engage this particular group of young men on the topic of family formation. We decided to employ a nontraditional research method (which we call scripts) in order to engage young men indirectly on this sensitive issue. This article does not report on what we found; rather, our focus is on gender dynamics involving the research team’s imaginings of masculinity in the research process. We highlight and interrogate the gendered and heteronormative assumptions we made in the research design, anticipating that our experience can inform future research on masculinity and family formation.
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Having a child is often treated as a taken for granted part of heterosexual relationships, a norm so entrenched that there is often little discussion amongst couples as to why they want children. In terms of research, while women’s reasons for having children have been explored in detail, little attention has been paid to heterosexual men’s reasons for having children. This article presents a thematic analysis of interview data with 10 Australian heterosexual men in couples who were planning to have a first child in the near future. The men’s responses involved both self-focused motivations, where the child is essentially positioned as an object (e.g. continuing the bloodline), and other-focused motivations, where reasons focused on a future relationship with the child (e.g. teaching and watching a child grow). Our findings show that participants reported self-focused and other-focused motivations for wanting a child, reflecting both traditional and newer approaches to fatherhood.
Background:
Across several European countries family formation is increasingly postponed. The aims of the study were to investigate the desire for family building and fertility awareness in the UK and Denmark.
Methods:
A population-based internet survey was used among women (n = 1,000) and men (n = 237) from the UK (40%) and Denmark (60%). Data covered socio-demographics, family formation, and awareness of female age-related fertility. Data analysis used descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis for studying associations between low fertility awareness and desired family formation.
Results:
The majority of all participants desired two or three children. Two-thirds of the childless participants desired a first child at 30+ years, and one-fifth of the women and one-third of the men desired a last child at age 40. Overall, 83% of women and 73% of men were aware that female fertility starts to decline around 25-30 years. Men had significantly lower fertility awareness. Women who underestimated the impact of age on female fertility were significantly more likely to have a desire or attempted their first child at a higher age.
Conclusion:
Even though the majority were aware of the age-related decrease in female fertility, most desired having children at an age when female fertility has declined. Women who were not sufficiently aware of the impact of advanced age were significantly more likely to have their first child at a higher age. There is a need for developing educational programs for women and men in order to increase the population's knowledge of fertility and risk factors for infertility.
Background
The researcher role is highly debated in qualitative research. This article concerns the researcher-researched relationship.
Methods
A group of health science researchers anchored in various qualitative research traditions gathered in reflective group discussions over a period of two years.
Results
Efforts to establish an anti-authoritarian relationship between researcher and researched, negotiation of who actually “rules” the research agenda, and experiences of shifts in “inferior” and “superior” knowledge positions emerged as central and intertwined themes throughout the discussions. The dual role as both insider and outsider, characteristic of qualitative approaches, seemed to lead to power relations and researcher vulnerability which manifested in tangible ways.
Conclusion
Shifting positions and vulnerability surfaced in various ways in the projects. They nonetheless indicated a number of similar experiences which can shed light on the researcher-researched relationship. These issues could benefit from further discussion in the qualitative health research literature.
While the importance of negativity and negative affects to queer history and theory has been the subject of much recent critical discussion, bad feelings are equally prevalent in contemporary feminist theory. The aim of this article is not to provide a summary overview of a recent negative turn in feminist theory, however, nor to identify the early twenty-first century socio-political causes of this welling up of bad feeling. Rather, its purpose is to consider the way the increasing centrality of studies of affect to feminist histories and politics allows us to reconceptualise these as ‘affective genealogies'. The article examines this by focusing on three representative texts, which it takes as representative of three key moments in the recent affective genealogy of feminism: Rosi Braidotti's Metamorphoses: Towards a Materialist Theory of Becoming (2002); Sara Ahmed's The Promise of Happiness (2010); and Lauren Berlant's Cruel Optimism (2011).
Background: There is limited published research on expectant fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy. We have previously reported higher levels of psychological distress and adverse social factors. Here we report on their expectations of fatherhood and perceived role in pregnancy.
Methods: Observational study of 50 expectant fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy and 50 expectant fathers not in the setting of teenage pregnancy, but living within the same outer metropolitan healthcare region. All fathers were enrolled within the larger Australian Father’s Study. Institutional ethics approval and consent were obtained via mothers. Fathers were recruited from antenatal clinics and community settings. Researchers administered demographic, attitudinal and role in decision-making questionnaires.
Results: Teenage fathers were more likely to smoke, be unemployed, have lower levels of education and be of aboriginal race (all p<0.05). Teenage fathers had a strong preference for natural birth (78%) without surgical or analgesic intervention (74%). 90% and 80% of fathers expressed a positive attitude towards infant vaccination and Down Syndrome screening. Teenage fathers were less likely to identify a role in other maternity related decisions. Only 20% identified a role in decisions on baby equipment, 12% on clothing, 12% on disposable/cloth nappies and 4% on creating a birth plan. Only 12% identified a role in promoting healthy lifestyle and diet in pregnancy. However, 70% of men identified a role in creating a safe home environment. Of concern, attitudes towards breastfeeding were not positive, with only 22% expressing a hope their partners would breastfeed. Most stated they did not care or preferred formula feeding (78%).
Conclusion: Expectant teenage fathers express a strong preference for natural childbirth but identify few paternal roles during pregnancy apart from preparing a safe home environment. Attitudes towards breastfeeding were disappointing and may represent one factor why teenage mothers have poor breastfeeding outcomes.
For more information go to
australianfatherstudy.com
Background: Men's ability to fill the provider role remains a consistent requirement for marriage across the class spectrum and cross-nationally. Fiscal concerns appear less salient for transitions to parenthood or to informal unions such as cohabitation. Objective: This paper evaluates whether marital expectations and marital transitions of new mothers are associated with the economic characteristics of father. Methods: Analyses are based on observed and imputed data on fathers from the first two waves of the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study. Logistic regression models assess factors predicting mothers' initial expectations of marrying their baby's father, and transitions into marital unions by the second interview. Results: Most women expect to marry their baby's father, although estimates are lower when men's data are repaired by imputation. Multivariate analyses find mother's marital expectations are most strongly associated with men's educational attainment, but not with men's earnings at the child's birth. Transitions to marriage are positively associated with men's earnings levels, although estimates are considerably lower than previously reported thresholds. Furthermore, the odds of marrying do not increase monotonically as men's income level rises once missing data are imputed.
Understanding and addressing the sexual risk taking of young men remains a key research, policy, and practice concern in attempts to improve the emotional and physical sexual health of young men and their sexual partners. This article explores one of the ways in which young men attempt to mitigate sexual risk through the assigning of labels to particular young women and using these as a basis for their decisions in relation to sexual activity, contraception, and condom use. The article uses the lens of hegemonic masculinities theory to increase understanding of the role played by the construction and performance of marginalized masculinities and how these in turn are influenced by social exclusionary processes. The article draws on focus group and interview data from 46 young men aged 15 to 17 years living in the northwest of England, purposively selected on the basis of the prevailing policy definitions of social inclusion and exclusion. The article describes a form of marginalized masculinity pertaining to socially excluded young men, which as a result of limited access to other tenets of hegemonic masculinity, is disproportionately reliant on sexual expertise and voracity alongside overt demonstrations of their superiority over women. It is in this context that young women are assigned the labels of "dirty" or "clean" on the basis of a selection of arbitrary judgments relating to dress, demeanor, area of residence, and perceived sexual activities. The motivations of the young men, the impact on young women, and the policy and practice implications are all discussed.
© The Author(s) 2014.
This article compares mothers' experience of having children with more than one partner in two liberal welfare regimes (the United States and Australia) and two social democratic regimes (Sweden and Norway). We use survey-based union and birth histories in Australia and the United States and data from national population registers in Norway and Sweden to estimate the likelihood of experiencing childbearing across partnerships at any point in the childbearing career. We find that births with new partners constitute a substantial proportion of all births in each country we study. Despite quite different arrangements for social welfare, the determinants of childbearing across partnerships are very similar. Women who had their first birth at a very young age or who are less well-educated are most likely to have children with different partners. The educational gradient in childbearing across partnerships is also consistently negative across countries, particularly in contrast to educational gradients in childbearing with the same partner. The risk of childbearing across partnerships increased dramatically in all countries from the 1980s to the 2000s, and educational differences also increased, again, in both liberal and social democratic welfare regimes.
This article critically examines team and collaborative research as an 'academic mode of production'. Our main argument is that while theoretically qualitative social science research is rooted within a postfoundational epistemological paradigm, normative team-based research practices embody foundational principles. Team research relies on a division of labour that creates divisions and hierarchies of knowledge, particularly between researchers who gather embodied and contextual knowledge 'in the field' and those who produce textual knowledge 'in the office'. We argue that a theoretical commitment to a postfoundational epistemology demands that we translate this into concrete research practices that rely on concerted team-based relations rather than divisions of labour, and a reflexive research practice that strives to involve all team members in all aspects of knowledge construction processes.
Much attention has been focused on efforts to reduce unintended pregnancy by improving contraceptive use among high-risk women; however, there is limited information to guide interventions to engage young men in contraceptive decision-making. We conducted focus groups of young men, aged 19-26, from diverse racial backgrounds from low-income communities in the San Francisco Bay Area to examine social norms about sexual relationships and how they impact on contraceptive use. The data were analysed using content analysis. A range of relationships were described, however casual relationships predominated. While young men expressed strong desires to avoid pregnancy in casual relationships, the unpredictable nature of relationships, together with low communication and regard for the women involved, made stressing consistent contraceptive use among partners unlikely. The themes expressed by these young men about sex and behaviour in different relationships illustrate a spectrum of decision-making dilemmas and illustrate the inherent difficulty in fully engaging young men in contraceptive decision-making. A strategy is needed to address relationship values, dynamics and condom use beyond STI-prevention frameworks and young women's ability to make appropriate contraceptive choices in light of the inherent difficulties and uncertainty associated with casual relationships.
The development of modern family patterns of the past decades has been accompanied by substantial changes in social norms, values and gender relations. There is theoretical support for the assumption that the persistence of low fertility levels across Europe is likely to be linked to the incomplete gender revolution, more specifically to the lack of, or only limited changes in the male gender role as opposed to women’s role. In order to have a deeper understanding of the development of fertility, we aim to shed more light on the impact of men’s role orientation on their fertility intentions in this study. Our analyses include men aged 20-44 years in eight countries: Austria, Estonia, East Germany, West Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Poland. The data are extracted from the Population Policy Acceptance Study of the early 2000s. Examining within-country differences, we find that men with egalitarian attitudes seem to have higher fertility aspirations than their traditional counterparts in contemporary Europe. This is supported by both the descriptive and the multivariate analyses. The picture is somewhat less conclusive though when we focus on country-rankings by intended family size and by the prevalence of egalitarian versus traditional attitudes.
The idea of increasing men’s participation in family planning has received periodic attention for the past 20 years, but there is no generally accepted understanding of what men’s involvement actually means. This paper examines the gender implications of ‘male involvement’ for the staff and decision-makers of service delivery programmes, and the gender dynamics surrounding the use of contraceptives, particularly male-dependent methods. It discusses the importance of taking into account the interplay between men’s and women’s roles, rather than focusing on women’s situation (or men’s) alone, with the aim of increasing equality between women and men. Finally, it cautions against forms of ‘male involvement’ which result in men usurping what was formerly women’s territory and thereby worsening existing male dominance.
Résumé
Depuis 20 ans, on se préoccupe périodiquement de la participation des hommes a la planification familiale, mais il n’existe toujours pas de consensus sur ce qué Yon entend par la. L’auteur étudie les implications de cette “participation masculine” pour le personnel et les décideurs des programmes de prestation de services, ainsi qué la dynamique hommes/femmes de l’emploide la contraception, notamment en ce qui concerne les méthodes dependant des hommes. II discute l’ímportance de prendre en consideration l’intrication des roles masculin et féminin plutôt qué de se focaliser sur la situation des femmes (ou des hommes) seulement, pour une plus grande égalité entre hommes et femmes. Finalement, il met en garde contre les formes de “participation masculine” ayant pour résultat l’annexion par les hommes de ce qui était autrefois un territoire reserve aux femmes, et aggravant de ce fait la domination masculine existante.
Resumen
La idea de aumentar la participation del hombre en la planificación familiar ha recibido atención periódica durante los últimos 20 anos, pero no existe un consenso general en cuanto a to qué significa realmente la participation masculina. Este ensayo examina las implicaciones a nivel de genero de la “participation masculina” para el personal y los encargados de la toma de decisiones de los programas de prestación de servicios, y las dinámicas de genero qué rodean el use de métodos anticonceptivos, particularmente los qué dependen del hombre. El ensayo discute la importancia de tomar en consideración la interacción entre el papel del hombre y el de la mujer, en lugar de concentrarse exclusivamente en la situation de la mujer (o del hombre), con el objetivo de aumentar la igualdad entre ambos. Finalmente, hace una advertencia en contra de las formes de “participation masculina” qué resultan en la usurpación por parte del hombre de terreno qué pertenecia anteriorente a la mujer, empeorando por tanto el dominio masculino existente.
Declining fertility throughout much of the modern world has led demographers to question whether individual and couple childbearing behaviour is accurately reflective of the numbers of children people intend to have. Most research into this field has been undertaken in a European context where the emergence of sub-replacement level fertility intentions has occurred. In Australia, studies into childbearing intentions, desires and preferences are gathering momentum as researchers seek to better understand the causes of the country’s fertility trends. Although these sorts of studies are becoming increasingly common, the clear majority of them investigate the childbearing intentions, preferences of desires of Australian women, to the exclusion of men. A main premise of this research is that to understand the ways in which couples negotiate childbearing, researchers must first understand the ways in which individuals form and revise their intentions for childbearing. This study takes as its focus the fertility intentions of Australian men. It investigates the socio-economic, demographic and attitudinal factors associated with their child-number intentions. Using data from twelve waves (2001-2012) of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (HILDA), this research incorporates psychological theories of goal adjustment to examine the life course events most strongly associated with the revision of men’s intentions for children over time. This research finds that most men intend two children, confirming the two-child norm in Australia. The findings also demonstrate that partnered men, younger men, those with high levels of educational attainment and men with high life satisfaction intended, on average, more children. As expected, when men experienced relationship dissolution, periods of unemployment, or the birth of a child, they revised down their intentions for (more) children. Surprisingly, the process of ageing was found to be significantly associated with increasing intentions for children, until the age of 40-44 years, signalling the possible presence of a social age deadline for Australian fathers. The academic and theoretical contribution this research makes is significant. This study is the first to apply behavioural theories to understand the way in which Australian men revise their intentions for children over time. Importantly, it provides a framework from which future studies of the dyadic nature of childbearing decision making can be better understood.
Turning to reflexive journals and fieldnotes, the author reconsiders Foucault’s relations of power through her experiences with five research participants, who are professors of education. The paper explores: (1) the translation of Foucault for an analysis of power; (2) the dynamics of researching up and analyzing from below; and (3) the rethinking of relations of power as also, simultaneously, relations of vulnerability. Metalogues, imagined conversations, extend and challenge Foucault in a negotiation of power/knowledge with the author as she rethinks relations of power as Relations of vulnerability/Relations of power.
This article outlines the main tenets of affect theory and links these to Sloterdijk’s spherology. Where affect foregrounds prepersonal energies and posthuman impulses, spherology provides a lens for considering how humans congregate in constantly reconfiguring socialities in their pursuit of legitimacy and immunity. The article then explores the relevance of “affective spheres” for contemporary social science research. The article’s main argument here is that research of contemporary organisational and professional practices must increasingly be spherogenic, or seeking to build “affective spheres.” The basis of this argument are the in situ complexity and fast-changing nature of practices, and the increasing challenges involved in objectifying or ‘freezing’, and analysing or dissecting such practices. The article draws for its case study on a video-reflexive project conducted in a U.S. health service. The article concludes that the notion of research as spherogenics counterbalances the conventional methodological emphasis on a predetermined stance —whether neutral or political—in our construction and enactment of social science research.
This article experiments with the dialogic epistolary form as a non-traditional representation of ethnographic research on the topic of breastmilk donation. The epistolary genre was chosen because its structure, purpose, and history embodies the key findings of this research, for example, the gulf between milk donors and recipients and the curiosity held by each for the other. The article argues that the dialogic epistolary form provides a more engaging, expansive, and expressive account of the researcher’s role in the ethnographic research process than that offered by traditional academic genres. The article presents research findings in the epistolary form, which provides an accessible and novel presentation of research by inviting readers to occupy the position of both the milk donor and the donor milk recipient. The letters can be used as a resource by health professionals and communities involved in human milk donation or the use of donor milk. The letters are accompanied by an exegesis which offers ethnographers an account of the epistolary genre as a non-traditional form of research representation.
Qualitative feminist studies are much challenged by the contemporary critique of social constructionist postmodernism, as well as the renewed search for the body and materiality. The result is (at least) two diverging research accounts: a renewed feminist materialism, relying on some foundational ontologies and what has been called a new materialist feminist account that constitutes radical ontological rewritings. The aim of this paper is to investigate what kind of researcher subjectivities these different accounts produce for qualitative inquiry. This investigation will be unfolded using an example from a collaborative research process involving 10 PhD students. The example is woven into Deleuze and Guattari’s discussions on the Image of Thought and the three images of thinking outlined in A Thousand Plateaus. The investigation shows that although the aim of our collaborative process was to resist the assumed Cogito/“I” of philosophy and qualitative inquiry, we still got caught up in taken-for-granted images of thinking and doing analysis. A deterritorializing of habits of thinking and practicing in order for new and other researcher subjectivities to emerge required collaborative efforts that put to work a rhizomatic image of thinking and operated from within an ontology of difference.
The influence of gender in qualitative research studies of masculinities is considered in this article. The findings are based on two separate studies of masculinities involving men who participated in semi-structured individual interviews while enrolled at a private research university. Using West and Zimmerman’s theory of gender performance, the authors argue that participants expressed themselves as men and offered responses to interview questions in ways that were aligned with traditional assumptions about gender roles and expectations. Data from the two studies are juxtaposed to illuminate the influence researchers’ gender may have had on data collection and rapport building with male participants. Implications for future qualitative inquiries into gender and masculinities are offered.
Visual and creative methods of data production have become commonplace in social research studies. However, when researchers come to publish this work, the creativity of their data is often constrained by academic conventions that impose dense, dry, flat prose as the communicative exemplar. The priorities of publishing can hinder our ability to write in an accessible way but when we are writing as a project of social justice it is important to engage both cognitively and emotionally with an audience. Drawing on research with mothers and daughters residing in a marginalised area in south Wales, this article focuses on narratives of violence and domestic abuse. Moving from a contextualisation of the topic, to a creative presentation of participants' stories, the article explores the process of liberation through writing; and the ways in which poetic writing exploits reflection and can inspire an audience to make changes.
Cultural norms that view men as peripheral to family life and to decision-making about parenthood have shaped mainstream research agendas and underlie the relative lack of research on men's perspectives on fatherhood. This semi-structured interview study explored the subjective meaning of having children and being a father in the imagined future lives of 16 male university students in Australia. The men generally had well-considered preferences, attitudes and aspirations about fatherhood and shared them readily and articulately, challenging persisting gender stereotypes. We identified four themes in their talk. Fulfilment and contentment dealt with positively looking forward to an adult life encompassing satisfying work, marriage, and children. Traditional and new fatherhood described talk that simultaneously valued a traditional 'breadwinner' role and close, involved fatherhood, and generally failed to address the inherent contradictions in managing these two models of fatherhood. Time of preparation encompassed talk about the perceived necessity of finishing education, establishing a stable, financially rewarding career, and developing personal maturity as preconditions to fatherhood. Models of family and fatherhood referred to the men's frequent reference to their own families as models that they wished to replicate or, at times, correct in their own fatherhood. Altogether, this study provides a justification for systematic and comprehensive research on men's perspectives, preferences and attitudes regarding fatherhood and family.
Background: Declining fertility rates are often attributed to lack of interest in having children by new generations of men and women. However, the extent to which fertility decline is the result of entirely unconstrained personal choice is open to question. While there is a growing body of research demonstrating that young women continue to value having children, young men’s perspectives remain relatively unexamined. Objective: This article aimed to contribute to understanding of contemporary fertility trends by investigating the reproductive attitudes and preferences of young adult men. Methods: 399 single, childless, Australian men aged 18–25 years completed a survey which measured their desired number of children, personal importance of fatherhood and identified reasons for and against having a child. An open‐ended question also assessed participants’ perceptions of the fatherhood role in the context of their future lives. Results: The overwhelming majority of men (96%) wanted to have children, and these men rated the reasons for fatherhood as significantly more influential than the reasons against parenthood. Among men that wanted to remain childfree (4%), the reasons for and against parenthood were rated as equally important. Difficulties in fulfilling the ‘ideal’ fatherhood role (for example, effectively combining involved fatherhood with obligations to provide for the family) were anticipated by many men and were a source of considerable concern. Conclusions: Overall, the men surveyed tended to place a high, positive value on having children, providing further evidence of misalignment between declining fertility rates and the preferences of young women and men.
Displays of hegemonic masculinity within research contexts are often perceived to inhibit the collection of ‘good’ data and present a problem which the researcher must overcome. Instead of being seen as hindering the research process, this article takes such moments as ‘data’, which provide first hand insights into the way male sexuality is made within focus group settings. This environment is seen as constitutive of male sexual subjectivities in the way that it provides a public forum for young men's presentation of self. Through their talk about sexuality young men engage in the management of their own sexual identities, fashioning these through what they reveal and conceal about their sexual selves. In order to meet the objective of the focus group and discuss sexuality ‘seriously’ yet also preserve masculine identity, young men deploy discursive constructions in complex ways. Such demands render the maintenance of an identity which conforms to traditional constructions of masculinity precarious, so that constant slippage between projections of ‘hard’ and ‘softer’ versions of male sexuality occur.
Past fertility studies have focused almost exclusively on surveys of women and adolescents; thus, little is known about the role of adult men in family formation. Because men are underrepresented in national surveys, the literature on young adult men, especially disadvantaged, nonmarital fathers, is particularly lacking. On the basis of a review of past research, this study illustrates men's importance in forming sexual unions and making contraceptive decisions and considers related issues of family formation. In addition, the importance of these processes to fathering children as well as to later paternal involvement is highlighted. Drawing from a life course and structural perspective, a conceptual model is proposed, and a potential research agenda is outlined to address the dearth of research about young adult men's family formation behaviors and early participation in parenting.
While recently there have been renewed interest in women's childbearing intentions, the authors sought to bring needed research attention to understanding men's childbearing intentions. Nationally representative data from the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) was used to examine pregnancy intentions and happiness for all births reported by men in the 5 years preceding the interview. We used bivariate statistical tests of associations between intention status, happiness about the pregnancy, and fathers' demographic characteristics, including joint race/ethnicity and union status subgroups. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to calculate adjusted odds ratios of a birth being intended, estimated separately by father's union status at birth. Using comparable data and measures from the male and female NSFG surveys, we tested for gender differences intentions and happiness, and examined the sensitivity of our results to potential underreporting of births by men. Nearly four out of ten of births to men were reported as unintended, with significant variation by men's demographic traits. Non-marital childbearing was more likely to be intended among Hispanic and black men. Sixty-two percent of births received a 10 on the happiness scale. Happiness about the pregnancy varied significantly by intention status. Men were significantly happier than women about the pregnancies, with no significant difference in intention status. Potential underreporting of births by men had little impact on these patterns. This study brings needed focus to men's childbearing intentions and improves our understanding of the context of their role as fathers. Men need to be included in strategies to prevent unintended pregnancy.
Despite, or because of, theories that problematize concepts of performance audience, few recent studies of audience exist. This paper ponders the relative lack of audience studies, considers obstacles to them, and demonstrates the complexities of audiencing through an exploration of selected Playback Theatre performances. Playback Theatre's characteristics evidence an ancient and yet innovative type of social activism by featuring audience members, giving them agency in the performance, and empowering them to share values and experiences, argue with, and support others through story. Playback Theatre involves a blurring of roles where performers become audience members and audience members become performers; it provides a metaphorical language where performances "answer" performances; and it invites a performative method of research and reporting that features interrogating over evaluating.
The idea of increasing men's participation in family planning has received periodic attention for the past 20 years, but there is no generally accepted understanding of what men's involvement actually means. This paper examines the gender implications of ‘male involvement’ for the staff and decision-makers of service delivery programmes, and the gender dynamics surrounding the use of contraceptives, particularly male-dependent methods. It discusses the importance of taking into account the interplay between men's and women's roles, rather than focusing on women's situation (or men's) alone, with the aim of increasing equality between women and men. Finally, it cautions against forms of ‘male involvement’ which result in men usurping what was formerly women's territory and thereby worsening existing male dominance.
While marriage rates are relatively stable among better-educated men and women, they are rapidly declining among those with low educational attainment. This development has been recognized in the US as a new socioeconomic pattern of marriage. This article uses census data to show that socioeconomic marriage differentials are also increasing in Australia and New Zealand. These differentials have previously been noted independently of each other and of the international picture. In synthesizing the antipodean data, the article documents the new socioeconomic marriage pattern as an international phenomenon. This article further considers the extent to which the available explanations for the new marriage pattern fit the antipodean setting. In general, the factors identified as important in the North American setting are applicable to both Australia and New Zealand. In particular, the poor marriage prospects of men with low educational attainment appear to be common to these post-industrial economies with minimalist welfare states.
Postponed parenthood has been identified as a significant driver of the trends towards smaller families and underachieved fertility aspirations. Understanding men's preferred timing and circumstances for fatherhood is needed to complement existing research among young women and increase understanding of postponed parenthood. We collected quantitative and qualitative data on attitudes regarding the timing of parenthood from 382 young Australian men attending university. Participants valued having a stable relationship and personal maturity before having children, with completed studies, financial security and a permanent yet flexible job also important. Programmes and policies which facilitate the establishment of important 'preconditions' for parenthood would support individuals to achieve their reproductive aspirations.
John Law argues that methods don't just describe social realities but are also involved in creating them. The implications of this argument are highly significant. If this is the case, methods are always political, and it raises the question of what kinds of social realities we want to create. Most current methods look for clarity and precision. It is usually said that only poor research produces messy findings, and the idea that things in the world might be fluid, elusive, or multiple is unthinkable. Law's startling argument is that this is wrong and it is time for a new approach. Many realities, he says, are vague and ephemeral. If methods want to know and help to shape the world, then they need to reinvent themselves and their politics to deal with mess. That is the challenge. Nothing less will do.
Sexualities research is increasingly gaining prominence within, and outside, of academia. This paper will use queer understandings to explore the contingent (re)formation of quantitative data, particularly those that seek to gain insights into Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans populations and lifestyles. I use queer critiques to explore the creation and normalising impulses of quantitative sexualities research and argue that research that addresses \'deviant\'/other/(homo)sexualities brings categories (mainly lesbian and gay) into being. Using three key research events from a large scale quantitative research study of 7,212 respondents, \'Do it with Pride\', the paper examines the (re)formation of quantitative research between researchers, respondents and the questionnaire. In particular the paper: reveals the contingency of research design by discussing the exclusion of the term \'queer\' from the research design, and then questions categories of sexualities as fixed variables by examining; the piloting a non-normative gender question, and the re-coding of sexuality categories in the analysis phase. This points to the (re)creation of research categories, that are not simply instruments of measurements but are actively engaged in the (re)construction of sexualities (including but not limited to sexualities research) within normative frames. The paper finishes by taking this queer critique in a different direction juxtaposing the apparently stable products of quantitative research (questionnaires and reports) with an examination of the transgressive potentials of queer moments in (re)making such research.
The Young Men's Project has been working with young men and young fathers as part of Great Yarmouth Primary Care Trust in the UK since June 2001. The Project works in schools and other educational environments to promote positive personal development, particularly around sex and relationships, and to increase accessibility of sexual health and contraceptive services, and support for young fathers. Young men generally want to look after themselves and to act responsibly in sexual relationships. Knowledge through education and appreciation of how to understand and express themselves as men are crucial. If they are likely to engage in penetrative sex, then being able to access condoms and use them correctly for every sexual encounter is next. Culturally, we set low expectations of young men when it comes to sexual health and taking responsibility. The same is true of our expectations of young fathers. This is not due to their lack of desire to be involved. Our work challenges the much repeated notion that young men are a hard-to-reach group, which throws the responsibility onto them. I believe we should recognise that we, and the services we provide, have been failing to meet their needs.
Researcher-Researched Relationship in Qualitative Research: Shifts in Positions and Researcher Vulnerability
- M Råhem
- L Magnussen
- R Tveit Sekse
- Å Lunde
- T Jacobsen
- A Blystad
Representing Ethnographic Data through the Epistolary Form
- Katherine Carroll