The Meaning of Fatherhood for Midlife Fathers of Adult Children

University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2004 Still Always the Dad’: The Meaning of Fatherhood for Midlife Fathers of Adult Children Truett Paul McAnear University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation McAnear, Truett Paul, "Still Always the Dad’: The Meaning of Fatherhood for Midlife Fathers of Adult Children. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2004. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/2287 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Truett Paul McAnear entitled "Still Always the Dad’: The Meaning of Fatherhood for Midlife Fathers of Adult Children." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Psychology. Charles L. Thompson, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Elaine Seat, Gary Klukken, Priscilla Blanton, William A. Poppen Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Truett Paul McAnear entitled “‘Still Always the Dad’: The Meaning of Fatherhood for Midlife Fathers of Adult Children.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Psychology. ___Charles L. Thompson_________ Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: ___Elaine Seat____________ ___Gary Klukken__________ ___Priscilla Blanton________ ___William A. Poppen______ Accepted for the Council: _____Anne Mayhew____ Vice Chancellor and Dean of Graduate Studies (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) “Still Always the Dad”: The Meaning of Fatherhood for Midlife Fathers of Adult Children A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Truett Paul McAnear August, 2004 Copyright @ 2004 by T. Paul McAnear All rights reserved ii Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my family; especially my wife, Sharon, and my children, Erin and Matt, whose steadfast love and commitment provided the essential inspiration for this research. This dedication also includes my parents, Ann and Ken McAnear, who taught me the intrinsic meaning and value of parenting across the lifespan. I am grateful that they are “still always” my parents even as I embrace my role as “still always the dad.” iii Acknowledgments I wish to express my deep gratitude to the members of my doctoral committee whose support, guidance, and affirmation were dependable and unwavering throughout the research process. I especially thank Dr. Charles Thompson for his affirmation and faith in my research abilities. His openness and candor about life and research humanized the process and helped me to stay the course. Thank you to Dr. Priscilla Blanton for introducing me to Child and Family Studies, especially fatherhood research, and for being there for me at many critical points along the way. Thank you to Dr. Elaine Seat who coached me through numerous research projects, consistently believed in me, and steadfastly encouraged me to “get it done”. Her pragmatic perspective was always clarifying. Thank you to Dr. Bill Poppen who introduced me to Dr. Seat and the world of engineering teams, helped me to differentiate between group and family dynamics, and consistently came through as needed with essential guidance and support. Finally, I thank Dr. Gary Klukken for his support and insights regarding both my research and my professional development. He was always there to help work through inevitable obstacles along the way. I also want to express my deep gratitude to my research team members; Melissa Bartsch, Kim Bolton, Alice McCurry, and Brian Spillman. Their commitment of many hours to transcript analysis just for the “fun of it” contributed substantially to the completion of this project. They taught me a great deal about phenomenological research and about friendship and I am grateful. iv Abstract This study describes the subjective experience of being an involved midlife father with adult children. While previous fatherhood research has focused primarily on the impact of father involvement on child outcomes, researchers have only recently begun to explore the impact of father involvement on the fathers themselves. Within this literature minimal research is evident regarding the impact of fatherhood on men at midlife. This study addresses this gap in the literature with a phenomenological investigation of the experience of father involvement for midlife fathers of adult children. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 9 midlife fathers regarding their experience of father involvement. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using the Colaizzi (1978) method of empirical-phenomenological analysis. Through individual and group analysis of the participant descriptions the investigator generated a thematic description of the experience of involved fatherhood at midlife. This description was comprised of three themes; Accommodation: Continuity/ Change, Validation: Satisfaction/ Loss, and Generativity: Legacy/ Despair. These themes emerged from a ground of Relational Comparison including relationships with children when younger, with own father, with other fathers, and with spouse. The findings generally confirmed the continued significance of father involvement for these men at midlife suggesting that fatherhood continued to play a central role in their lives, provided a primary source of life satisfaction, and constituted one of their most valued contributions. v Table of Contents Chapter 1 ........................................................................................................................... 1 Background..................................................................................................................... 1 Problem Statement.......................................................................................................... 3 Purpose............................................................................................................................ 3 Definitions....................................................................................................................... 5 Involved fatherhood.................................................................................................... 5 Midlife.........................................................................................................................5 Adult children ............................................................................................................. 6 Participants.................................................................................................................. 6 Phenomenological interview....................................................................................... 7 Scope of Study ................................................................................................................ 7 Chapter 2 Review of Literature....................................................................................... 8 Conceptualization of Father Involvement....................................................................... 8 Father Involvement and Child Outcomes ..................................................................... 16 Father Involvement and Men’s Development............................................................... 18 Father Involvement at Midlife ...................................................................................... 25 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 29 Chapter 3: Method.......................................................................................................... 30 Rationale for Method .................................................................................................... 30 Philosophical Framework ............................................................................................. 30 Participants.................................................................................................................... 32 Data Collection ............................................................................................................. 36 Bracketing interview................................................................................................. 36 Interview process ...................................................................................................... 37 Creation of protocols................................................................................................. 38 Data Analysis...............................................................................................................

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