Who is an ‘Ideal’ Father? Father, Mother and Childrens’ Views

Abstract

The paper focuses on the constructions of the phrase—‘an ideal father’—by integrating findings from six different qualitative studies. Out of these six studies, five are from the city of Baroda while one is from Mumbai, both cities in western India. The total sample included 175 fathers, 50 mothers and 120 children. The studies used semi-structured interviews to elicit data from fathers and mothers about ‘who is an ideal father’? The study also sought children’s notions in the form of responses to open-ended statements. The data was analysed using themes from the generative-fathering framework (Dollahite, 2002; Dollahite and Hawkins, 1997). The results revealed that fathers were most influenced by their own parents in their ideals, followed by close relatives and other sources such as the media, mythology, friends and their respective spiritual gurus. The discussion focuses on understanding the results in terms of change and continuity in fatherhood ideals as well as the use of a generative framework for research on fatherhood.

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