Ann Buchanan

The role of father involvement in children's later mental health.

Data on 8441 cohort members of the National Child Development Study were used to explore links between father involvement at age 7 and emotional and behavioural problems at age 16, and between father involvement at age 16 and psychological distress at age 33, controlling for mother involvement and known confounds. Father involvement at age 7 protected against psychological maladjustment in adolescents from non-intact families, and father involvement at age 16 protected against adult psychological distress in women. There was no evidence suggesting that the impact of father involvement in adolescence on childrens later mental health in adult life varies with the level of mother involvement.

The Role of Mother Involvement and Father Involvement in Adolescent Bullying Behavior

It has been suggested that bullying behavior at school may be linked to parenting and family characteristics. Based on data from 1,147 adolescents aged 14 to 18 years in Britain, this study explored whether father involvement can protect against offspring bullying behavior. Results showed that low father involvement and low mother involvement contributed significantly and independently to bullying behavior in adolescents. Neither the association between father involvement and bullying nor the one between mother involvement and bullying was higher for sons than for daughters. There was evidence showing that the impact of the father-child relationship depended on the closeness of the mother-child relationship in that father involvement protected more when mother involvement was lower.

What predicts good relationships with parents in adolescence and partners in adult life: findings from the 1958 British birth cohort.

This study drew on data from the National Child Development Study to explore the role of father involvement and mother involvement at age 7 in father-child and mother-child relations at age 16, and the role of closeness to father and closeness to mother at age 16 in quality of relationship with partner at age 33. Closeness to mother was associated with closeness to father, intact family structure and academic motivation, and closeness to father with closeness to mother, early father involvement, less emotional and behavioral problems in adolescence, male gender and academic motivation. Closeness to father at age 16 was more strongly related to level of father involvement at age 7 for daughters than for sons and to closeness to mother for sons than for daughters. Marital adjustment at age 33 was related to good relationships with siblings, mother, and father at age 16; less current psychological distress; female gender; and educational attainment.

Father Involvement in Childhood and Trouble With the Police in Adolescence Findings From the 1958 British Cohort

This longitudinal study investigated the role of early father involvement (at age 7) in juvenile delinquency controlling for the effect of mother involvement at age 7 and other risk and protective factors. For both genders, family size in childhood and low academic motivation in adolescence were positively related to trouble with the police at age 16. Uniquely for boys, IQ and father involvement were negatively related to trouble with the police. Trouble with the police in adolescence was also related with non-intact family structure in childhood in girls, and with parental criminality in boys

The Protective Role of Parental Involvement in Adolescent Suicide

This study of 2,722 adolescents aged 14-18 years explored whether parental involvement can protect against adolescent suicide attempts. Compared to their counterparts suicide attempters were more likely to have been in trouble with the police, to report lower levels of parental interest and academic motivation, and to report suicidal ideation and using alcohol or an illegal drug when they feel stressed. They were also less likely to reside with both parents. The association between parental involvement and suicidal behaviour was not stronger for sons than for daughters or for adolescents who had experienced family disruption than for those who grew up in two-parent families.

Parental background, social disadvantage, public care, and psychological problems in adolescence and adulthood

OBJECTIVE To assess whether the structure of the parental background (birth, restructured, widowed, single) or the context (severe social disadvantage or care) in childhood is associated with psychological problems in adolescence and adulthood. METHOD Data on 8,441 cohort members of the National Child Development Study were used to explore the impact of parental background on maladjustment at age 16, as assessed by the Rutter A Health and Behaviour Checklist, and psychological distress at age 33, as assessed by the Malaise Inventory. RESULTS Restructured parenting (without disadvantage or care) was not a risk factor for maladjustment at age 16. Rather, a childhood experience of care or social disadvantage was significantly related to psychosocial problems at age 16. Psychological distress at age 33 was associated with maladjustment at age 16. A childhood experience of care was associated with a tendency to adult psychological distress in men, as was growing up with a single parent. CONCLUSIONS It is not the structure of the family background but the context that is more strongly associated with maladjustment in adolescence. A childhood experience of single parenthood and an experience of care predicted adult psychological distress in men but not in women.

Filling the Parenting Gap? Grandparent Involvement With U.K. Adolescents

With people living longer and more mothers working, there is some evidence that grandparents are more involved in rearing the next generation. Although there is research in the United Kingdom on kinship care, there is no national research on the extent of grandparent involvement from the perspective of young people. This, the first national survey of 1,478 adolescents in England and Wales, demonstrates the very considerable amount of informal care given by grandparents to adolescents.The findings showed that factors in the wider ecology of children, their parents, grandparents, and the community influenced grandparent—grandchild involvement. In particular, more regular contact and stronger grandparent/grandchild closeness, greater parental encouragement to visit grandparents, better health in grandparents, and less deprivation in the community were significantly associated with more active grandparent involvement. The article concludes that because grandparents may be filling the parenting gap for hard-working parents, there is a case for greater recognition of their role as family supporters.

Are Care Leavers Significantly Dissatisfied and Depressed in Adult Life

Using data from the National Child Development Study (NCDS), Ann Buchanan explores the links between children who have been ‘in care’ (as they were known pre-Children Act 1989), life satisfaction in adult life, psychological problems at 16 and depression at 33. In adult life, children who had been in care were less satisfied with their lives and were significantly more at risk of psychological problems at age 16 and depression at age 33. Despite this finding, three out of four children did not have psychological problems at 16, and four out of five did not have such problems at 33. Those who were satisfied with their lives were more likely to have qualifications, jobs and partners, but since life satisfaction can relate to out-of-home and out-of-work activities, this paper suggests that creating opportunities for young people to develop these outside interests as they grow up may increase their sense of self-worth and indirectly protect them from later mental health problems.

Childhood families of homeless and poor adults in Britain: A prospective study

Abstract Using longitudinal data from the British National Child Development Study which traced some 17,000 children born in England, Scotland and Wales in one week in March 1958, this study investigated the role of early father’s and mother’s involvement in social and economic disadvantage (experience of homelessness, state benefits receipt, and subsidized housing) in adult life. Data from 5880 cohort members showed that in women being married was negatively related to all three indicators of disadvantage. In men, large family size in childhood and current psychological distress were positively related to the three indicators of disadvantage. For both genders low educational attainment predicted both living in subsidized housing and receiving state benefits. Both father’s and mother’s involvement in families of lower socio-economic status were highly protective against an adult experience of homelessness in sons.

Young people's views on being looked after in out-of-home-care under The Children Act 1989

Abstract This paper describes a project to inform and to elicit the views on The Children Act 1989 of forty five young people who were currently being looked after by English local authorities in out-of-home-care. The full findings are reported elsewhere (Buchanan, Wheal, Walder, Macdonald, & Coker, 1993). One of the key principles of The Children Act 1989 was that children and young people should, in the light of their age and understanding, be consulted and participate in decisions affecting their lives, provided that this approach did not jeopardise their welfare. Throughout 1991 the Department of Health in London orchestrated an impressive training initiative to ensure that all those who had a role in implementing the Act were aware of the principles that informed the legislation. Leaflets were also prepared for young people who were being looked after in foster or residential care. During this period I asked a young man in a local authority residential establishment, what he knew about the new law. “No one tells me anything”, he replied. This was worrying because without the necessary information, such young people would poorly equipped if they wished to participate in decisions affecting their lives, and more seriously they would be poorly protected should they have reason to complain about their care. During the late 1980s and early 1990s there had been a number of concerns about the welfare of young people living in residential settings. These had resulted in a spate of enquiries, (Levy & Kahan, 1991), (Williams & Macreadie, 1992), and a number of reports (e.g. Utting, 1991; Warner, 1992).