The sites for earning a living and for maintaining a family, of production and reproduction, remain geographically separated for many South Africans. Yet the common assumption that only fathers who live with their children provide support for them, substantially underestimates fathers' financial contributions to their children. In this article we examine the association between children's connections to their fathers and paternal support. Using data on 272 children collected as part of a study of Children's Well-Being and Social Connections in the Agincourt sub-district of Mpumalanga, South Africa, we identify three types of connection between children and their fathers and four levels of paternal support. We present empirical evidence on histories of children's residence and support to advance three propositions: first, that children's co-residence with their fathers is neither an accurate nor a sufficient indicator that they are receiving paternal financial support; second, children are as likely to receive financial support from fathers who are not even members of the same household as from fathers with whom they are co-resident and, finally that children who receive support from their fathers for any part of their lives are likely to receive support consistently throughout their lives. These findings underscore the importance of using a more nuanced conceptualisation and more inclusive measurement of father connection and support in order to determine the contributions that men make to their children. Children born since 1991 are significantly less likely to receive support from their fathers than are those born before. This difference is not a reflection of different levels of support for children of different ages but is due to real changes in paternal action.
Based on in-depth interviews with hospital nurses, this article examines the way in which employed
The study investigates the experiences of emerging adults who had worked as counselors at overnight summer camps; identity-related issues emerge as most salient in the analysis of in-depth interviews conducted with 12 women and 8 men from 8 camps. Their descriptions portray the identity exploration that took place within the camp context, through opportunities to try out roles and responsibilities ranging from the adult-like role model to the more child-like entertainer, and many counselors specifically remark on the role of camp experiences in their identity development. The role of camps as one type of facilitative venue for emerging adults’ identity exploration is discussed.
Scholars and policy advocates have reached a general consensus that there is a crisis in caregiving in the United States; however, they debate where to lay the blame. Conservatives have blamed ordinary women, assuming that their personal life choices have led them to abandon their sacred role as keepers of the home (Blankenhorn, 1995;Popenoe, 1992). Liberals have blamed the failure of the welfare state to accommodate the changing needs of families and their dependents (cf. Dizard & Gadlin, 1990;Ellwood, 1988;Folbre, 2001;Jencks, 1997). Feminists across the political spectrum have blamed men, the workplace, and various social policies. Our purpose, however, is to refocus the debate on the crisis in care to encompass the broader needs of families as a whole. The articles in these two special issues empirically illustrate the complex ways in which individual caregivers, families, and other social institutions attempt, and often fail, to meet a broad array of care needs. We have selected these articles to enlarge the dialogue concerning how we define both caregiving and dependency within family life.Over the past century, families have adapted to changing economic and social circumstances. Throughout these macro-level shifts, families have consistently been assigned primary responsibility for dependents. 1 For ex-703 Editors' Note: The editors have listed their names alphabetically. All contributed equally to the selection of articles and to the writing of this introduction.
ABSTRACt. Official statistics in Botswana suggest very high numbers of extramarital births and female-heeded households. One element of family policy in Botswana is a statute allowing women to claim maintenance payments from the biological fathers of their extramarital children. Formal interviews and informal conversations with women and men in a village in Botswana indicate that women do not make use of the maintenance law for a variety of reasons. Among these is that a continuing tie to the biological father of the child would interfere with the traditional mechanisms by which that child is supported and socially positioned and with the woman's own prospects for courtship and eventual marriage to the biological father or another man. Family policies should fit within, rather than being imposed upon, the cultural framework of the people they are trying to help.
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