Research
You will find a complete range of our monographs, muti-authored and edited works including peer-reviewed, original scholarly research across the social sciences and aligned disciplines. We publish long and short form research and you can browse the complete Bristol University Press and Policy Press archive.
Policy Press also publishes policy reviews and polemic work which aim to challenge policy and practice in certain fields. These books have a practitioner in mind and are practical, accessible in style, as well as being academically sound and referenced.
Around 1 in 10 children born in the UK are fathered by men under the age of 25. These men are often from socially disadvantaged areas and frequently overlooked in both research and practice settings. Using findings from a major Economic and Social Research Council study, supplemented with additional data, the authors focus on the transitions of the young men into early parenthood and their unfolding lives thereafter.
As negative popular and media discourse around young fathers begins to shift, policy makers, practitioners, researchers and students will find future policy and practice directions designed to nurture the potential of these young men and their children.
This chapter focuses on the value of participatory research approaches in facilitating the social engagement of young fathers. It draws on the Responding to Young Dads impact initiative (2016–17), a collaborative participatory initiative that sought to effect change within the existing support system in response to key findings from the Following Young Fathers study. Two interventions are elaborated: a new support pathway for young fathers leaving the criminal justice system and the co-creation of the Young Dads Collective North, which was developed with and for young fathers and the professionals who champion them.
Capturing the unfolding impacts of both projects in real time, we demonstrate the capacity of qualitative longitudinal research to facilitate ongoing impacts through the translation of practice-informed research into evidence-based practice. The case studies show how a new social engagement framework can be promoted through collaborative work as a direct challenge to the social problems discourse. These case studies demonstrate young fathers’ capacity to engage with and influence practitioners and the future potential for partnership working among researchers, professionals and communities in promoting a more coherent ethos of support and redemption across a range of services.
This chapter focuses on the value of participatory research approaches in facilitating the social engagement of young fathers. It draws on the Responding to Young Dads impact initiative (2016–17), a collaborative participatory initiative that sought to effect change within the existing support system in response to key findings from the Following Young Fathers study. Two interventions are elaborated: a new support pathway for young fathers leaving the criminal justice system and the co-creation of the Young Dads Collective North, which was developed with and for young fathers and the professionals who champion them.
Capturing the unfolding impacts of both projects in real time, we demonstrate the capacity of qualitative longitudinal research to facilitate ongoing impacts through the translation of practice-informed research into evidence-based practice. The case studies show how a new social engagement framework can be promoted through collaborative work as a direct challenge to the social problems discourse. These case studies demonstrate young fathers’ capacity to engage with and influence practitioners and the future potential for partnership working among researchers, professionals and communities in promoting a more coherent ethos of support and redemption across a range of services.
This chapter traces the varied housing pathways of young fathers in the context of shifting housing, welfare and policy processes in the UK. Dynamic research that focuses on the housing trajectories of young fathers is rare, while housing is seldom explored in research about young people’s transitions to parenthood and beyond. Yet, housing has a fundamental impact on the ability of young fathers to establish their parental role and identity and is a major aspect of the political and economic exosystem that influences the parenting journeys and experiences of young fathers. A detailed longitudinal and comparative analysis of the young fathers’ accounts of their changing living arrangements over time reveals ‘yo-yo’ housing trajectories characterised by fluctuating states of independence from/dependence on their families, on provisions by the state, and/or on formal support agencies, to secure what is otherwise considered a foundational resource for adulthood and parenthood.
This book presents new insights into the unfolding lives of young fathers (those who enter parenthood before the age of 25). It draws on dynamic data from a qualitative longitudinal study (Following Young Fathers, 2010–15), and associated projects, that traced the lives of a mixed sample of young men from a Northern industrial city in the UK through the early years of fatherhood. Part I (Young fatherhood: contemporary knowledge and debate) reviews how young fatherhood is constituted, drawing on international research evidence and UK policy responses. It reveals how young fathers (and young parents more generally) are viewed as a social problem; the related deficit model of understanding, that assumes that they are feckless and run away from their responsibilities; and an alternative social engagement framework, which shows a commitment among many young men to ‘be there’ for their children. The qualitative longitudinal methodology adopted for this research offers unique insights into the complex causal pathways that shape the varied experiences of these young men. The empirical chapters (Part II, Living young fatherhood: changing identities, relationships and practices) explore how young men attempt to establish a parental role and identity, and the relational, socio-economic and environmental factors that impact on this process. Part III (Supporting young fathers: lived experiences and policy challenges) explores and reshapes the landscape of professional support for young fathers. The final chapter brings the findings together, examines the citizenship of young fathers, and makes the case for compassionate social policies that can more effectively support them and their families.
This chapter presents an integrated review of existing social research and demographic evidence on the lives and support needs of young fathers, drawing on a growing international body of studies. It reveals a fragmented range of qualitative studies, and a paucity of dynamic evidence that traces these lives through time. The discussion explores how orthodox construction of young fatherhood (and young parenthood more generally) as a social problem has fed into and shaped the findings of earlier studies. It also highlights a more recent counter-narrative (a social engagement framework), based on qualitative investigations into the lived experiences of young fatherhood, that reveals the efforts of young men to be there for their children. Overall, the chapter reveals gaps in the existing evidence base and raises new dynamic questions that the Following Young Fathers study seeks to address.
This book presents new insights into the unfolding lives of young fathers (those who enter parenthood before the age of 25). It draws on dynamic data from a qualitative longitudinal study (Following Young Fathers, 2010–15), and associated projects, that traced the lives of a mixed sample of young men from a Northern industrial city in the UK through the early years of fatherhood. Part I (Young fatherhood: contemporary knowledge and debate) reviews how young fatherhood is constituted, drawing on international research evidence and UK policy responses. It reveals how young fathers (and young parents more generally) are viewed as a social problem; the related deficit model of understanding, that assumes that they are feckless and run away from their responsibilities; and an alternative social engagement framework, which shows a commitment among many young men to ‘be there’ for their children. The qualitative longitudinal methodology adopted for this research offers unique insights into the complex causal pathways that shape the varied experiences of these young men. The empirical chapters (Part II, Living young fatherhood: changing identities, relationships and practices) explore how young men attempt to establish a parental role and identity, and the relational, socio-economic and environmental factors that impact on this process. Part III (Supporting young fathers: lived experiences and policy challenges) explores and reshapes the landscape of professional support for young fathers. The final chapter brings the findings together, examines the citizenship of young fathers, and makes the case for compassionate social policies that can more effectively support them and their families.
This chapter traces policy developments and popular discourses on young fatherhood since the 1990s. The main focus is on the UK policy context, with particular reference to New Labour’s ten-year Teenage Pregnancy Strategy (TPS), and more recent responses under the Coalition and Conservative governments. The discussion shows how the idea of young parenthood as a social problem has taken root in policy circles and in the popular imagination. This has fostered pejorative views of young fathers as ‘feckless’ and ‘hard to reach’ and led to their marginalisation in mainstream policy and professional practice. The chapter also traces policies in relation to disadvantaged young people and their families. More focused policy domains that impact on young fathers are briefly flagged up here and discussed in later chapters of the book: Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) provision; welfare support; education, employment and housing policies; and specialist support services for young parents.
This chapter considers the support needs of young fathers, with a focus on their varying engagements with universal services, through to specialist services that provide holistic guidance. Drawing on multi-perspective insights from young fathers and selected accounts from professionals, we explore the extent to which young men feel welcomed and supported within diverse service contexts. These accounts unveil the varied challenges faced by young fathers and those who support them. We consider how practitioners balance support with surveillance (the safeguarding agenda), but also how they may engage in sidelining and exclusion, based on unclear remits, limited resources and a view that young fathers are ‘hard to reach’, that is, that they are not interested in or necessarily deserving of a parental role and identity. The contexts and circumstances that encourage young fathers to proactively access support and resources are also explored. The chapter concludes by examining the importance of specialist provision for young fathers, which, when combined with peer models of support, acts as a stabilising force that promotes the social engagement of young fathers.
In this chapter the relational themes introduced in Chapter 5 are extended to consider the wider constellation of family relationships that impact on young fathers. The varied nature of grandparent support and its sustainability over time is given detailed attention. The discussion charts how grandparents reacted to the news of a pregnancy; their engagement and influence in decision making; their practical, financial and emotional support for the young men; and how such support may evolve or dissipate over time. Issues of grandparent influence, interference, neglect and oppression are also explored, revealing that while this support may be vital for young parents, it may be experienced as a curse rather than a blessing. The gendered nature of this support is also explored, showing how grandparent involvement and influence is more likely to flow vertically down the generations in the maternal household, rather than flowing horizontally between the young parents themselves. This can further marginalise the efforts of young fathers. Overall, fresh insights are offered into the sustainability of intergenerational support, and what happens when grandparental support is withdrawn or becomes a source of tension between the generations. The implications of these findings for family policy and professional practice are considered, in a context where kin care is increasingly assumed and relied upon by state welfare agencies.
