Recent legislation and research have highlighted competing influences on fathers. Much of these discussions have been prompted by changes in the workplace. This study, by a team at Lancaster University, looked at how families with teenage children are dealing with these changes. Through questionnaires and interviews, the study examined a wide variety of topics, including parent-child relationships, understandings of fatherhood, the father's role in the family, attitudes to work and children's perceptions of their own futures as workers and parents. It found that:

• Most parents and children - but fathers in particular - viewed providing an income for the family as the central aspect of fathering. Where other aspects were mentioned these were viewed as additions to, rather than replacements for, this role.
• A significant number of both fathers and teenage children felt this 'provider role' was intensified by living in a consumer culture.
• Fathers' main reason for working was most likely to be as a way of providing for the family; mothers were more likely to cite reasons of independence.
• Many men - including those who are sick and disabled, unemployed, and low-paid - felt that being unable to provide for their families severely affected their confidence in their ability to be 'good fathers'.
• Non-working men may have the opportunity to take on a more 'involved' style of fathering. In practice, however, most men did not find it easy to adjust to a different approach.
• In addition to providing, fathers were expected to be 'involved' in the family. It was not generally clear what respondents meant by 'involvement', however. The ideal of the 'involved' father often appeared to be based on the assumption that 'good parenting' equates with what mothers do.
• Overall, the research highlighted how 'fathering' was constrained by the reluctance of both fathers and mothers to give up their 'traditional' parenting roles.

Background
Recent legislation concerning fathers provides a contradictory picture of their roles and responsibilities. On the one hand, there has been an emphasis on fathers' financial obligations to their children, for example in the Child Support Act. On the other hand, the father's rights to a relationship with his children have been enshrined in the Children Act. This contradiction has been highlighted in recent research literature which has aimed to understand the competing influences on men's involvement in parenting and the diversity of paternal styles. Much of the recent discussion has been prompted by changes in the workplace. Contemporary families are adjusting to more women working, households with two earners, long working hours and the possibility of the father facing long periods of unemployment or early retirement. The need to understand how families negotiate such issues provided the impetus for this study.

The father's role as provider
Responses to the question 'What do people expect of fathers these days?' revealed clear expectations about the centrality of men's providing role. This was the case with all respondents - mothers, fathers, sons and daughters - but was especially prevalent in fathers' responses. Whether or not they were working, men emphasised the providing role and used it to describe the father's raison d'être, for example, one father said:

"Providing for them is absolutely critical because it justifies - it justifies to a certain extent my existence, that 'why am I doing this?' "

Gender divisions appeared deeply entrenched in the majority of families, with the father's providing role being set against the mother's caring role.

Fathers and mothers had different attitudes to paid work. Fathers tended to stress the financial rewards and feeling compelled to work out of a sense of duty or responsibility. Mothers did see money as important but saw their earnings as 'contributing' rather than 'providing', reflecting a pervasive assumption that the father's earnings were the mainstay of the family budget. In one family, the mother was described as contributing to the family income in a way which concealed the fact that she earned considerably more than her partner. Women were also much more likely than men to see paid work as a choice and to link it to questions of personal freedom or self-development (see Figure 1). Whatever their current employment status, fathers were twice as likely to select as a reason for working 'Need money for basic essentials, such as food, rent and mortgage', while mothers were three times more likely to choose 'to give me a sense of independence'.

Teenagers' views of their own future roles as parents and workers also reflected 'traditional' gender roles. The following quotation exemplifies many of the boys' responses to the question 'How important do you think work is going to be to you?':

"Very important. It's because I'd need to earn money for the kids. Say if I had kids I'd like to look after them, spend money on them, get them clothes and everything. And when I go to work, say my wife wasn't working, they can look after them." (13-year-old boy)

Many fathers spoke of feeling under considerable pressure to provide the means for their children to participate in what they saw as a consumer culture, a pressure that many teenagers themselves were aware of:

"I think the biggest strain I am on my Dad is I was constantly bugging him for money: 'here, Dad - give me money for this - It's really important' " (16-year-old girl)

Some fathers tried to resist the pressure, but described how very difficult this could be given the intensity of their youngsters' demands.

It was clear that many fathers themselves had a strong 'investment' in their role as provider. This role acted as a channel for feelings of emotional attachment to their family and gave a sense of purpose to work which might otherwise seem quite meaningless.

While many 'bread-winning' respondents expressed the view that fathering should be about more than providing, this was nevertheless perceived - almost without exception - as the fundamental basis of fathering, regardless of whether fathers were actually able to fulfil this role:

"You ask most blokes what they feel their role is as a Dad, it is to provide for their kids. You take that away and you've got problems. ...it would devastate me."

Typically, what men in low-paid jobs found hard about being a father was not being able to be a "good enough provider" no matter how hard they tried. Fathers who were unable to work also talked a lot about being unable to provide in the way they wanted to:

"I just love my kids. I don't always show it but I do. I can't say 'look at this - I've been out to work and I've earned a nice wage this week - here you are son, here you are love - my daughter, yes. Here's a fiver - go and get yourself some clothes or get yourself some make-up or whatever'. And I feel a bit sad in that respect that I can't show them that..."

Feelings of frustration, sadness and failure characterised the interviews of men who were unable to 'provide', something several mothers in the study confirmed: "[He says] 'I'm no use to anybody. I can't provide'" said one; "He feels as if he's letting everybody down... he feels useless" commented another.

Potentially, men not in paid work have the time and opportunity to look beyond a narrow equation of 'father' with 'provider'. In practice, however, it seemed difficult for men to feel confident as fathers if they were not earning money and this situation could take a lot of adjusting to.

Fathers' relationships with teenagers
In addition to providing for their families, fathers performed a wide variety of activities and functions with their adolescent children. These ranged from providing discipline, helping with homework, driving children about, organising family outings, shopping, and watching and participating in sports. Many of these activities provided opportunities for fathers and their teenagers to maintain a companionable relationship.

While much fathering is centred around such specific activities, respondents frequently summed up the significance of the father's role in terms of his 'being there'. This implied a sense of the father's commitment to the family - a feeling that "if anything happened", he could be relied upon. Another concept that was frequently used was that of the 'involved' father. While this ideal cropped up frequently, respondents often found it difficult to articulate precisely what this meant. It seemed to imply something more than physically 'being there', carrying with it some sense of being psychologically available.

Such 'involvement' seemed to be something that was measured against a 'maternal benchmark'. Respondents tended to assume that what mothers did represented the way to parent and compared fathers with this, more or less favourably. One example was the issue of communicating with teenagers. Many fathers believed that this was an area of parenting where mothers had superior skills.

"The male of the species is not good enough... Generally speaking, I don't think men are good at that. Sarah [wife] is, Sarah knows and she'll tell me things that Joe [son] is thinking... And I think generally men miss it."

Involvement was expected to be in addition to providing. Family members never suggested paternal involvement should replace providing. Questions such as 'What do people expect of fathers these days?' brought responses which highlighted the pressure fathers felt: "Too bloody much", "An awful lot", "All singing, all dancing".

Fathers' role within the family
Most families preserved a 'traditional' approach to male and female roles in which mothers' and fathers' activities were complementary.

"[The children] associate me with doing the more exciting things, going away to some day out somewhere. Helen's associated with the more mundane things and going to school and back."

Very few families claimed to organise family life according to a pattern of interchangeable roles. One exception to the general pattern is this father who was keen to present himself as able to carry out both the 'male' and 'female' sides of parenting:

"I think that distinction between male and female, between Mum and Dad, has definitely broken down and I don't have any particular hang ups about me, if you like, providing the softer or if you like the more traditional female role although the great thing about sport... that's when you find the male side comes out."

Conclusions
Many fathers in the study seemed comfortable in a position 'on the sidelines' of family life, 'earning their place' through their role as provider - a role which appeared to afford a certain status and the respect of other family members.

Fathers' reluctance to give up their 'traditional' position may be further underpinned by the attraction of the relative simplicity of this role compared with the tensions, confusions and stresses of trying to become an 'involved' father. The conflicting pressures on fathers of 'providing' and 'being involved' were clear in some accounts, suggesting that some might experience a 'double burden'. One mother summed up her husband's struggle to sustain different aspects of his paternal identity by drawing a parallel with the figure of the 'supermum' media stereotype who expertly juggles multiple roles. Dads these days, she said, are expected to be "superdads".

About the study
This study was undertaken by Jo Warin, Yvette Solomon, Charlie Lewis and Wendy Langford in collaboration with Salma Ahmed, Penny Collins, Alaa al Hamad, Roger Penn and Hilda Scattergood. The research, carried out at Lancaster University, is based on empirical data gathered from families in the large northern town of Rochdale. A quantitative survey was undertaken with an adult respondent in 95 households with at least one child aged 11-16. The sample came from a range of social backgrounds, with 21 families originating from the Indian subcontinent. A range of employment patterns was represented. Seventy-four of these households were then recruited to take part in a further qualitative study. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with the father, mother and all 11- to 16-year-old children.

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