Superdads: How Fathers Balance Work and Family in the 21st Century

Appendix: Studying Fathers

223 Appendix Studying Fathers While there is an increasing number of studies that focus on fathers, including ones that attempt to measure work-family conflict, there are few studies that explore in-depth fathers’ feelings about work and family and their efforts to better balance the two. To really understand the work-family dilemmas that fathers face and their strategies for overcoming these challenges, I felt it was important to sit down and talk with real fathers about their feelings and experiences. Selecting the Sample In order to focus on fathers’ experiences with work and family, I sought to interview a broad sample of working fathers. Logically, I started with the restrictions that the men I talked with must be employed and must be fathers. I further restricted my sample to adult men, who were at least 18 years old, and fathers who were living with at least one child under age 18. Stepfathers were included. Single fathers had to have custody of their child(ren) at least 25 percent of the time. California and North Carolina were chosen as data-collection sites in order to ensure a more representative American sample. Fathers were recruited through announcements and fliers placed in daycare centers, stores, churches, and community organizations , with some online solicitation. Special efforts were made to recruit single fathers through a single-parent support group. Some fathers were also recruited by word of mouth. I used Terry Arendell’s study of divorced fathers as a model in determining the sample size.1 Previous studies on fathers have often used smaller samples. Nicholas Townsend’s important study on family and work in men’s lives was based on interviews with 39 men who graduated Appendix 224 from a particular high school, though 18 men from other schools were interviewed as well.2 Other studies have included smaller samples of fathers with special circumstances, such as low-income, noncustodial, African American fathers; Mexican-immigrant fathers; first-time fathers; stepfathers ; professional fathers; and fathers of children with cancer.3 The sample size of 70 fathers was chosen for three reasons. The first reason was to obtain racial and ethnic diversity. Conducting the interviews in California and North Carolina also helped achieve diversity since California has large numbers of Asian Americans and Hispanics, while North Carolina has large numbers of African Americans. The second reason was to represent a broad range of occupations. This was important given the focus on employment characteristics such as work schedules, travel, and bringing work home. The third reason was to allow for inclusion of a significant number of single fathers. A Note on Class, Race, and Ethnicity My sample represents a diverse range of class, race, and ethnicity, as well as age, marital status, number of children, and childhood region. While a majority of the sample is college educated, 8 stopped their education with a high school diploma, and 18 started but did not finish college. There is a great range of occupations among the fathers with whom I talked. There were working-class fathers, including a delivery driver, a bus driver, a warehouse worker, a security guard, a carpenter, a gardener, and several technicians. There were also professional fathers, including a bank executive , a lawyer, an engineer, a veterinarian, and a professor. But the majority of fathers were middle class, holding positions in education, design, planning, marketing, and middle management. While there were fathers of all class backgrounds represented among the “old” dads, “new” dads, and superdads, class seemed to influence fathers’ experiences with family leave and work adjustments, which I elaborate on in the book. There is also a good deal of racial diversity in my sample, with a particularly high representation of African American fathers and a fair but small number of Asian American fathers. Unfortunately, my attempts to recruit Hispanic and Latino fathers, through community organizations and local es- Appendix 225 tablishments, were largely unsuccessful. Therefore, I cannot draw many conclusions about Hispanic fathers’ experiences with work and family. I should also note that many of the African American fathers were recruited through their churches, which may affect their views of work and family. In particular, I did not find any racial or ethnic differences in men’s experiences with family leave or work adjustments. The only thing to note is that all my single superdads were white, which is likely due to differences in marital status rather than type of...