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Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the perceptions of fatherhood among unmarried fathers, who were partners to mothers in female-headed households in the Caribbean. The island of Antigua was the site of the study. Respondents were all residents and were all Afro Caribbean men of the lower income groups.
There were four research questions which guided this study: how respondents perceived the dimensions of fatherhood; how their ideal perceptions compared with their actual fathering behaviors; what intergenerational transmissions were identifiable; and in what ways society maintained the patterns and behaviors.
There were 29 respondents in the final sample. They were all unmarried fathers in visiting relationships, were between 25 and 46 years of age, and had between two and five children each with a range of one to four partners. Data were collected by semi-structured individual interviews, and were cross validated through the input of key informants and also in post-analysis focus group discussions.
Respondents perceived themselves to be responsible fathers within their culture. They reported involvements in fathering activities within the hypothesized dimensions of fatherhood--survival, expressive, social, and cultural. A comparison of ideal versus actual fathering activities revealed that respondents were highly involved in survival activities, but were curtailed in their expressive, social, and cultural functions because of reasons related to the idiosyncratic visiting relationship with the children's mothers. The majority reported having problems with accessibility and interaction. Problems were chronic for respondents involved in multiple-mating.
Respondents tended to perceive their sense of responsibility and awareness as indicators that they were fair to excellent fathers. Their self-reports described a group of fathers who tried their best, but who were limited by factors such as: distance of the child from the father's household; number of children and households involved; and the quality of the relationship between the father and the child's mother. Respondents accepted the limitations on their fathering functions as part of the cultural landscape.
From a standpoint outside the culture, it can be concluded that multiple-mating complicates the difficulties of fathering already inherent in a visiting relationship. Some of the pressures are: the constant speculations about paternity of children; the tenuousness of the relationship between the men and their women; the resulting manipulation by the children's mothers over father involvement; and the relatively high expense of maintaining children in separate and multiple households.
