Fathers and Daughters – What are the issues?

With special guest:

• Dr Linda Nielsen
  …in conversation with Bill Kable
  

Our guest, Dr Linda Nielsen speaks to us today from North Carolina in the United States about a topic that nearly everyone has a stake in but on which there is very little guidance. How important is the relationship between a daughter and her father? This topic has been explored by Dr Nielsen in her book Father-Daughter Relationships: Contemporary Research & Issues.

Many studies have been directed at the importance of a mother’s relationships with her children. But a father may need some reassurance about the value of his relationship with his daughter particularly if he feels more comfortable with his son. The first thing we get to check with Dr Nielsen is what is it that fathers do for their daughters? Are they really needed?

The issue is complicated because of the differences in family relationships. Estimates range upwards from 40% of marriages failing and this has to affect the relationship of parents with children from the marriage. Apart from marriage breakdown, men are often in dangerous occupations and because of their lower life expectancy they may leave the child without a dad for reasons beyond their control. Many parents want to know if a new partner for mum can take the place of the children’s father.

For those fathers in intact families and also for the separated dads, Dr Nielsen gives us some guidelines on what is quality fathering and what can be done to improve the relationship. We discuss some common and big mistakes that fathers can make. We discuss the reverse effect, what influence do daughters have on their fathers?

Dr Nielsen’s studies indicate a father’s influence extends to all areas of a young girl’s development. This includes cognitive, academic, vocational, social, sexual and psychological.

When we look in the newspapers and see an increase in the problems for young women including anorexia, alcoholism, homelessness and unwanted pregnancies it should bring home to us that it has never been more important than now for all of us to understand and appreciate the importance of the role fathers play in their daughters’ lives. The studies say that increasing the influence of fathers will make a difference. Dr Nielsen tells us why.

Dr Linda Nielsen

Dr Linda Nielsen is a Professor of Adolescent and Educational Psychology at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem North Carolina USA. Her areas of expertise are the research on shared parenting, father-daughter relationships, adolescence and children of divorce. She is an internationally recognised expert who has written three books on father-daughter relationships and three editions of a college textbook on adolescent psychology. For the past 30 years Dr Nielsen has been teaching the only college course in the USA, perhaps the world, devoted exclusively to the study of father-daughter relationships.

Note: This program is an encore presentation of the one aired on 28 May 2015.

Podcast (mp3)