We share findings from the research in lots of different formats. Our aim is to reach a diverse audience to promote more positive visions of young fatherhood.
Via this page you can access our findings and learn more about our work with young fathers and the multi-agency professionals who champion them.
Our findings are reported in a variety of formats to enable access for all. These include:
Books and book chapters
The COVID-19 pandemic affected everyone – but, for some, existing social inequalities were exacerbated, and this created a vital need for research. This includes young fathers and the professionals who support them.
This book synthesises the challenges of researching during COVID-19 to improve future policy and practice.
You can view the book open access!
Anna Tarrant’s revealing research explores
Drawing on pioneering multigenerational research, Fathering and Poverty considers the dynamics of men’s caring responsibilities in low-income families’ lives. Illuminating aspects of care within economic hardship that often go unseen, it deepens our understanding of masculinities and family life and the policies and practices that support or undermine men’s participation.
Available for purchase here!
This book explores the complex, evolving relationships between men, masculinities, and social welfare in contemporary context.
The collection constitutes an up-to-date account of the gendered and social implications of policy and practice change for men, and their inherent contradictions and complexities, tracing both stability and change over the past 25 years.
Available for purchase here.
Watch the 2023 book launch and hear from some of our expert authors.
This chapter explores the diverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on young fathers and the services that engage them. The qualitative longitudinal design of the study supported exploration of the complexities and dynamics of young fatherhood and their support needs at a time of major economic, social, and policy shifts during the pandemic. Also considered are the ways support services adapted their offers to sustain care for young men.
You can read the chapter open access.
Peer reviewed Journal Articles
This article considers how the unanticipated use of remote qualitative methods during the pandemic impacted processes of research connection and connectivity in qualitative (longitudinal) research. First, we consider questions of connection when seeking to (re)establish and retain connections with project stakeholders and marginalised participants through the pivot to remote methods. Second, we reflect on how processes of maintaining participation and interaction were impacted by practical and technological issues associated with the digitally mediated forms of connectivity available.
Available open access!
Learn about the Diverse Dads study where we co-created films led by young dads as peer researchers who sought to explore how to better support minoritised young dads.
Available open access!
Interdisciplinary social sciences literature on the value and significance of engaged fatherhood and father-inclusive approaches to practice for enhanced family outcomes have begun to reach a consensus. Yet there has been less attention to how research knowledge about fatherhood, including that which is co-produced with and for fathers, can be more effectively translated and embedded in practice and policy contexts. This article elaborates on a cumulative, empirically driven process that has established new relational ecologies between young fathers, multi-agency professionals and researchers. It illustrates how these ecologies, supported by longitudinal and co-creative research combined, are driving societal transformations through knowledge exchange and the instigation of new father-inclusive practice interventions that address the marginalisation of young fathers. The methodologies, including the co-creation of the Young Dads Collective and its impacts on young fathers and multi-agency professionals, are evaluated, confirming them as powerful and productive mechanisms for embedding father-inclusive practices within existing support and policy systems.
You can access the article via the journal webpage or to request a copy.
This article presents analyses from an international empirical study of young fatherhood in Sweden and the UK. Young fathers in both countries express an encouraging commitment to contemporary cultural imperatives for engaged fatherhood. However, differences in welfare and parental leave systems have a clear influence on the extent to which the young men in the respective countries can fulfil their parental commitments.
This article explores the impacts of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown policies on young fathers and their families in the UK and Sweden.
Briefing Papers
This briefing paper explores the dynamic mental health pathways of young fathers in their transition to fatherhood. We argue that they navigate a well-being spectrum over time as they adapt to their new identities and responsibilities where young fatherhood can be source of joy and pride. However, the struggles associated with young parenthood may tip some young men into periods of mental ill-health.
Download Briefing PaperTwo open access reports were developed from this Leeds Social Science Institute funded project, which was led by Dr Anna Tarrant between April 2016 and April 2017. The first is an evidence review of existing research about practice support for young fathers. The second reports on the Responding to Young Dads in a Different Way project and its key findings.
Early analyses of our findings from Wave One of interviews from the study. We explore the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis on young fathers and the professionals who supported them.
Briefing Paper One: Negotiating ‘earning’ and ‘caring’ through the COVID-19 crisis: change and continuities in the parenting and employment trajectories of young fathers
Briefing Paper Two: From social isolation to local support: Relational change and continuities for young fathers in the context of the COVID-19 crisis
Briefing Paper Three: Supporting at a distance: the challenges and opportunities of supporting young fathers through the COVID-19 pandemic
Policy Briefing Papers
Policy Brief 1
Key principles of father-inclusive practice
Policy Brief 2
Models of good practice for work with young fathers: co-creating knowledge about inclusive and intersectional approaches in the ‘Diverse Dads’ project
Policy Brief 3
Models of good practice for work with young fathers: the Grimsby Dads Collective case study
Written submissions for parliamentary inquiries
Our evidence on young parents was cited several times in the final report, where young parents were acknowledged.
Reports, including evaluations and toolkits
The Following Young Fathers Further team conducted an evaluation of the North East Young Dads and Lads' new digital offer for young fathers called DigiDAD.
DigiDAD is a unique, pioneering e-learning parenting platform made by and for young fathers. First created during the COVID-19 pandemic, DigiDAD features evidence-informed content designed to support the informational requirements of young fathers.
The Diverse Dads team launched two open access reports based on the outcomes of the research as the ‘Diverse Dads Collaborative. These include key research findings and recommendations for good practice, as informed by the young fathers and professionals who participated in the study.
This eight-part report series reports on our findings and the innovations from the Following Young Fathers Further study between January 2020 and December 2023. These have been launched at the final conference, which took place in Lincoln on Thursday 7th December 2023.
We intend to develop further outputs from the study, supported by an additional three years of funding that will extend our work again to January 2027. So watch this space!
The pandemic has prompted many social scientists to rethink their research methods and adapt to researching in ways that accommodate social distancing rules. Telephone interviews offer a remote route to fieldwork but their value for researchers extends beyond the pandemic. This toolkit considers the role of telephone interviewing in qualitative research and the advantages and challenges of this method and attendant practical and ethical questions. We provide practical reflections around how to address the challenges associated with telephone interviews and draw on examples from current research.
The Think Dad! Toolkit, co-created with young fathers and developed with professionals and services in mind who want to improve how they work with young fathers.
You can also learn more about our work via our recorded webinars, presentations, and blog posts.