Memorable Experiences Between Fathers and Sons Stories .docx

Memorable Experiences
Between Fathers and Sons:
Stories That Shape a Son’s Identity and
Perspective of His Father
Using a narrative and identity theory approach, in-depth
interviews were conducted
with 38 men. They were asked to describe a critical incident in
order to elicit the im-
portant factors that males describe when talking about their
relationships with their
fathers. The men were mostly blue collar or self-employed, with
a mean age of 48
years. Six of the 38 men described poor relationships with their
fathers, while 3 men
described a relationship with a “super dad”. A constant
comparative method was
used to analyze the interview data. Results indicated seven
emergent themes: per-
sonality mesh, relationship changing health experiences,
reframing memories, son’s
changing expectations for fathers across cohorts, relationship
outcomes, symbols
of care, and identity. The discussion focuses on the
development of unanswered ques-
tions that arose from the study that require further empirical
exploration.
Keywords: father son relationships, critical incident, qualitative
research, narrative
theory, identity theory

A growing body of literature supports the important role fathers
play in the lives of their
children. Father involvement is directly related to children’s,
increased cognitive function-
ing (Bronte, Tinkew, Carrano, Horowitz, & Kinukawa, 2008),
greater internal locus of con-
trol, greater empathy, and less sex role stereotyping (Lamb, ed.,
2004). Involvement with
122
EDGAR C.J. LONG*, JESSICA N. FISH**,
APRYL SCHEFFLER*, and BRIANNA HANERT*
THE JOURNAL OF MEN’S STUDIES, VOL. 22, NO. 2,
SPRING 2014, 122-139.
© 2014 by the Men’s Studies Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
http://www.mensstudies.com
jms.2202.122/$15.00 • DOI: 10.3149/jms.2202.122 •
ISSN/1060-8265 • e-ISSN/1933-0251
* Department of Human Development and Family Studies,
Central Michigan University.
** Department of Family and Child Sciences Department,
Florida State University.
Authors’ Note: Special thanks go to Jeff Angera and Miki
Hakoyama, Human Environmental Studies, Cen-
tral Michigan University, and John Sowders, Center for
Children and Families, Monroe, Louisiana, who
helped on earlier components of this paper. An earlier version
of this paper was presented at the American
Men’s Studies Association, in Ann Arbor, MI 2013.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to

Edgar C.J. Long, HEV Department, Central
Michigan University, EHS Bldg. 412D, Mt Pleasant, MI 48859.
Email: [email protected]
children is also beneficial for fathers. Engaged fathers show
increased confidence, lower
psychological distress, and increased life satisfaction (Daly,
Ashbourne, & Brown, 2009;
Palkovitz, 2002).
Despite the established importance of fathers, the role of the
father is a complex and mul-
tifaceted one (Goodsell, Bates, & Behnke, 2011) that requires
continued investigation
(Brotherson, Yamamoto, & Acock, 2003; Day & Lamb, eds.,
2004). Current studies exam-
ine the contextual factors that impact responsible fathers such
as men’s levels of income, re-
lationships with child’s mothers and employment histories
(Doherty, 1998). However, there
remains a lack of understanding about the dynamics of father
son interaction and the emo-
tional impact this relationship has on sons (Adamsons, 2010;
Brotherson et al., 2003). The
studies that do address these dyadic issues rely mostly on
fathers’ reports of these relation-
ships (Morman & Floyd, 2002). Although the fathers’
perceptions of these relationships are
important, there is a need to understand the dynamics of this
relationship from the point of
view of sons. Only in this way can we more fully understand
how fathers form emotional
connections with their children (Brotherson et al., 2003).

Scholarly research on adult father son relationships is lacking
(Sharabany, Scher & Gal-
Kruz, 2006). Of the studies available, findings indicate that men
are most affectionate with
their own sons when they had fathers who were either highly
affectionate or highly unaf-
fectionate (Floyd & Morman, 2000; Morman & Floyd, 2006).
Some men as fathers, mod-
eled their fathers behaviors, while others who lacked their
fathers’ affection, compensated
with their own sons by attempting to become the fathers they
had wanted (Floyd & Mor-
man, 2006). Although these studies give insight into the impact
of fathers as role models,
they provide little understanding why some men model their
fathers, while other men com-
pensate. Are there characteristics of father son relationships
that would lead some men to
compensate? Are these mechanisms similar or different for
those men who model their fa-
thers’ behaviors?
Qualitative research is a useful approach when examining the
interpersonal dynamics of
father son relationships because it seeks a deep understanding
of fathers and sons lived ex-
periences together. Along with understanding lived relational
experiences, the purpose of
qualitative research is to generate new questions that need
quantitative study, and clarify ex-
planations of unexpected and idiosyncratic findings (Given,
2008). The types of questions
that currently need to be addressed in this area can be best
identified when researchers have
a deep understanding of the father son relationship, something
that is difficult to obtain

from survey results (Goodsell, Bates, & Behnke, 2011). Using
narrative (Chase, 2011; Nel-
son, 2004) and identity (Burke & Stets, 2009) perspectives, the
current study asked sons to
recall memorable childhood experiences with their fathers in
order to understand the dy-
namics of father son relationships.
NARRATIVE: A WAY OF UNDERSTANDING FATHERS
Narratives are a key method of understanding the everyday life
of individuals, treating the
stories of their life experiences as facts (MacIntyre, 2007).
Narratives provide an in-depth
view of individual’s lived experiences (Smith, 2000). Within
personal narratives, individu-
als emphasize some parts of their stories over other parts
(Nelson, 2004). Therefore, when
recalling their experiences with their fathers, individuals likely
choose those incidences that
123
MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES BETWEEN FATHERS AND
SONS
were most important to them (Nelson, 2004). Further, these
narrative accounts are not fixed,
but are dependent upon the narrator, the audience, and the
dominant social narrative of fa-
thers within a cultural context and historical period of time
(Goodsell, Bates & Behnke,
2011; Murray, 2004). Culture itself has a narrative about what it
means to be a father and

these cultural narratives impact ones’ understanding of their
fathers, as well as their expe-
riences as sons (Murray, 2004). These stories are spoken in
everyday language, becoming
dynamic lifelong narratives (Murray, 2004). The narrative
provides a sense of order to the
myriad of life experiences men have with their fathers. The
recounting of these incidents ties
together the past, present, and future and becomes necessary for
understanding the every-
day life of fathers and sons (MacIntyre, 2007). These self-
defining stories shape men’s ever-
changing identities, helping them make sense of who they are
(McAdams, 2006).
IDENTITY THEORY
Narratives change, yet they have some consistency over time
(Roy, 2006). Identity is a
way of thinking about this ever-changing self-narrative. Most
simply stated, identity is one’s
imaginative view of oneself. The uniqueness of a person’s
identity is shaped by the con-
versations, everyday interactions, and relationships with one’s
reference groups (Bamberg,
2011). Identities exist in pairs, such that for each identity there
is a counter identity (Stryker
& Burke, 2000). Someone is a father because another person is
a son. There are also two
sets of identity standards, one delineating expectations for self,
and another standard that sets
the expectations individuals have regarding their counter
identities (Adamson, 2010). This
dyadic model of identity reveals individual’s standards for their
own behavior and identity
as sons, but also their expectations for their fathers’ behaviors

(Adamsons, 2010).
In this study there was an attempt to understand this dyadic
interdependence, specifically
examining how sons’ stories speak about the father son
relationship and how they describe
their identities as fathers and sons. The stories were men’s
perceptions of their experiences
as sons. The goal of a narrative approach is to understand the
perceptual world of individ-
uals, revealing the thick, rich insights into their lived
experiences. In this study, we asked
sons about memorable experiences with their fathers (Geertz,
1973).
METHODS
Description of the Sample
The current study examined father-son stories among a broad
socioeconomic group of 38
men. Convenience sampling was the method used to elicit
participants’ involvement. Uni-
versity students in two human development classes at a Midwest
regional university were
asked to help solicit their fathers’ involvement in a fatherhood
study.
Seventy two percent of the students who asked their fathers’
participation, had fathers
who agreed to join the study. Subjects were given a $25 gift
certificate to a national hard-
ware chain as compensation for the interviews. All of the
interviews were conducted at the
homes of the men. At the conclusion of these interviews, men
were asked if their own fa-

thers were still living, and whether or not they might participate
in the study. The current
study included 33 of the students’ fathers and five grandfathers.
While there were 12 more
124
LONG, FISH, SCHEFFLER & HANERT
grandfathers living who could have been participants, they lived
out of state and made an
in person interview too difficult.
The average age of participants was 54 years (range from 48 to
82 years). All 38 men were
the biological fathers of their student sons or daughters. Thirty-
five of the 38 men self-iden-
tified as White, one as African American, one American
Indian/Alaska Native, and one
Latino. Twelve percent of the men were divorced at the time of
the study, and 88% were
married. The majority were self-employed or worked in blue
collar positions. Ten (26.3%)
of the participants had completed some education beyond high
school.
Critical Incident Technique
The present study used a critical incident technique (CIT;
Flanagan, 1954), to explore fa-
ther son relationships. CIT has been used primarily in
Organizational Psychology, interdis-
ciplinary research (Wheelock & Chell, 1996), and at least one
previous adult father-son

study (Pellegrini & Sarbin, 2002). The hallmark of CIT includes
a focus on the individual’s
perspective and, at times, includes the development of
categories that are descriptive of the
critical incidents (Butterfield, Borgen, Amundson, & Maglio,
2005; Chell, 1998).
The interviews were semi structured and included a series of
demographic and relation-
ship questions, as well as follow-up probes. The men were
asked to recall a time in their lives
when they lived at home, and describe an experience they had
with their fathers. This ex-
perience needed to be representative of what their father son
relationship was like. After an
initial response to a question, additional probing questions were
used to get a rich descrip-
tion of the incident (Henwood & Pidgeon, 2004). The goal of
the original question and the
follow-up probes attempted to elicit, rich in context, a coherent
and fully developed ac-
count of son’s memorable experiences with their fathers. After
describing the incidents, the
men were asked why this incident was a good depiction of their
relationships with their fa-
thers.
The average interview was 59 minutes and ranged from 42 to
132 minutes. Interviews
were digitally recorded, transcribed into a WORD document,
and imported into NVIVO
for analyses.
Constant comparative analyses. A constant comparative,
grounded theory approach
was used by two trained coders to analyze the data (Glaser &

Strauss, 1967). Their initial
task was to use a line-by-line open coding procedure. This
process involved the develop-
ment of a series of distinct categories that emerged directly
from the words and phrases
within the stories (Dey, 1999). Categories were compared until
a number of categories
emerged that the coders believed crystalized the men’s stories.
Categories were clustered
into smaller conceptual groups during initial coding; these
clustered groups explained the
meanings behind the stories at a more abstract level. Finally
axial coding was used. At this
level, analytic constructions or themes of men’s stories were
developed that attempted to
give a sense of coherence to the incidents.
FINDINGS
Seven themes emerged from the analyses of the men’s stories.
These themes were: per-
sonality mesh, relationship changing health experiences,
reframing memories, sons chang-
125
SONS
ing expectations for fathers across cohorts, relationship
outcomes, symbols of care, and
identity. When asked about the incidents with their fathers, the
stories men recounted var-
ied widely. However, out of the 38 men, only 6 retold stories

about very negative father/son
relationships, only 3 had very positive father/son stories. In
essence, the majority of the 38
men in this study had neither very positive nor very negatives
stories about memorable
events with their dads.
Personality Mesh
Personality mesh described the degree to which the
personalities of the sons and fathers
fit together. Statements about fathers’ personalities described
them across multiple contexts
in different relationships, and then denoted how these
personality characteristics were ex-
pressed within the father son stories. A prominent theme in the
responses of men who de-
scribed positive relationship experiences with their fathers was
that their personalities were
very similar. Vince1 a 52-year-old self-employed insurance man
talked about the fact that
his father defined himself as a “man’s man”, that he and his dad
both had a passion for hunt-
ing.
We went to deer camps all over the state and slept in cars and
camped in the woods.
These were all things that none of my siblings ever got to
experience, but it was
something he and I had in common. I look at all those times,
those were the times
that I had with him that were always very positive, very
positive.2
Different interests and personalities made father/son
relationships more challenging.

Chris, a 48-year-old college educated man working for a human
services non-profit, disap-
pointingly spoke of his father as a person with little ambition in
life, so different than him-
self.
He just retired from the US Postal service last year. When I
retire I don’t want to sit
around and do nothing, I mean I enjoy my Sunday afternoons of
sitting around and
doing nothing, watching a couple of football games, but, for a
whole year to do that,
I can’t, I can’t even fathom it. I just feel like he’s just kinda
living life for living life
and waiting for it to be over.
Relationship Changing Health Experiences
Health issues were frequently a focus within men’s stories.
Terminal illnesses, death, al-
coholism, hospitalization and surgery were prominent health
incidents. These incidents
often became the stimulus for relationship turning points. At
times these health issues drew
fathers and sons together, opening up lines of communication
and increasing their expres-
126
1 Names are fictitious to maintain anonymity.
2 The quotations referenced in the results are taken from a
number of respondents. Some quo-
tations have been slightly altered to improve readability or

provide participant anonymity while
maintaining the initial intention of the speaker.
sions of positive feelings. Zack, a 48-year-old, college
educated, self-employed insurance
man talked about the death of his mother. He related that 3
weeks after his mom’s death his
dad took he and his sister on a camping trip just to connect and
talk about how they would
now function as a family.
Ya, we would do trips together, especially after my mother
passed. We always did
family trips, but after my mother passed away, one of the first
things we did was we
went on a trip, just the three of us up into Canada and the
Canadian Rockies and
stuff. Ya know just trying to sort it all out, away from everyone.
Kyle, a 69-year-old Caucasian man in marketing had an
extremely difficult relationship
history with his dad. He recalled a very emotional story of him
visiting his father in the
hospital.
I came home from school one day. There was a note on the door
and it said, Kyle,
you got to go to the hospital, your dad is not well. So when I
got there, a nurse told
me that my dad was in intensive care. And she said, “Oh Hi
Kyle, your dad is right
over there you can go see him.” So I turned and looked around,
no one was there and
the nurse told me my family had left and they would be right

back. And I looked
down there and I thought man, that’s my dad. I don’t know him.
I’ll never forget that.
I don’t know him. Umm then I started to cry, maybe for only,
maybe only 2 times
in my life. Something came out of my mouth that never went
through my mind. I
said, Oh lord if you let him live, I’ll tell him I love him.
Kyle’s dad recovered and he later kept his word, telling his
father he loved him. Within
the narrative it was clear that Kyle’s relationship with his dad,
and even the openness in
family communication improved after this health incident.
At the negative end of the health stories were men with
alcoholic fathers. Family dis-
ruption, physical abuse, a son being his father’s caretaker, a
son’s declaration that, “I cer-
tainly don’t want to be like my dad,” were typical descriptions
of men with alcoholic fathers.
Vince, a 52-year-old fire fighter talked about his father drinking
and having a car accident.
Both he and his sister were in the car. He was only 13 years old
at the time. Vince’s father
was arrested for drunk driving, and he sat in the back of the
police car with his dad. The ex-
perience was a memorable role reversal.
And here I had my sibling on one side, my father on the other
side. My dad was
drunk, crying on my shoulder. I just felt like I was the one who
needed to be strong.
I didn’t cry, I didn’t know why. I didn’t know anything.
Reframing the Stories

Son’s narratives were dynamic, changing over time. Although
the incidents had not
changed, their beliefs about the incidents changed; they
reframed the events. In some in-
stances, this cognitive reworking positively influenced the
ongoing beliefs about their fa-
thers. As some men grew older, they realized that their own
father had a tough life himself
and they became more understanding of their fathers’
weaknesses.
127
SONS
At the beginning of one interview, Ethan, a 62-year-old radio
station owner simply stated
that he really had no relationship with his father. He then
recounted a memory of his father
obligingly taking him fishing, on literally, a five-minute fishing
“adventure”. However, after
recounting this story of utter disappointment, Ethan said,
And I’m not apologizing for him, but what he came from, he
didn’t understand. He
did the best he could. As an Irish kid, he um didn’t have
relationships, he just did-
n’t have any of the skills.
Trent, a 52-year-old business owner had talked his brother into
putting their drunk, irri-
tating father into a cold shower because his behavior was so

disruptive within the family sys-
tem. Trent as well, reframed his memories of his dad over time.
On the other side, he always participated in my events. Even
though he was drunk
a lot, was irritating, it wasn’t that he didn’t want anything to do
with me. I didn’t re-
alize all this stuff until I got older and sitting around with some
of my buddies talk-
ing about their dads and heard what they went through. You
know? I didn’t have it
so bad.
Men who described very emotionally troubling stories, were
more likely to maintain their
negative perceptions over time. They still felt bitter, angry, and
one described himself as lost
without the love of a father. For some of these men, time had
reinforced their earlier nega-
tive beliefs about their fathers.
I was virtually financially ruined because of my marriage. My
daughter Anne needed
a loan to pay for school tuition, she needed someone to co-sign
her loan. I couldn’t
sign it. My dad was very well off and so I went to him and I
says, you’ve gotta co-
sign this note for Anne. And he says, well I will look it over
and take it in for ad-
visement. And I felt like saying shut the fuck up! This is your
granddaughter, hardest
working girl in the world. And now he has prostate cancer, and
I am the only one
close enough around to take care of him. I mean, I gotta take
him to the doctor next
month.

Twenty-five years after the event, Herb, a postal clerk, recalled
thoughts about killing
himself and his father. He was clearly still very angry and
resentful. As an adult, his per-
ceptions reinforced his initial beliefs about his dad. His anger
and frustration were only re-
inforced by his father’s interaction with his own daughter. Not
only had his dad failed as a
father, the same inadequate fathering performance was
expressed in his role as a grandfa-
ther.
Son’s Changing Expectations for Fathers Across Cohorts
Scholars have often differentiated between the culture of
fatherhood and the behavior of
fathers (LaRossa, 1988). The culture is defined as the ideals
that dictate a seemingly shared
set of expectations for fathers at a given point in time. The
behaviors of fathers are the ac-
128
tual activities fathers carry out in their fathering roles,
regardless of the cultural ideals. The
culture of fatherhood most frequently changes before the
behaviors of fathers change, so be-
liefs about fathers change prior to behavioral changes. As a
result of the changing father-
hood culture, fathers and sons often described different
expectations about their roles for

each other.
During the interviews, men often compared the behavior and
attitudes of their fathers to
cultural norms of the time, cohort norms. Some men described
their fathers’ behavior as
more positive than the current cultural norms, while other men’s
behaviors were more neg-
ative than cohort norms. Roger, a 46-year-old Caucasian
business owner described the be-
havior of his father as clearly more positive than current
cultural norms.
My father got up every morning at 4 a.m. to help me with my
paper route. Seven
days a week my dad demonstrated this level of commitment to
me.
The unspoken yet clearly communicated message was that no
other fathers were demon-
strating that level of commitment to their sons.
Warren, a 52-year-old carpenter recalled a time when as a child
he was going into surgery
and was unexpectedly comforted by surprising comments his
father made.
I was in the hospital, I ended up hitting a tree doing 90 miles
per hour. I broke my
legs and didn’t walk for two years. They wouldn’t operate on
me because my blood
alcohol level was .34. So they put me in traction, and I was
begging my dad, don’t
let them move me, don’t let them move me. It’ll be okay, dad
said, it’ll be okay. And
then before they took me into surgery he told me he loved me. I

know, his father had
never told my dad he was loved.
Warren’s father had done something his grandfather had never
done. When he spoke
about his father’s words of love, he did so with a cracking voice
and tears in his eyes.
Sons’ comments about fathers’ behaviors that clearly violated
fatherhood expectations
seemed to evoke the most negative sense of long-term emotional
pain. Carl, a 52-year-old
plumber recalled a time when he was 17 years old, when his
father hit him in the face and
“Literally knocked me across the room.” Carl left home for two
years following that event.
While there had been some attempt at reconciliation over the
ensuing years, negative emo-
tions were still very evident in his voice as he recalled the
event.
In other instances, there were fathers whose behaviors were
typical of men of their co-
hort. Dads were breadwinners, enforcing corporal punishment,
and valuing and modeling
a strong work ethic. When recounting their stories, there were
times when men explicitly
juxtaposed the behavior of their fathers with the current
fatherhood norms. For example, 16
men talked about being a recipient of corporal punishment.
However, all 16 men in some
way described the normalcy of corporal punishment during that
era of time. It was as if
they wanted the interviewers to know their dads weren’t bad.
Numerous men talked about
fathers spending time with them, going to sporting events, doing

shared activities together,
having common interests. Quinn, a 58-year-old janitor aptly
described his father.
129
SONS
I always respected my father, always knew, you know, who was
in charge. The typ-
ical father he played ball with us, played catch with us when he
could. Taught us how
to hunt and fish although I did neither, although I always went.
I remember he’d go
hunting, I always thought this was a special bond us boys. We
would drive the deer
through the woods and he’d be on the other side waiting for
them, him and my un-
cles.
Relationship Outcomes
Regardless of the men’s perceptions of the incidents, there were
emotional and relation-
ship repercussions that were often affectively still evident as
men told their stories. The
very negative incidents often had detrimental outcomes unless
some mental reframing had
taken place. The most negative outcomes included suicidal
thoughts, thoughts about killing
a father, depression, outright rebellion, anger, as well as still
conflicted feelings and rela-
tionships. Bill a 54-year-old, blue collar, divorced, White male

recalled,
Umm, my mom was a real warm, caring kind of person and my
dad was a, um son
of a bitch. He was just mean. He should have never been a
father at all. His mean-
ness would show up, um, every way you can think of. Mostly he
was negative and
derogatory and sarcastic and putting everybody down and
critical. He was loud and
he was not warm, he was not warm at all, never told me he
loved me. He was like
Hitler, and mom was like uh, you know, she’d look to
everybody as an individual
and what this individual needed and how, you know what I’m
saying? She saved my
life, because I’d, I would have killed him, or killed myself.
Thought of killing my-
self many, many times.
However, not all of the negatively perceived stories evoked
negative outcomes.
There were men who described very negative incidents with
their fathers, yet in
very strategic and purposeful ways had dedicated themselves to
being good fa-
thers themselves. One such interviewee aptly stated when
talking about his own
role as a father, “I just needed to flip the script.”
At the end of a father-daughter phone conversation, before he
hung up he stated, “I love
you.” After the phone call he reiterated that “Every time, every
time I talk with any of my
children I end the conversation by telling them I love them.”
His experiences with his fa-

ther gave him a clear sense of the type of father he did not want
to be. He explicitly said that
his motivation for these loving comments was a painful
relationship with his own father. As
a father himself, he was attempting to compensate. An extreme
example of this compensa-
tion effect was the comments of Aaron, a 52-year-old
electrician who had been ignored and
often beaten by his father.
We basically had no relationship. Even now I have to force
myself to be real cordial
with him, he’s real feeble right now he’s got Parkinson’s and
it’s almost like he’s
turning a corner and realizes what happened in the past and he’s
trying to be more
of a father now and I resent it.
130
Aaron’s daughter, Ann, described her father as a super dad. She
had encouraged her fa-
ther to participate in the study, yet told the interviewer it was
unlikely, because he had never
spoken to any family members about any of his stories as a kid.
Aaron agreed to participate,
and during the interview, was asked why he had become such a
good father when many
people might expect him to be exactly like his father. “Pain, I
mean you’ve got mental,
emotional pain and you know you just don’t want that for your
child”. Aaron’s words echoed

those of Bill, he was motivated by pain to “flip the script.”
Men who had positive perceptions of incidents with their dads
talked about wanting to
be good fathers and seemed grateful and motivated to be good
dads. However, as we listened
to their stories, it seemed evident that these men had not spent
as many hours in reflective
thought about their own roles and identities as fathers, as had
those men with negative sto-
ries.
There were other unexpected outcomes. Roger described his
father as a super dad, yet as
a father himself felt guilty, because he could never be the
exceptional dad his father had been
to him. While he was extremely thankful for his dad, and as a
child had told himself that he
must never forget those days, that relationship left him with a
belief that as a dad he would
never measure up.
Symbols of Care
The most common symbol of care referenced by men was time
spent with their fathers.
Men expressed a great deal of appreciation when their fathers
gave them time, when they
attended their sporting events, went camping, shared family
stories, worked on motors, or
played catch. Scott, a 55-year-old White married business owner
most poignantly spoke
about time with his dad.
I would go with him and we would fish and um … you know it,
it would be noth-

ing for us to go out and sit in the boat for, four, five hours and
fish and we’re just
talking perch fishing. We’d anchor the boat and you know
sometimes you’d sit and
not catch anything for a half hour and then you, ya’d move or
maybe they’d start bit-
ing but if they started biting you knew you wanted to stay.
Time was involvement, and if fathers were involved and
available for their sons, that was
interpreted as a symbol that dad cared. The focus of the
connection was activities done to-
gether, not lengthy emotional conversations.
Stories of disappointment most typically involved a lack of time
doing things together.
Bruce, a 45-year-old who had been in middle management spoke
most convincingly about
the lack of time he received from his father.
I remember a time when I wanted to go play basketball with dad
and he was just
reading the paper. I remember my mom looking at him and
saying these days’ are
about to be done, get out there and play basketball with him.
And (slight laugh) ahh,
and he did, but it seemed like a chore, being a father was a
chore. I think I craved
more attention and more quality time with him than I ever got.
131
SONS

This lack of involvement was interpreted as evidence that as a
son, he had become another
of his father’s chores.
At times there were fathers who because of inflexible job
schedules couldn’t spend time
with their children. In those situations men understood the time
constraints of their fathers’
jobs and spoke about their important roles as breadwinners.
Identity Versus Dis-Identity
When men told their stories, they often made comments that
clearly demonstrated that
their interaction with their fathers, their counter identity, had
impacted the way they thought
about themselves as sons and fathers. While the men did not
always use the term identity,
it was obvious that men’s comments were often direct
statements about their own subjec-
tive views of themselves, their identities. Lance a 72-year-old
teacher made several telling
statements about his interaction with his father, a very
prominent and successful banker,
and how his relationship with his father impacted his own
identity. “And then “I came along
and I was a disappointment to my father.” At the age of 72, he
still perceived himself as a
bother, even to his friends.
I am a person who is in the way of other more important
individuals. I play golf
with my buddies. And whenever I play, if I tee up the ball or
putt, I’m always in a
hurry. Because the inside of me, I feel like I am in everybody’s

way. And so when I
play golf, I just, T it up and get off the T and if I putt, I putt in
a hurry, just to get out
of everybody’s way.
The majority of men who talked about being fathers described
how they wanted to be dif-
ferent than their own dads. Most importantly, these men wanted
to be more expressive of
their feelings as fathers, or more actively engaged in the lives
of their children. When their
stories had been very negative, their thoughts about their
identities as fathers themselves had
been impacted in more significant ways. In the very negative
situations there was a clear
declaration of who they would not be, a definitive and
intentional statement regarding their
dis-identity (McCall, 2003). Regardless of the narratives, men
desired to be better fathers
in two specific ways. First, they wanted to be more like what
they had not gotten from their
fathers, and then, they wanted to be the kind of dad that more
closely represented the cur-
rent ideals for fathers.
When asked to describe a critical incident that was indicative of
their relationships with
their fathers, these seven themes emerged as important issues.
Not all 38 men talked about
each of the seven themes. Some men emphasized personality
and relationship outcomes
more than the other five characteristics. Given that these are the
themes men talked about
when they described their relationships with their fathers, the
salience of these factors needs
to be examined more closely in further studies of father son

relationships.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
We believe that this study fills a void in the study of fathers and
sons, focusing upon the
son’s perceptions of critical incidents. As such, it highlights
several important factors im-
132
pacting father son relationships across the generations that
merit further inquiry. Results
from interviews with 38 men indicated seven emergent themes:
personality mesh, relation-
ship changing health experiences, reframing memories, son’s
changing expectations for fa-
thers across cohorts, relationship outcomes, symbols of care,
and identity. Besides having
a fuller, deeper understanding of memorable father son events,
this study provides a rich
body of information that is useful in generating questions in
need of further exploration. For
example, the findings from this qualitative study indicated that
men’s identities as father and
sons were impacted by their perceptions of the incidents.
Men’s identities were not equally impacted by the critical
incidents, however most men
desired to play a different fathering role than their dads. To
some degree, there were the
changing cohort ideals that impacted men’s identities and

perceptions of themselves as fa-
thers and sons. There were other men who very intentionally
compensated, clearly stating
that they would not be like their fathers, making definitive
statements about their dis-iden-
tities. However, this is the first study we are aware of that
suggests that emotional pain may
encourage men’s desires to compensate. Four of the men
explicitly used the word pain,
however several others spoke clearly of regrets, hurt and
sorrow. A clearer understanding
of the degree of men’s emotional pain, sorrow and regrets, and
how that impacts men’s
identities as fathers and sons is an important area for further
exploration.
Telling Their Stories
Men’s emotional relationships with each other have been widely
ignored within the em-
pirical literature (Pellegrini & Sarbin, 2002), often because men
are discouraged from
openly expressing any sentimental emotions (Chase, 2011). Men
are also less likely than
women to disclose personal information during interviews and
have their guards up be-
cause they have a need to present themselves as in control,
emotionally (Schwalbe &
Wolkomir, 2002). However, in the current study, men talked
openly about their experiences
with little sense of being guarded. The men seemed grateful that
someone was focusing on
their experiences with their fathers and most men requested
copies of any papers or a book
that might result from the interviews.

Recalling the incidents was a very emotional experience. All
but two of the men had
times during the interviews when they had difficulty expressing
their thoughts, because
they were “emotionally choked up”. At times those emotions
arose because of painful mem-
ories, other times there were tears of joy as men recalled good
times with their fathers. Even
the recollection of stories where fathers and sons did simple
activities together could evoke
emotions.
We think this free expression of emotion was more than the
result of the interviewers’ rap-
port building skills. The men were asked to tell a story that was
a good depiction of their
relationships with their fathers. The question gave them
freedom to take the conversation
in any direction they chose. They were not asked if they felt
loved by their fathers, had
emotionally close relationships, yet the recollections of those
incidents evoked deep levels
of emotion.
The men seemed so engaged in their storytelling, that their
emotions seemed to almost
sneak up on them, overwhelming them in the moment. Men,
freely expressing their emo-
tions, openly talking about their relationships with their fathers
is very different than other
133
SONS

research describing men as unwilling to approach the discussion
of difficult experiences
with their fathers (Katz, 2002; Miller, 2010). This indirect
method of telling everyday sto-
ries may be an effective way to get men to speak candidly about
their emotions, even when
their stories describe very negative events. The interviewers had
the sense that what these
men were describing experiences that had touched the emotional
core of their beings, and
the outward emotional expressions were evidence of the depth
of their feelings. As in some
other research, given the right context, men are eager
participants when describing the emo-
tional context of their relationships with their fathers (Goodsell,
2011). Using a narrative ap-
proach, asking men to recall specific incidents may be an
effective method of getting men
to openly disclose personal emotions.
However, given men’s levels of self-disclosure, it is important
that future interviewers are
comfortable with the expression of emotions and capable of
providing psychological sup-
port, especially to men struggling with negative memories of
critical incidents. In the ma-
jority of cases there seemed to be a sense that recalling the
narrative was something of a
cathartic experience. Men often left the interviews seemingly
energized, glad that they had
explored a portion of history they had with their fathers. While
these men felt energized,
there is no way of knowing if they struggled emotionally
following the interviews. Future

research needs to examine more closely whether or not men
retelling their stories actually
facilitates emotional challenges or wellbeing (Naples, 2003,
cited in Chase 2011).
This study also suggests a strategy that may be useful in getting
men to participate in the
research process. Given the high probability of father’s
involvement in research when asked
to participate by their adult children, this method may be useful
in other studies.
Personality Mesh
It was quite clear that the degree to which father-son
personalities meshed, significantly
impacted their relationships. Homogenous personalities seemed
to engender relationships
where fathers and sons enjoyed each other’s company, thus
spending more time together.
On the other hand, stories describing heterogeneous personality
characteristics seemed to
discourage son/father involvement. Future research would do
well to examine personality
mesh as a factor that impacts father son relationships. When
personalities are significantly
different, are there factors that might ameliorate these
personality differences? The role that
personality plays in the development and maintenance of father
son relationships needs fur-
ther empirical exploration.
Critical Health Experiences
Many men talked about health-related experiences in their
stories. Whether sons per-

ceived these incidents positively or negatively, the health issues
were unplanned and un-
avoidable. In several potentially fatal health situations, fathers
made unusually positive
verbal expressions of love. In these situations, sons talked about
how these verbal expres-
sions of love positively impacted their relationships with their
dads.
One medical condition that impacted most relationships
negatively was alcoholism. Very
similar to other research (Lee, Bellamy, & Gutterman, 2009),
sons with alcoholic fathers told
stories about family disruption and irresponsible and irritating
behaviors. However, not all
134
alcoholism stories resulted in poor father/son relationships. In
two specific stories, sons ex-
plicitly described their alcoholic fathers as great dads. There
were similarities between these
two men’s stories. Both fathers were closet alcoholics. While
the sons found empty bottles
around the house, neither son had ever seen his father drinking,
neither had they experi-
enced the mood swings or unpredictable behavior that often
accompanies alcohol abuse. As
well, both alcoholic fathers were themselves, compensators,
they had very negative rela-
tionships with their own dads and were determined to be good
fathers. While alcoholism is

a tragic disease with negative familial consequences, it is
important to explore further the
conditions that might ameliorate the development of poor
father-son relationships among
alcoholic fathers. How frequently are alcoholic fathers
perceived as being good dads?
Reframing Fatherhood Memories
In line with narrative theory, the changing nature of the
narratives was clearly demon-
strated in men’s stories, even though these stories were to be a
snap shot in time. In most
cases the stories became more positive over time. Some men
who spoke about negative
critical experiences with their fathers, reworked those memories
later in their lives. Carl, a
54-year-old economics professor had run away from home as a
17-year-old. Now, as a fa-
ther of a 17-year-old daughter, he identified with his father’s
predicament in a new way,
more clearly understanding the point of view of his father.
Other sons of alcoholic fathers
gained a new appreciation of their fathers as they struggled with
alcohol themselves. Re-
search does talk about men telling horrific stories about their
fathers, yet the stories be-
coming less horrific over time (Katz, 2002). In the current
study, only a small group of men
spoke about very negative incidents and continued to view those
incidents and their fathers
in a negative light. How frequently do negative perceptions of
incidents become more pos-
itive over time, or, how often are perceptions of the incidents
seemingly unchanged? To
what degree does becoming a father impact one’s reframing?

Are there negative experi-
ences that are so difficult that reworking memories in a positive
direction is nearly impos-
sible?
Son’s Changing Expectations for Fathers Across Cohorts
The stories men told about their fathers clearly had a sense of
historical situatedness.
Some of the dissatisfaction with fathers seemed to arise through
a collision of cohort ideals.
Research needs to examine more closely the degree to which
cohort ideals impact men’s
frustration with their fathers and fathers’ misunderstanding of
the changing expectations
for fathers.
For instance, one man stated that he waited for “27 years before
his father verbally said
that he loved me.” To what degree is this need for verbal
affirmation a cohort expectation
that is unrealistic for an earlier generation of men who
primarily believed their roles were
those of economic providers?
Relationship Outcomes
Father-son stories described a variety of relationship outcomes.
While listening to a spe-
cific story, it was difficult to predict how any experience might
impact the father son inter-
135
SONS

action. For example, one man with a super dad perceived
himself as an inadequate father.
How prevalent among men with super dads is this feeling of
inadequacy? To what degree
does this form of guilt impact men’s identities as fathers,
impeding their abilities to be good
fathers?
Symbols of Care
The single most important factor sons mentioned in describing
whether or not their fa-
thers cared for them was time. In previous studies, the most
significant predictor of fathers
being connected with their children was involvement in
activities with a child, most com-
monly recreational activities and play (Brotherson et al., 2003;
Goodsell, 2011). From the
analyses of the current stories, doing things together was good.
Being a good father may be
an easier role for fathers to play than some men believe given
that time together is such a
critical element of the father-son relationship. The expectation
that fathers need to be en-
gaged in deep emotional conversations with their sons is not
supported in the current study.
Father Hunger
Because men in this study were so candid in the discussions of
their relationships with
their fathers, we believe that the overall findings have
implications for the decades-long

questions regarding father hunger, or the father wound. In a
qualitative study of 6 father
son dyads, Katz (2002), described that a common theme among
those relationships was
horror and grief. Other scholars have described the father
wound to be so pervasive that
unresolved father son conflicts could be considered normative
developmental trauma (Lev-
ant, 1988). To describe father son dyads as relationships of
horror, grief or trauma is certainly
not supported in the current study. While this study is not a
representative sample, a 72%
participation rate indicates that men are willing to discuss
relationships with their fathers
when approached by their adult children. Within this sample,
only 6 of the 38 men told sto-
ries of very negative father/son relationships, most of those
could likely be categorized as
traumatic, horrific, relationships of grief. For certain, there
were men who had devastating
relationships with their fathers and during the interviews still
clearly expressed feelings of
bitterness, anger and a sense of loss without the love of their
fathers. However, the small por-
tion of the 38 critical incidents that described horrific
relationships certainly does not make
them common, neither does the data here support the idea that
father hunger is normative.
It is also important to remember the ever changing nature of
these narratives. For exam-
ple, Pete a 52-year-old business owner described a “devastating
experience” when his dad
told him he was disappointed in him and didn’t think he loved
him anymore. Five minutes
later he described the benefits of having a father who went to

all his ball games, they went
fishing and hunting together. Years later when talking with
some of his friends about their
dads he said, “Yea, my dad was a jerk, but he was always
there”. While devastating at the
time, the experience had been more positively reframed and
seen in the context of a some-
what normal relationship later in life. While father hunger and
the father wound need more
empirical examination, the notion that father son relationships
are horrific, grief filled, that
trauma from father son relationships is normative is not born
out in the current interviews
with men.
136
Father-Son Intervention
Some of the findings here have implications for those doing
intervention with fathers and
sons. Within the current study, several of the most salient
father/son relationship factors
were outside the control of either fathers or sons. This being the
case, it is important to rec-
ognize that a good father-son relationship is more than merely
relationship knowledge or a
specific skill set. For example, personality was an important
component that significantly
shaped father son relationships. Some men complained because
they were just so different
from their fathers. “I’ve just come to the realization that my dad

is who he is, I’m not gonna
be able to change him or the expectations that I might have of
him are not gonna happen”.
Other men spoke of their fathers as super dads because they
shared a similar set of interests
and their personalities meshed so well. Within these relational
stories it was obvious that
how the two personalities meshed impacted the relationship and
probably also influenced
the amount of time fathers and sons spent together. Personality,
though it is certainly one
of the important factors impacting father-son relationships, is a
factor that neither fathers nor
sons have much control over. Other uncontrollable experiences
impacted these relation-
ships. Illness was often the context for very important
relationship turning points. These
were unforeseen and unplanned events. Had a health issue not
arisen, the father-son story
would have been significantly different.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This study focused on father-son relationships. These findings
are not necessarily appli-
cable in understanding fathers’ relationships with their
daughters. The incidents related here
also describe the sons’ points of view, there is no way of
knowing how convergent the sto-
ries might have been had the fathers described the same events.
These incidents were also
a snapshot of the relationship at a single point in time. Had we
asked men to describe three
different incidents at different points in time, it may have
increased our understanding of the
changing nature of father son relationships. Further, all of these

incidents were of nuclear
families and their biological fathers. Critical incidents of
stepfathers with their sons would
likely produce different themes. The stories contained here were
those of primarily White
men raised in the Midwest area of the United States. Even with
the limitations, we hope this
study encourages other scholars to continue to study the
dynamics within father-son rela-
tionships.
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Differentiated Elementary
Science Instruction
Mary Doran Brown

Archived Information
Differentiated Elementary
Science Instruction
WELCOME!
As you settle in for the session, complete
the following task:
Write a set of directions you would follow to
make a cheesecake.
Enduring Understanding
All students can learn rigorous academic
material at high standards.
Jon Saphier and Robert Gower: The Skillful Teacher

Essential Question
How can we best identify what students
know and are able to do and
subsequently plan for, instruct, and
measure learner progress in mixed ability
science classrooms in standards-based
curriculum?
Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will know
and be able to:
define the foundations and key principles of
differentiated instruction.
gain knowledge about differentiation strategies.
observe the connection between science inquiry and
differentiated instruction.

explore differentiated science lessons based on
Maryland State Standards.
explain the process for data-driven differentiated
instructional planning.
create a differentiated science lesson plan.
The Betting Game
Topic: Differentiation
1. There are three modes of differentiation: content,
process, and product.
2. Whole class instruction is not a part of a differentiated
classroom.
3. Assessment and instruction are inseparable in a
differentiated classroom.
4. Differentiation is synonymous with individualized
instruction.
5. Exit cards are a quick and easy strategy for assessing

students.
6. Readiness, interest, and learning profile are factors in
planning differentiated instruction.
7. Differentiation is chaotic.
Why Differentiate?
“One size fits all” instruction does not
address the needs of all students.
Children come in different shapes and
sizes. They also differ in interest,
readiness levels, and learning profiles.
Differentiating “How To”
How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed
Ability Classrooms – by Carol Ann Tomlinson

Be clear on the key concepts and
generalizations that give meaning and
structure to the topic.
Lessons for all students should emphasize
critical thinking.
Lessons for all students should be
engaging.
There should be a balance between
student selected and teacher assigned
tasks and working arrangements.
Differentiation Key Message
Tomlinson tells us:
Instruction begins where the students
are, not at the front of the curriculum
guide.

What do students know and what
are they able to do?
Pre- and on-going assessments drive
instruction
Products and work samples
Standardized tests
Questioning
Every pupil response
Writing prompts
Exit cards

KWL
Paper/Pencil tests
Drawings related to the topic
Differentiated Content
Input – what the students learn
Use of multiple texts
Use of varied resources
Compact curriculum
Learning contracts

Differentiated Process
How students make sense of content
Interactive journals
Tiered assignments
Learning centers
Cubing
Anchor activities
Differentiated Product
Output – how students demonstrate what

they know and are able to do
Product presentation uses varied modes of
expression, materials, technologies
Advanced assignments that require higher
order thinking skills
Evaluation by self and others
Authentic assessment
Pre-Assessment Data Implications
Cheesecake 911
Direct Instruction

Provide varied text - content
Make task simpler - process
Provide small group instruction - process
Cheesecake Basics
Guided Instruction
Provide step-by-step written instructions - process
Provide modeled lessons - process
Provide lab opportunity - content
Cheesecake Advance

Independent Instruction
Provide opportunities for learners to expand their
knowledge - content
Differentiating Science
Instruction
Three levels of science inquiry
Structured
Guided
Open
Structured Science Inquiry

Students provided hands-on problem to
investigate with procedures and materials
Students discover relationships between
variables or generalize from data
Used to teach specific content, fact, or
skill
Guided Science Inquiry
Students provided materials and problem
to investigate, and students compose their
own procedures
Teacher facilitates and encourages
student generated questions
Open Science Inquiry

Similar to guided inquiry with the addition
that students also formulate their own
problem to investigate
Sample Differentiated Science
Lesson
Structured Inquiry
Students are given testable question and
verbal procedures – Are fingerprint and toe
print formulas the same?
Guided Inquiry
Students select a testable question from
teacher list then plan and conduct
investigation

Open Inquiry
Students develop a testable question and
investigation
Anchor Activities
Reading to be Informed
Inquiry Centers
Structured Computer Work
Give It a Try
Paper Towel Investigation

Develop a tiered science lesson for
students to create and conduct well-
designed investigations to determine the
quality of several different paper towels.
Labor Intensive Strategies for
Differentiation
Assessment, data analysis, and diagnosis
Flexible grouping
Tiered tasks
Anchor activities
Differentiated learning encounters
Learning contracts

Independent study
Simple Strategies for
Differentiation
Study buddies
Exit cards
Student expert
“Three Before Me”
“The Doctor Is In”
Mini-lessons

Multiple text
Differentiation instruction is a
critical element to…
Leaving No Child Behind.
Differentiated Elementary Science InstructionDifferentiated
Elementary Science InstructionEnduring
UnderstandingEssential QuestionOutcomesThe Betting
Game�Topic: DifferentiationWhy Differentiate?Differentiating
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and what are they able to do? Differentiated
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for DifferentiationSimple Strategies for DifferentiationSlide
Number 24
ADOLESCENT AND PARENT PERCEPTIONS
OF MEDIA INFLUENCE ON ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY
Ronald Jay Werner-Wilson, Jennifer Lynn Fitzharris,
and Kathleen M. Morrissey
ABSTRACT
Empirical evidence suggests that television and other media
influence adoles-
cents' attitudes and behaviors. Much of the research in this area
is based on

surveys in which adolescents are asked to rank the relative
importance of a
fixed set of factors such as parents, peers, and media. We
reviewed data from
focus groups conducted with adolescents and their parents to
examine the
extent to which adolescents identify—without prompting—
media as a source
of influence on sexual behavior. Adolescents seemed indifferent
to media in-
fluence (e.g., media infiuence was mentioned in only one
adolescent focus
group), but their parents expressed significant concern about
media infiuence.
Future research should investigate the extent to which
infiuences exist outside
of adolescents' consciousness. For now, parents and sexuality
educators may
need to convince adolescents that concerns about the media are
valid before
trying to change media-inflenced behavior.
Adolescents are active consumers of messages broadcast on
radio
and television, printed in magazines, distributed on the Internet,
and
presented in video games. As technology has advanced, access
to these
varying t3rpes of media has become common in U.S.
households: 98%
have at least one television, 70% have more than one television,
70%
have cable, and 51% of households with children have a
computer
(Paik, 2001). Wireless resources such as radio/CD headsets,
handheld

televisions, portable video game players, and internet access via
cellu-
lar phones add to the numerous sources of media access. In
addition.
This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the
Western Michigan
University Faculty Research and Creative Activities Support
Fund, Western
Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan. A version of this
paper was pre-
sented at the 2000 National Council on Family Relations Annual
Conference,
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Ronald Jay Werner-Wilson, Marriage and Family Therapy
Program and
Clinic, Iowa State University.
Jennifer Lynn Fitzharris, Iowa State University.
Kathleen M. Morrissey, Iowa State University.
Requests for reprints should be sent to Ronald Jay Werner-
Wilson, Depart-
ment of Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State
University, 4380
Palmer Building, Suite 1321, Ames, Iowa 50011. E-mail:
[email protected]
Reprinted with permission from Adolescence, Vol. 39, No. 154,
2004.
Family Therapy, Volume 31, Number 3, 2004
Libra Publishers, Inc., 3089C Clairemont Dr., PMB 383, San
Diego, CA 92117

VCR usage allowing repetitive viewing of movies and access to
age-
restricted movies must be taken into consideration when
studying me-
dia access. With each additional source of access, popular
media may
replace more worthwhile activities (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, &
Signo-
riello, 1986). Further, adolescents appear to be using media in
an iso-
lated manner: more adolescents seem to have media available in
their
private bedrooms (Larson, 1995).
The media passively reinforce gender and ethnic stereotypes
(Gerb-
ner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1986). Passive reinforcement
of gen-
der and ethnic stereotypes was demonstrated in a content
analysis of
Rolling Stone magazine, a popular adolescent periodical, which
exam-
ined gender and ethnic themes in issues published in the years
1968
and 1988 (Wilson, 1990). Results from the content analysis
suggested
that women and people from traditionally underrepresented
groups
were rarely the source of stories; when they were featured, they
were
depicted unflatteringly.
Both children and adults have been reported to believe the
media is
a central source of information on sex and sexuality for young
people

(Malamuth & Impett, 2001) considering few programs (from the
daily
news, to "reality-based" programs, to talk shows, to family-
centered
programming) appear immune to stories of a sexual nature.
Content
analysis has been performed on print media, television and
movies,
music, and computerized media to determine the types of
messages
delivered through these sources with results showing
adolescents be-
ing exposed to both implicit and explicit sexual content
(Carpenter,
1998; Durham, 1998; Flowers-Coulson, Kushner, & Bankowski,
2000;
Kehily, 1999; Strong & DeVault, 1994; Ward & Wyatt, 1994).
While
neither prior research nor the general public appear to dispute
the
sexual content of the media, the perceived influence on
adolescents and
their sexuality appears to warrant further examination. Few
studies
examine whether adolescents themselves find the media
influential in
determining their sexual attitudes, values, and behaviors (Mala-
muth & Impett, 2001).
Adolescents and Media
Larson (1995) suggested that media usage changes—often
becoming
more individualistic—as adolescents begin to develop their
sense of
self. The experiences of adolescents as they develop may impact

how
media is selected and how influential the messages are. Fine,
Morti-
mer, and Roberts (1990) suggest that the medium adolescents
select
is different during this life stage in an attempt to gain
independence
from parents. Depending on their rate of development, some
adoles-
156
cents may succumb to media influences, while others may not.
Based
on an extensive literature review regarding the influences of
sexual
content in the media, Malamuth and Impett (2001) state that
individ-
ual personality factors may also he important, as research
suggests
that the type of media people select and flnd gratifying is
predictably
related to their personalities and other individual differences.
Roberts
(1993) has also examined adolescents and determined that they
vary
greatly regarding their development in areas such as identity
forma-
tion and the development of formal problem solving and moral
reason-
ing. Roberts suggests that not only do these affect the impact
media
has on adolescents, but so do the individual abilities, interests,
social

relationships, and short- and long-term needs of the adolescent.
Some
adolescents may not be cognitively equipped to interpret the
media
images they encoimter (Brown, Childers, & Waszak, 1990)
leading to
differences in how messages are processed and utilized by the
adoles-
cents. Hein (1980) has also suggested that media influences may
be
greater among adolescents who have not had normal personality
devel-
opment.
Along with developmental differences, learning styles may also
con-
tribute to the way media are used and interpreted by
adolescents. De
Pierto and Allen (1984) examined various learning styles in
order to
determine which contributed most to the knowledge of birth
control in
a study of 100 adolescents aged 13 to 17. Styles of
communication and
learning were assessed in terms of who the adolescent
communicated
with (peers, family, professionals, multiple sources, or no one).
The
relationship between the interactant communication styles
(home,
peer, professional, and multi-source) and noninteractant (media
influ-
ence without communication with others) was signiñcant;
adolescents
who had interactant communication styles had greater birth
control

knowledge thain those with a noninteractant learning style.
The gender of the adolescent has also been shown to be
associated
with media influence. For example, Baran (1976) examined the
influ-
ence of perceptions of sexuality on television and satisfaction
with sex-
uality. While no direct influence of television on sexuality was
found,
Baran did ñnd that males were more likely to report higher
levels
of satisfaction with their first sexual experience and lower
levels of
satisfaction with their virginity. Brown and Newcomer (1991)
found
that males were less likely to be virgins than were females, and
that
while females were more likely to watch television, sexual
status (vir-
gin or non-virgin) was related to the amount of sexual content
viewed
on television. In addition, females appear more likely to hold
conserva-
tive attitudes regarding sexuality (Calfln, Carroll, & Schmidt,
1993).
Strouse, Buerkel-Rothfuss, and Long (1995) revealed similar
findings
157
regarding males being more likely to engage in premarital
intercourse
and to have liberal attitudes about premarital sex. Similarly,

adoles-
cent females seem to be more likely to watch soap operas and
MTV,
and to spend more time listening to music (Stouse & Buerke-
Rothfuss,
1987). In a qualitative, multi-method study, Steele (1999) also
found
that gender differences might be present in the selection of
media to
be viewed or listened to. Adolescent girls also appear to be
affected
differently by print media and are more likely than young males
to
read and have positive attitudes toward magazines. Girls use
these
magazines as discussion starters and to supplement sex
education
classes, whereas boys have reported that they consider the
seeking
and sharing of advice unmasculine behavior (Kehily, 1999).
Girls have
also been reported as more likely to seek media showing
romance and
are therefore more likely to be exposed to sexual content (Don-
nerstein & Smith, 2001). Based on content analysis research,
Durham
(1998) concluded that girls are likely to struggle to balance the
mes-
sages sent by the media in regard to appearance, behavior, and
social
power dynamics.
Other characteristics of adolescents that have been associated
with
sexuality and the media include race, class, and family
environment.

Both verbal and non-verbal messages regarding sexuality have
been
found to be related to the sexual behavior of European
American fe-
male adolescents, but not African American females. African
American
females also appear to be more likely to recall more non-
traditional
messages on television (Ward & Wyatt, 1994). African
American fe-
males have been reported as watching more television than do
Euro-
pean American adolescents (Brown & Newcomer, 1991), and
ethnicity
has been noted as a selection factor for types of media sought
by both
European American and African American teens (Steele, 1999).
Based
on a qualitative study of adolescent middle-school girls,
Durham (1999)
concluded that race and class play a part in the sexual
socialization of
young girls with the dominant culture more likely to pay
attention to
mass media. In addition to race and class, overall family
satisfaction
was considered and found to be the most consistent moderator
between
media variables and sexual permissiveness in a study examining
gen-
der, race, and family environment (Strouse et al., 1995). Since
not all
adolescents are affected by media in the same way, certain
moderating
variables such as gender and family environment may be
significant

(Malamuth & Impett, 2001).
Impact of Media
Along with the examination of media usage, several researchers
have attempted to explain the relationship between adolescent
sexual-
158
ity and media. Correlational studies indicate that exposure to
sexually
suggestive materials is associated with premarital sex, although
whether sexually active teens seek out sexual content or
whether sex-
ual content increases sexual activity remains uncertain (Brown
et al.,
1990; Brown & Newcomer, 1991; Donnerstein & Smith, 2001;
Lackey &
Moberg, 1998; Malamuth & Impett, 2001; Strouse & Buerkel-
Rothfuss,
1987). Other researchers have found sexual content in the media
to
have a minimal, if any, impact on sexual activity of adolescents
(Pe-
terson, Moore, & Furstenberg, 1991; Roberts, 1993).
Explanations for the varied impact of the media include the
differing
characteristics of adolescents discussed earlier in this paper and
addi-
tional factors such as the perceived reality of the content
viewed, the
media's portrayal of consequences (or lack of) associated with

sexual
behavior, and the influence of other role models. Studies of peer
group
interaction suggest that learning from the media is not only an
individ-
ual process, but that messages received during peer group
interactions
may also contribute to how adolescents learn from and interpret
media
messages (Durham, 1999; Milkie, 1994). According to
Donnerstein and
Smith (2001), research shows that parents who openly
communicate
and actively co-view television may help "inoculate adolescents
from
potentiallay detrimental effects of exposure" (p. 298).
Frequency of
viewing (Malamuth & Impett, 2001) appear important as well.
Although the majority of research regarding the impact of the
media
on sexuality has focused on harmful effects, the media do
appear to
have some positive effect on the education of adolescents
regarding
sexuality, sexual behavior, and safe sex. While media
campaigns that
specifically target the sexual behavior of adolescents can be
effective
(Berne & Huberman, 2000; Strasburger, 1995), learning also
takes
place indirectly. Kehily (1999), through participant observation,
dis-
covered that young girls read magazines to learn about sex.
Milkie
(1994) conducted a study with a middle-school aged male peer

group
and concluded that in this group, movies were the source of
learning
and sharing about male sexuality. In addition to television, print
me-
dia, and music, the Internet has now become a viable way for
adoles-
cents to gain information about sexuality (Flowers-Coulson,
Kushner, & Bankowski, 2000).
Purpose
Although there has been a substantial amount of research
regarding
adolescents and the media, the conclusions about media effects
are
based on an approach that may be misleading. This approach
asks
adolescents to rank the relative importance of a fixed set of
factors
159
such as parents, peers, and the media; by relying exclusively on
a fixed-
choice format, we cannot be sure that adolescents would
identify or
rank media influence as significant without prompting. In
addition,
while teens have been shown to rank the media as influential for
peers,
they appear reluctant to rank it as influencing their own
behavior
(Kaiser Family Foundation, 2002) and were persistent in

suggesting
that they themselves were not influenced by television, and that
the
media is too frequently blamed for their behavior (Fay &
Yanoff, 2000).
It therefore seems important to identify the extent to which
adoles-
cents identify the importance of media without prompting.
We will review data from focus groups to examine the extent to
which adolescents identify—^without prompting by the research
team—media as a source of influence on sexual behavior. For
the sake
of comparison, we will also examine data from focus groups
conducted
with parents of these adolescents to identify parental perception
of
media influence on adolescent sexuality. In addition to
evaluating per-
ceptions about the influence of media, we will also examine
strategies
identifled by participants to (a) respond to media messages that
pro-
mote sexual experimentation and (b) use the media to promote
respon-
sible sexual behavior.
METHOD
The present research is part of a study we conducted to explore
the
perceptions of both adolescents and their parents about
adolescent
sexuality. We conducted focus group interviews with
participants from
two communities in southwest Michigan, one suburban/urban

(with
an approximate population of 230,000) and the other more rural
(with
a population of 10,000). Separate interviews were conducted for
adoles-
cent girls and their families and for adolescent boys and their
families.
All participants were asked the following six questions: (1) "In
your
opinion, what are important influences on teen age sexual
behavior?"
(Follow-up: "What are important influences on contraceptive
use?");
(2) "How do teenagers' friends influence sexual behavior"
(Follow-up:
"How do friends influence decisions about condom use?"); (3)
"How do
parents of teenagers influence teen sexual behavior?" (Follow-
up: "How
do parents influence decisions about condom use?"; (4) "What
should
be done to help teenagers reduce risky sexual practices?"
(Follow-up:
"What needs to be done to increase condom use among
teenagers?"; (5)
"What specific issues should be included in sexuality education
for
teenagers?" (Follow-up: "How should this information be
presented?");
160
and (6) "Should parents participate in sexuality education?"
(Follow-

up: "How could they be included?"). Although we expected
media-re-
lated comments in response to the first question, we examined
all of the
transcripts for each group because we were interested in
unprompted
comments about media.
Sample
We employed a snowball sample to recruit participants: we
asked
each person who agreed to participate to provide us with the
names of
other families who might be willing to participate in our study.
We
interviewed adolescent girls and their families as well as
adolescent
boys and their families at each site. Separate interviews were
con-
ducted with each member of the family so we have data from
inter-
views with two groups of girls (n = 8), hoys (n = 6), mothers of
girls
{n = 7), mothers of boys {n = 5), fathers of girls {n = 6), and
fathers
of boys in = 5).
The average age was 15 for girls and 16 for hoys. Parents' ages
ranged from 41 to 51 with the average age being 46 for mothers
and
48 for fathers. Although all of the adolescent participants
reported on
their anonymous questionnaire that they were virgins, most of
them
[n = 13) had friends who had experienced sexual intercourse.

Addition-
ally, all of the adolescents indicated that they were "exclusively
hetero-
sexual" in the anonymous survey. Most of the sample identified
themselves as being European American. The majority (71%) of
the
adolescents lived with both biological parents and annual family
in-
come ranged from $30,000 to $70,000. The average family
income for
participants was $60,000. Parents' education levels ranged from
a high
school degree to a graduate degree with most parents
completing four
years of college.
RESULTS
In this section, we will review two themes. First, we will
identify the
extent to which adolescents and parents provided unsolicited
com-
ments about media infiuence. Second, we will describe
strategies iden-
tified by participants to (a) respond to media messages that
promote
sexual experimentation, and (b) use media to promote
responsible sex-
ual behavior.
Media Influence
Adolescents rarely discussed media-related themes in their
focus
groups. It was not mentioned at all in either of the focus groups
with

161
boys and it was discussed only in one of the focus groups with
girls.
For the one group in which media themes were discussed, the
girls
seemed to minimize media influence. For example, several
stated that
they did not believe that sexual content in movies influenced
sexual
behavior, mocking the idea that they would "go home and have
sex"
after seeing a movie that included sexual content.
In contrast, parents seemed particularly concerned about the
effect
of media content on adolescent sexuality. They expressed
concerns
about the influence of television programming (such as sitcoms
and
soap operas), as well as teen magazines, computer games,
movies, tele-
vision advertisements, and music, on their children.
Parents expressed concern about media content because they
seemed
to believe that adolescents were passive recipients of media
messages.
For example, one parent suggested that television distorted
reality:
". . . kids that watch TV a lot start to think that's how the world
really
is." Another parent commented: "The media becomes so

important be-
cause the message they send is one of great promiscuity and that
every-
body's doing it and that it's just very acceptable to do, and just
go for
i t . . . the trouble is, that message isn't being shown in a
realistic way
where they show a younger teenager that's dying of AIDS or has
syphi-
lis or who is struggling at 16 years old with two kids and living
off
welfare and food stamps trying to get an education. They're not
show-
ing the negatives, they're only showing the 'fun stuff.' "
One parent expressed concern about the influence of these
messages:
"You wonder how much kids can watch of that from flve, three,
and
two years old and just not feel that it's not normal activity
hetween a
male and female to have sex right there." Concern about media
content
was exemplifled in the following comment from a parent: "I
hate the
videos that are on there. They're just pornography set to music,
I just
hate them. . . . And they have this one show that I just really
object
to. It's about these people that they, six people live in a home
[referring
to the television show 'The Real World'] . . . they just live in
this place
and they discuss all their sexual exploits."
Using Media to Promote Responsible Sexual Behavior

Adolescent participants, perhaps because they did not identify
media
as being a significant infiuence, did not comment on responding
to
media messages. Parents consistently suggested that it was the
re-
sponsibility of parents to monitor messages in the media and
talk to
their children about sexual themes in the media. This is
demonstrated
in the following exemplar: "One of the things we do at our
house when
we talk about things like t h a t . . . when you see a show about
a situa-
tion, we use that show and start talking about that show."
162
Recall that only one group—a group of adolescent girls—
discussed
media and sexuality. In that group participants reported that
recent
media campaigns and themes on popular programs effectively
ad-
dressed HIV/AIDS and responsible sexual behavior. They
concluded
that messages that included humor were the most effective.
Parents
also suggested that recent campaigns to promote responsible
sexual
behavior were helpful, but one parent asked, "Do you think kids
take
these seriously?"

CONCLUSION
In contrast to research that includes forced-choice responses to
ques-
tions about the influence of media on adolescent sexuality,
adolescents
in these focus groups—who were not prompted to talk about
media
influences—seemed indifferent to them. These influences were
men-
tioned in only one of the adolescent focus groups. This is in
contrast
to parents of adolescents who expressed concern about media
mes-
sages. This suggests a need for future research on identification
of the
extent of media influence on adolescent sexuality using
experimental
or longitudinal studies. Investigators should examine the extent
to
which influences exist outside of adolescents' consciousness.
For now,
parents and sexuality educators may need to convince
adolescents that
concerns about the media are valid before trying to change
media-
influenced behavior.
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Deborah
Sticky Note
How do same-sex couples differ from heterosexual married
relationships? The legal and social context of marriage creates
barriers to breaking up that do not typically exist for same-sex
partners or for cohabitating heterosexuals.

Sex Roles, Vol. 42, Nos. 3/4, 2000
No Sissy Boys Here: A Content Analysis of the
Representation of Masculinity in Elementary
School Reading Textbooks
Lorraine Evans
University of Georgia
Kimberly Davies1
Augusta State University
In this study, we investigate the portrayal of gender
characteristics in elemen-
tary school reading textbooks. Over the past 25 years, most of
the research
on textbooks has focused on female roles and characteristics. In
this research,
we focus particularly on how males are portrayed. Using an
evaluative instru-
ment based on the Bem Sex Role Inventory, we examine first,
third, and
fifth grade literature textbooks. In particular, we analyze traits
pertaining to
masculine and feminine stereotypes. Our results show that
despite publisher’s
guidelines and Title IX, males are still primarily portrayed in a
stereotypical
light. Males are overwhelming shown to be aggressive,
argumentative, and
competitive.
In the schoolroom more than any other place, does the
difference of sex, if there

is any, need to be forgotten.
Susan B. Anthony, 1856
School is formally charged by law as a legitimate agent of
socialization
to educate our children (Richardson, 1977). Title IX of the
Education
Amendments Act of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against
students or
employees in any federally funded program (Sandler, 1977).
With its pas-
sage, sexism became more than a topic of philosophical
discussion; it became
a legal issue in the schools of the United States. Title IX
applied to virtually
all aspects of student life: sports, testing, rules, regulations, and
textbooks.
1To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department
of Sociology, Augusta State
University, 2500 Walton Way, Augusta, Georgia 30904-2200 (e-
mail: [email protected]).
255
0360-0025/00/0200-
Corporation
256 Evans and Davies
Publishing houses have recognized the importance of ensuring
equal
representation of all people in textbooks, and most of them have
printed

guidebooks emphasizing the effects that textbooks could have
on children.
In 1975, Macmillan, a major textbook publisher, stated that
‘‘children are
not simply being taught mathematics and reading; they are also
learning,
sometimes subliminally, how society regards certain groups of
people’’
(quoted in Britton & Lumpkin, 1977). Even earlier, in 1973,
Ginn and
Company went further, noting that, ‘‘Educational materials
teach far more
than information and a way of learning. In subtle, often
unconscious ways,
the tone and development of the content and the illustrations
foster in a
learner positive or negative attitudes about self, race, religion,
regions,
sex, ethnic and social class groups, occupations, life
expectations, and life
chances’’ (quoted in Britton & Lumpkin, 1977).
In addition to these publishers, scholars have also noted the
importance
of textbooks in teaching children gender behaviors. In a 1984
meta-analysis,
Schau and Scott found that instructional materials affect
students when it
comes to sex equity. They identified and summarized over 40
studies which
examined the effects on gender associations, sex-role attitudes,
material
preference, and comprehension among students. Their results
included the
effects of gender-biased language—the all-inclusive, generic,
‘‘man,’’ for

example, leads to male gender associations overall, whereas
unspecified
language, e.g., ‘‘people,’’ reduces, although it does not
eliminate, the ten-
dency to think of men only. The studies reviewed by Schau and
Scott
demonstrated that among children, sex-equitable materials were
associated
with more flexible sex-role attitudes, whereas sexist material
contributed
to more sex-typed attitudes. Schau and Scott (1984) argue that
for fulfill-
ment of individual potential, a flexible gender-role attitude is
necessary,
and thus equitable portrayals of male and female characters with
both
masculine and feminine traits are needed in children’s
textbooks.
PREVIOUS STUDIES
Clearly, school is a social experience in which social values and
attitudes
are transmitted, and textbooks are agents of this transmission.
Previous
research on textbooks has been based on the premise that books
are a
powerful tool in shaping children and their views of society
during their
formative years. It is therefore important that the content of our
children’s
textbooks be studied to reveal what messages are being
conveyed through
the authority of textbooks in the education of our youngest
citizens.

While textbook publishers and researchers have noted the
importance
of displaying positive characteristics for both males and females
in
Representation of Masculinity in Textbooks 257
textbooks, examinations of textbooks before and since the
passage of
Title IX have found little equality in the portrayal of males and
females;
the ‘‘hidden curriculum’’ continues. Scholars who examined
textbooks
published prior to 1980 found an underrepresentation of women
and
girls as main characters, extreme stereotyping of female
characters when
shown, very few depictions of women in occupational roles, and
negative
displays of feminine characteristics (Britton & Lumpkin, 1977;
Oliver,
1974; Schnell & Sweeney, 1975; Weitzman & Rizo, 1974). In
most studies
published prior to 1980, male characterizations were not viewed
as an
area worthy of comment beyond noting that depictions of men
and boys
overshadowed that of women and girls. An exception is the
study by
Frasher and Walker (1972), who examined roles displayed by
both males
and females in early reading textbooks from four basal reading
series
and found males in only a narrow range of roles. According to

Frasher
and Walker, boys in these textbooks were shown as noisy and
conveying
a higher level of aggression through competition and
assertiveness than
girls in the textbooks. Few adult men were in fathering or
caregiving
positions, and ‘‘never did a boy of any age play with a doll or
house,
sew or pick flowers’’ (Frasher & Walker, 1972, p. 744). Frasher
and
Walker, however, did not compare the different series to
determine
if one publisher displayed men and boys in a more narrow range
than another.
During the 1980s and 1990s, published research on sexism in
elemen-
tary school textbooks resumed focusing solely on the portrayal
of girls.
Scholars approached the issue of sexism in textbooks by asking
questions
such as the following about the books they examined: (1) What
percentage
of the main characters are female (Hitchcock & Tompkins,
1987; Rupley,
Garcia, & Longnion, 1981)? (2) What are the occupations of
female main
characters (Hitchcock & Tompkins, 1987)? and (3) To what
extent are
characters gender stereotyped (Scott, 1981)?
While the research during the 1980s and 1990s continued to
focus
more on the portrayal of girls and women, the research that
compares

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