Men’s Role and Fatherhood in French Caribbean Families: A Multi-Systemic ‘Resource’ Approach

Abstract

In Western societies, mothering and fathering are generally conceptualized as distinct social roles, marriage being considered as the institution which provides the best framework for child-rearing (nuclear family model). Yet it is important that health-care practitioners recognize that children can be successfully raised in very diverse types of family organizations, including extended female-headed families. Although at first sight this type of family structure appears to be lacking in male models and therefore seems to be defective, we stress the following points, using three case illustrations from French Caribbean families: (i) Functional extended matrifocal Caribbean families can resourcefully respond to the child’s fundamental socialization needs, and the paternal role is often adequately fulfilled in a variety of ways (by fathers as well as other persons) in these families; and (ii) when Caribbean families’ ability to ‘father’ the child is disrupted (through social isolation, migration or specific psychological/developmental problems), mental health professionals working with these families should base their interventions on treatment models that promote the (re)construction of a functional extended family network and apply more flexible concepts of ‘fatherhood’ than those dictated by the nuclear family model.