An examination of fathers\u27 satisfaction with the legal system: Exploring the concept in relation to fathers\u27 experience with the Family Law Court of Western Australia

Although the importance of fathers\u27 post divorce contact with their children has been linked with a better outcome for the children and is valued by society, studies in the United States and Australia have suggested that up to 30 percent of fathers do not maintain regular contact with their children post divorce. To date, the literature has focused mainly on demographic variables and some personal characteristics of the father. An area, which has been neglected, is the influence of fathers\u27 perception of legal proceedings and rules on their contact with their children post divorce. This study aimed to explore the underlying concepts of satisfaction and examine fathers\u27 perception of satisfaction in relation to their experience with the Family Court of Western Australia. This was done by utilising qualitative research methodology. Twenty·four fathers were interviewed using an interview schedule adapted from Tyler (1988). Results from the present study indicated that fathers\u27 satisfaction was primarily influenced by a favourable outcome in relation to contact with their children. Factors found to result in dissatisfaction included fathers’ feelings that their father role had been eroded, a perceived bias by the family law system in favour of the mother, and a lack of legal assistance and limited availability of legal personnel. In order to clarify a number of issues, a subset often fathers from the original sample were re-interviewed. Further analysis confirmed that fathers\u27 unresolved issues in relation to their separation; strong emotions including anger and distress during the court process; and unrealistic expectations in relation to contact with their children, made dissatisfaction with the legal system, and in particular court outcomes, more likely. This research suggests that early intervention for fathers is needed to allow them to address any unresolved issues surrounding their separation, and the emotions such as anger and grief that often follow separation. Services, which provide legal assistance and direction prior to entering and during legal proceedings, also appear to be necessary

Within-Individual Differences in Offending from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: A Modified Theoretical Approach to Understanding Academic Achievement and Delinquency

Motivated by General Strain Theory (GST), the project examines school strains and their effects on offending from adolescence to young adulthood. The project develops an extensive GST model, testing multiple measures of school strain (controlling for strains from multiple domains), coping mechanisms, and negative emotionality. I expand the traditional GST framework by adding measures of subjective meaning to the interpretation of strain. While the concept of subjective meaning has been suggested previously (Agnew, 1992; Cohen, 1955), I draw on psychological theories and suggestions by Agnew (1992) about understanding the perception of strain, to address critiques that the individual context in which the strain is experienced is not accounted for in existing empirical work on school strain and delinquency (Sander, Sharkey, Fisher, Bates, and Herren, 2011). To that end, the project uses three waves of data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), which followed a cohort of students into adulthood. This study contributes to scholarship by examining gender differences in the relationship between school strains and offending over time, comparing multiple measures of school strain, and including measures of subjective meaning. Linear mixed-effects modeling is used to estimate relationships between school strain and offending, for male and female subsamples in order to identify gender differences in the ways school strains, subjective meaning, other strains, coping mechanisms, and negative emotionality affect offending. I utilize a GST framework to explain the results from the analysis. Findings revealed that while some school strains were positively related to offending trajectories, the subjective meaning of those strains made a difference in their consequences, either increasing or decreasing levels of offending, even when controlling for multiple forms of strain. Further, while some coping skills and mechanisms decreased the estimated level of offending trajectory, religiosity unexpectedly increased the estimated level of offending in females. The most significant finding from this study was the strong impact of school strains and the subjective meaning of strain on the level of offending over time

Within-Individual Differences in Offending from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: A Modified Theoretical Approach to Understanding Academic Achievement and Delinquency

Motivated by General Strain Theory (GST), the project examines school strains and their effects on offending from adolescence to young adulthood. The project develops an extensive GST model, testing multiple measures of school strain (controlling for strains from multiple domains), coping mechanisms, and negative emotionality. I expand the traditional GST framework by adding measures of subjective meaning to the interpretation of strain. While the concept of subjective meaning has been suggested previously (Agnew, 1992; Cohen, 1955), I draw on psychological theories and suggestions by Agnew (1992) about understanding the perception of strain, to address critiques that the individual context in which the strain is experienced is not accounted for in existing empirical work on school strain and delinquency (Sander, Sharkey, Fisher, Bates, and Herren, 2011). To that end, the project uses three waves of data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), which followed a cohort of students into adulthood. This study contributes to scholarship by examining gender differences in the relationship between school strains and offending over time, comparing multiple measures of school strain, and including measures of subjective meaning. Linear mixed-effects modeling is used to estimate relationships between school strain and offending, for male and female subsamples in order to identify gender differences in the ways school strains, subjective meaning, other strains, coping mechanisms, and negative emotionality affect offending. I utilize a GST framework to explain the results from the analysis. Findings revealed that while some school strains were positively related to offending trajectories, the subjective meaning of those strains made a difference in their consequences, either increasing or decreasing levels of offending, even when controlling for multiple forms of strain. Further, while some coping skills and mechanisms decreased the estimated level of offending trajectory, religiosity unexpectedly increased the estimated level of offending in females. The most significant finding from this study was the strong impact of school strains and the subjective meaning of strain on the level of offending over time