Taking a Long View of the ‘Right Time’ for Fatherhood

Abstract

This chapter explores the ‘right time’ for fatherhood, drawing on qualitative interviews with UK men in heterosexual relationships. The timing of parenthood has become a popular topic of debate, particularly the apparent trend towards ‘delaying’. A 2010 release from the Office for National Statistics¹ detailing that births to older mothers have trebled in 20 years prompted media articles questioning ‘when is the right time to have a baby?’ (e.g. Atkins, 2010). However, such articles focussed on women’s decision-making, have led to criticism from readers that men’s crucial role in establishing the ‘right time’ for parenthood had been overlooked. The trend towards delaying has prompted concern about age-related infertility, as the number of in-vitro fertilisation patients rose between 1985 and 2005 from 3,717 to 32,626 (Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, 2009). Akin to the media discourse, there has been an evident bias towards a focus on women in the existing research on fertility decision-making. Yet as men’s attitudes are as relevant as women’s to understanding fertility behaviour (Jamieson et al., 2010), it is clear that the way in which men negotiate the timing of fatherhood is an issue which needs to be explored. Alongside wider concerns about delaying, teenage parenthood continues to be identified as troublesome (Edwards et al., 2010).