Managing masculinity when growing up with a violent father: A qualitative study of boys’ experiences

TY - JOUR

T1 - Managing masculinity when growing up with a violent father

T2 - A qualitative study of boys’ experiences

AU - Callaghan, Jane E. M.

AU - Fellin, Lisa C.

AU - Mavrou, Stavroula

AU - Alexander, Joanne H.

AU - Sixsmith, Judith

AU - Deliyianni-Kouimtzis, Vasiliki

N1 - Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

PY - 2026/1

Y1 - 2026/1

N2 - A limited qualitative literature explores children's lived experiences of violence; boys’ relationships with perpetrator fathers remain largely unexplored. Drawing on interviews with 31 boys, this paper explores the accounts of their relationships with their perpetrator fathers, focusing particularly on the implications of boys’ understanding of these relationships for their sense of burgeoning masculinity. Three themes are considered: in (a) relational ambiguity; (b) performing masculinities, managing violence; and (c) envisioning alternative futures and re-visioning the past. Our findings highlight the importance of interventions for boys that facilitate the expression of their often complex and ambivalent feelings and fears about their father's violence, and what it means for them and their future.

AB - A limited qualitative literature explores children's lived experiences of violence; boys’ relationships with perpetrator fathers remain largely unexplored. Drawing on interviews with 31 boys, this paper explores the accounts of their relationships with their perpetrator fathers, focusing particularly on the implications of boys’ understanding of these relationships for their sense of burgeoning masculinity. Three themes are considered: in (a) relational ambiguity; (b) performing masculinities, managing violence; and (c) envisioning alternative futures and re-visioning the past. Our findings highlight the importance of interventions for boys that facilitate the expression of their often complex and ambivalent feelings and fears about their father's violence, and what it means for them and their future.

KW - boys

KW - fathers

KW - intimate partner violence

KW - masculinity

KW - qualitative research

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85215092830

U2 - 10.1177/10778012241303462

DO - 10.1177/10778012241303462

M3 - Article

C2 - 39819169

SN - 1077-8012

VL - 32

SP - 158

EP - 188

JO - Violence Against Women

JF - Violence Against Women

IS - 1

ER -