Half of non-resident fathers see their babies and toddlers several times a week, with contact becoming less frequent as children transition to school, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has found.
The study has prompted calls from the ESRI to include non-resident fathers in research on children’s lives to provide a “comprehensive picture”.
Using data from the longitudinal study Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) which tracks different cohorts of children, households that experienced parental separation during the study were found to be more disadvantaged.
Fathers in particular tended to have lower educational levels, higher levels of unemployment and greater financial difficulties, while mothers tended to be younger in age, had lower levels of education and were more likely to live in urban areas.
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Some 14 per cent of children aged between nine months and five years old do not live full-time with their fathers, rising to 18 per cent by nine years of age.
While just more than a quarter of non-resident fathers have little to no contact with their children at each age examined, half see their babies or toddlers several times a week, according to reports from mothers.
The study found contact is less frequent as children make the transition to school, with about a third of children aged five and nine seeing their fathers at least a few times each week.
Parental accounts of the father’s frequency of contact differed, with mothers reporting lower levels than fathers.
More than a third (38 per cent) of separated mothers receive regular payments from the non-resident father, while 11 per cent receive payments on “an ad hoc basis”, according to the study.
The ESRI said studies that include non-resident fathers have yielded “important insights” into their influence on child outcomes and the importance of the resources that they provide whether financial, social or emotional.
Emer Smyth, co-author of the report, said about one-in-six children do not live with their father full-time, “so not including their father gives only an incomplete picture of their lives”.
“Parents can differ in their perceptions of the father-child relationship, so capturing both perspectives is important,” Ms Smyth said.
However, many studies have experienced challenges in including non-resident fathers, the ESRI said.
In Ireland, the amount of mothers willing to give researchers permission to contact the father fell from about a third when their child was nine months and three years old to just more than a quarter when they were aged nine, often corresponding with the frequency of the father’s contact.
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Some 35 per cent of the fathers who were contacted when their child was three completed the survey, falling to 14 per cent by the age of nine, with the ESRI saying those in more frequent contact with their child are more likely to participate.
