NARRATIVE ACCOUNTS, GENERATIVE FATHERING, AND FAMILY-LIFE EDUCATION

This article suggests that theory and story can be effectively linked in interpretive family life education programs and illustrates this po tential by discussing how personal narrative accounts of fathers' enco unters with their children can be used to understand and encourage goo d fathering (herein referred to as generative fathering). The article (a) presents a theory of how fathers change and the implications of th is theory for the use of fathers' narrative accounts in interpretive f amily life education, (b) briefly discusses the concept of generative fathering and presents a conceptual framework for understanding and en couraging generative fathering, and (c) illustrates the potential util ity of narrative accounts in encouraging generative fathering in famil y life education with accounts collected from fathers. Although the me thod applied herein is not, in the strictest sense, qualitative resear ch, it illustrates how qualitative methodology can be applied to famil y life education.