Improving Father–Daughter Relationships

Linda Nielsen, EdD, is a professor in the Education Department at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. A member of the faculty for 52 years, she is a nationally recognized researcher and expert on father–daughter relationships. Her work has appeared in many forums, including a PBS documentary, National Public Radio, CNN, Time, Newsweek, Oprah, Forbes, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. For more than three decades, she has taught the only college course in the country exclusively devoted to father–daughter relationships. In 2023, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Research Award by the National Parenting Organization for the worldwide impact of her work on shared parenting after divorce and father–daughter relationships.

Praise from the 1st Edition:"Dr. Linda Nielsen is one of those rare academics who, after solidly grounding herself in the research, and conducting original research to fill holes in the field, is then able to both write in real-life, fun-to-read terms that allow a real life family to discover the love for which they yearn. Having read two sample chapters and the table of contents, I predict that Improving Father-Daughter Relationships: A Guide for Women and Their Dads will become the standard four-step method to resolve father-daughter problems. The book covers a wide range of issues and her four-step method is applied to dozens of specific problems that no other book addresses. The chapter on elderly fathers and aging is especially useful since these issues are so seldom discussed in books for the general public. This book addresses issues that affect the relationship from her late adolescence through the father’s old age. I know of no other book that does this. Her chapters are clearly written, research-based, and filled with helpful quizzes and dozens of questions for women to discuss with their fathers. As the author of five books who has reviewed many authors’ advice books over the course of my career, I strongly recommend this book for publication."Dr. Warren Farrell, speaker and bestselling author of The Myth of Male Power and The Boy Crisis"I can’t tell you how often strained and painful father-daughter relationships lie at the core of my work both as a therapist and as a supervisor of other therapists. Dr. Nielsen has provided a clear map through the pain. I know of nothing else, at all, that provides resources for these issues.Dr. Nielsen takes her readers, both fathers and daughters, step by step through a process to repair their relationship. The book is at once thorough and accessible. It is both detailed and very readable. It is at once extremely practical and deeply hopeful. Along the way, each chapter puts a substantial amount of critical research into the hands of fathers and daughters who are desperate for guidance. The checklists that appear throughout the book communicate this research in a way that is both entertaining and extremely useful."Patricia L. Papernow, EdD, American Psychological Association Psychologist of the Year; Division of Couples & Family Counseling; Author of Surviving & Thriving in Stepfamily Relationships"Professor Linda Nielsen’s, Improving Father-Daughter Relationships: A Guide for Women and Their Dads, is an outstanding book that appeals to a wide audience. Nielsen is the leading authority in our field on father–daughter relationships whose pioneering work commands great respect among her colleagues. She excels in popularizing the implications of social science in an engaging format. I have no reservations in recommending this book. I look forward to its publication so that I can let my 'fans' know of this valuable resource."Richard A. Warshak, PhD, Past Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Author of Divorce Poison: How to Protect Your Family from Bad-mouthing and Brainwashing

• 1. Introduction 2. Communicating and problem-solving 3. Money: Minefields and misunderstandings 4. The daughter’s lifestyle 5. Mothers: Their impact on father–daughter relationships 6. Dad’s divorce and remarriage 7. The final stage: Father’s aging and dying