ORIGINAL PAPER Undisclosed Paternal Identity in Narratives of Distress Among Young People in Eastern Cape, South Africa Mzikazi Nduna • Rachel Jewkes Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 Abstract Life trajectories of children with no connec- tions to support from their fathers have received research attention. Within this group is a sub-group who do not know their fathers and no research has attempted to understand their experiences. We present accounts of how young South Africans deal with and seek to uncover undisclosed paternity. Forty young men and women aged 16 to 22 volunteered to participate in a qualitative study on distress that was conducted in the Eastern Cape Province. All interviews were conducted in isiXhosa, following a semi-structured guide. Our findings show that interest in father identity was motivated by harsh circumstances in the maternal home, notably when financial difficulties, exclu- sion from critical decision making and bullying by non- biological siblings were felt. The search for father identity was pursued in solitude by some participants: their fear of elders’ response restrained them from asking. Some thought that it would be interpreted as being disrespectful and ungrateful to ask ‘such a question’, whilst others worried that they might be victimized or, worse, thrown out by their mothers or maternal guardians. We present accounts of accidental disclosures by strangers and also inadvertent involvement in an incestuous relationship. Open and honest communication with children about their paternal identity should be promoted to prevent the cur- rents of silence, secrecy and anxiety, and avoid unpleasant surprises for the children. Keywords Family Á Father Á Paternity Á Youth Á South Africa Introduction Children’s experience of undisclosed paternity has received no specific research attention. This phenomenon is mentioned in passing with reference to absent fathers in studies of family life, masculinity, fatherhood, orphanhood and poverty (Denis and Ntsimane 2006; Eddy 2009; Freeman and Nkomo 2006; Hunter 2006; Kane-Berman 2009; Madhavan et al. 2008; May and Norton 1997; Moore 1988; Ramphele and Richter 2006; Townsend et al. 2005). Yet there is a difference between absent fathers and undisclosed paternal identity. ‘Absent fathers’ is a broad category, and studies from South Africa report on the demographics, causes, increase and possible impact of absent African fathers but do not report on the experiences and how children are affected when paternal identity was unknown to them (Coovadia et al. 2009; Denis and Ntsimane 2006; Department of Health, Medical Research Council, and Measure DHS? 2002; Department of Health, Medical Research Council and OrcMacro 2007; Eddy 2009; Freeman and Nkomo 2006; Jewkes et al. 2006; Kane-Berman 2009; Madhavan et al. 2008; Posel and Devey 2006). Sometimes children with absent fathers may not know their father and this causes problems. For exam- ple, in a study conducted in the Mpumalanga province, 24% of the 315 children aged 10 and 11 did not have any connection with their fathers, sometimes the biological father was genuinely unknown to the mother, child, and other kin (Townsend et al. 2005). In other cases a father maybe known to the mother (and possibly more widely), but he had never acknowledged paternity (Datta 2007; M. Nduna (&) Department of Psychology, University of Witwatersrand, Private Bag X3, WITS, 2050 Johannesburg, South Africa e-mail: Mzikazi.nduna@wits.ac.za R. Jewkes Gender and Health Research Unit, Medical Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa 123 J Child Fam Stud DOI 10.1007/s10826-010-9393-4