Steve Biddulph

Psychologist, author

• Born: August 15, 1953
• Birthplace: Saltburn, England

Significance: Steve Biddulph is a British-born Australian psychologist and author who has written extensively on parenting. Biddulph has toured the world giving lectures and speaking to parents about child-raising issues. Two of his books, Raising Boys and Raising Girls, have become worldwide bestsellers.

Background

Steve Biddulph was born on August 15, 1953, in Saltburn, England. At the age of nine, he and his parents moved to Australia. As a teen, Biddulph was not social and felt like an outsider. He struggled with his relationship with his parents, quit school, and ran away from home at age sixteen. Social workers in Melbourne, Australia, set him up with a job helping kids learn to read. Biddulph loved the job but knew he would never get anywhere professionally without proper schooling, so he decided to return to school.

He graduated from Melbourne University in 1974 with a degree in science and followed that with an additional year of study in psychology at the University of Tasmania in 1975. Biddulph took part in a student-exchange program to Papua New Guinea and later worked a series of agricultural jobs to make ends meet.

He began working as a psychologist in 1976 with the Education Department of Tasmania and conducted a study on youth unemployment a year later for Australia’s Department of Employment. The department used Biddulph’s study to develop a program to reduce youth unemployment, which at the time was upwards of 20 percent. Biddulph also developed a simulation game called “Leavin’ School” to help students and young adults adapt to the job market. His work on employment led to the publication of his first book, Teaching About Youth Unemployment, in 1978.

Life’s Work

In 1978, Biddulph was recruited to work at a noted family therapy clinic in Launceston, Tasmania. After five years at the clinic, he and his wife, Shaaron, initiated a training program for psychological counselors in Tasmania and started a preventive behaviors program. Biddulph moved into private practice in 1982 and worked in disadvantaged neighborhoods. A year later, he moved to Hobart, Tasmania, where he counseled Vietnam veterans.

In 1984, Biddulph published his first book on parenting, The Secret of Happy Children, which went on to sell more than one million copies and was translated into thirty-two languages. He based the book on his experiences working with families during his time at the Launceston family therapy clinic.

In 1988, Biddulph and his wife collaborated on the book, The Making of Love, a psychological study on marriage. In 1992, he published a sequel of sorts to The Secret of Happy Children entitled More Secrets of Happy Children. Two years later, he published Manhood, an examination of how men hide behind a mask of what they perceive to be true masculinity. The book was reissued as The New Manhood in 2010.

In 1997, Biddulph published Raising Boys, which went on to be a worldwide best-seller. The book explored the stages of boyhood, how to approach boys’ behavior, and how boys present child-raising challenges different from girls. In the wake of the book’s success, Biddulph began speaking to parents around the globe as part of a lecture tour. He visited more than ten countries, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Brazil.

Biddulph’s 2000 work, Stories of Manhood, was a collection of personal essays from noted authors drawing upon their views of manhood and fatherhood. In 2013, Biddulph took on the subject of females in his book, Raising Girls, which also went on to be a bestseller. By 2018, Biddulph had cut back on his speaking appearances but continued to write. In 2021, he published Fully Human, an exploration of the idea of “supersense,” in which the human body channels the mind’s deepest feelings into a conscious form that affects behavior and emotions.

Impact

Biddulph’s combined works have sold more than four million copies and he has addressed more than 130,000 people in his personal lectures and speaking appearances. Many of his books have brought new ideas to readers, some leading to positive changes in people’s lives. For example, Biddulph is proud that some people who have read Manhood have sought out their estranged fathers and repaired their personal relationships.

In addition to writing books and conducting his family therapy practice, Biddulph has also been active in progressive social causes. Most notably, he has been involved in helping refugee families receive better treatment from the Australian government. In 2001, an Indonesian fishing vessel containing more than four hundred people seeking refuge in Australia sank off the coast of Java. More than 350 people died. Biddulph helped organize a memorial to the victims in Canberra, the nation’s capital.

Personal Life

Biddulph met his wife, Shaaron, on a camping trip in the early 1970s, and moved to Tasmania in part to be with her. Shaaron worked as a social worker and nurse and helped Biddulph write several of his books. The couple has two children and several grandchildren.

Bibliography

Brown, Nathan. “Steve Biddulph Shares His Parenting Secrets.” Hope Channel, 19 Mar. 2023, www.hopechannel.com/read/steve-biddulph-shares-his-parenting-secrets. Accessed 3 July 2023.

Cocozza, Paula. “The Supersense Secret: Steve Biddulph on how to Become Healthier, Happier and More Fully Human.” The Guardian, 3 June 2021, www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/03/supersense-secret-steve-biddulph-become-healthier-happier-more-fully-human. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Steve Biddulph” Simon & Schuster, 2023, www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Steve-Biddulph/155183912. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Steve Biddulph: The Rise of the Hands-On Dad Is ‘A Revolution Of The Deepest Kind.’” The Father Hood, www.the-father-hood.com/article/steve-biddulph-the-rise-of-the-hands-on-dad-is-a-revolution-of-the-deepest-kind/. Accessed 3 July 2023.

“Steve’s Story...” Stevebiddulph.com, www.stevebiddulph.com/Site‗1/Steves‗story.html. Accessed 3 July 2023.