Becoming a father: a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhood
Background The transition to fatherhood represents one of the most significant changes in a man’s life and brings many challenges. Despite the great importance of this period, empirical data on it are not abundant, with only a small amount of psychologi-cal research on fatherhood available in the Cz...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Termedia Publishing House
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Health Psychology Report |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hpr.termedia.pl/Becoming-a-father-a-qualitative-study-on-the-journey-to-fatherhood,176082,0,2.html |
| _version_ | 1797214490733838336 |
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| author | Václav Škvařil Pavla Presslerová |
| author_facet | Václav Škvařil Pavla Presslerová |
| author_sort | Václav Škvařil |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background
The transition to fatherhood represents one of the most significant changes in a man’s life and brings many challenges. Despite the great importance of this period, empirical data on it are not abundant, with only a small amount of psychologi-cal research on fatherhood available in the Czech Republic; this topic is also rather marginalized abroad. This qualitative study aims to explore men’s unique experiences with the process of becoming a father and to understand how paternal iden-tity is shaped.
Participants and procedure
Four men who had recently become fathers participated in the research. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each of them.
Results
Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach, an in-depth analysis of the data identified five signifi-cant categories that emerge during the transition to fatherhood: responsibility and commitment to the child, father identity formation, fatherhood and motherhood, changes in the partner relationship and coping with the father role.
Conclusions
The research suggests that the process of becoming a father is a long-term dynamic process, in which father identity is shaped and consolidated through a variety of situations and experiences. Within this process, paternal identity is also shaped through repeated comparisons and definitions of the role of the mother. Process of becoming a father involves de-velopmental, identity, personality, partnership and family aspects. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T11:15:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7de611fcca2c4590b857fa93ea08b4de |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2353-4184 2353-5571 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T11:15:00Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Termedia Publishing House |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Health Psychology Report |
| spelling | doaj.art-7de611fcca2c4590b857fa93ea08b4de2024-04-11T09:15:32ZengTermedia Publishing HouseHealth Psychology Report2353-41842353-55712024-01-011229711110.5114/hpr/176082176082Becoming a father: a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhoodVáclav Škvařil0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1464-5251Pavla Presslerová1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5056-8054Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Charles University, Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Charles University, Prague, Czech RepublicBackground The transition to fatherhood represents one of the most significant changes in a man’s life and brings many challenges. Despite the great importance of this period, empirical data on it are not abundant, with only a small amount of psychologi-cal research on fatherhood available in the Czech Republic; this topic is also rather marginalized abroad. This qualitative study aims to explore men’s unique experiences with the process of becoming a father and to understand how paternal iden-tity is shaped. Participants and procedure Four men who had recently become fathers participated in the research. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each of them. Results Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach, an in-depth analysis of the data identified five signifi-cant categories that emerge during the transition to fatherhood: responsibility and commitment to the child, father identity formation, fatherhood and motherhood, changes in the partner relationship and coping with the father role. Conclusions The research suggests that the process of becoming a father is a long-term dynamic process, in which father identity is shaped and consolidated through a variety of situations and experiences. Within this process, paternal identity is also shaped through repeated comparisons and definitions of the role of the mother. Process of becoming a father involves de-velopmental, identity, personality, partnership and family aspects.https://hpr.termedia.pl/Becoming-a-father-a-qualitative-study-on-the-journey-to-fatherhood,176082,0,2.htmltransition to fatherhoodfirst-time fatherspaternal identitypaternal roleparenthood |
| spellingShingle | Václav Škvařil Pavla Presslerová Becoming a father: a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhood Health Psychology Report transition to fatherhood first-time fathers paternal identity paternal role parenthood |
| title | Becoming a father: a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhood |
| title_full | Becoming a father: a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhood |
| title_fullStr | Becoming a father: a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Becoming a father: a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhood |
| title_short | Becoming a father: a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhood |
| title_sort | becoming a father a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhood |
| topic | transition to fatherhood first-time fathers paternal identity paternal role parenthood |
| url | https://hpr.termedia.pl/Becoming-a-father-a-qualitative-study-on-the-journey-to-fatherhood,176082,0,2.html |
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