Paternity: social responsibility of man's role as provider

• Published in: Revista de saúde pública 2009-02, Vol.43 (1), p.85-90
• Main Authors: Freitas, Waglânia de Mendonça Faustino e, Silva, Ana Tereza Medeiros Cavalcante da, Coelho, Edméia de Almeida Cardoso, Guedes, Rebeca Nunes, Lucena, Kerle Dayana Tavares de, Costa, Ana Paula Teixeira
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; por
• Subjects: Adult; Affect; Cultural Characteristics; Father-Child Relations; Fathers - psychology; Gender Identity; Humans; Male; Paternity; Qualitative Research; Social Change; Social Responsibility; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1518-8787
• DOI: 10.1590/S0034-89102009000100011

To analyze meanings attributed to paternity by men who are fathers. Study with a qualitative approach and gender-theory focus, performed in the city of João Pessoa, Northeastern Brazil, in 2003. A total of ten men, whose children had been cared for in the pediatric outpatient clinic of a university hospital, participated in the study. Information analyzed was obtained with semi-structured interviews. Critical discourse analysis technique was employed to analyze participants' speech. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: Participants in the study viewed paternity as a new social role, more closely associated with material support for the family than the dimension of affective involvement with the child. However, participants experienced a transition process where the traditional father lived with those whose affective dimension of paternity was found to be the main concern of being a father. The meaning and concrete exercise of paternity were found in an area of responsibilities that predominantly reproduces the traditional father, but also recreates the father's role, including the affective dimension.