RESEARCH PAPER
Emotional state of “young” fathers
1
Institute of Psychology, Casimir the Great University, Bydgoszcz, Poland
2
Chair and Department of Obstetrics and Pathology of Pregnancy, Medical University of Lublin, Neonatal Unit with Intensive Medical Care, Regional Clinical Hospital No. 1, Rzeszow, Poland
Submission date: 2016-09-19
Final revision date: 2016-10-09
Acceptance date: 2016-10-17
Online publication date: 2016-10-26
Publication date: 2016-12-05
Current Issues in Personality Psychology 2016;4(4):217-227
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background
The birth of the first child begins a new stage in family life, and the woman and the man must adopt new roles in society. However, adapting to the new conditions of life and the requirements of the new role can be difficult.
Participants and procedure
The main tools used in the study were the SUPIN scale, the STAI inventory and a questionnaire constructed by the authors. The participants were 90 men who became first time fathers in the period of 6 months prior to the study.
Results
The results indicate that the first time fathers show a medium level of state anxiety related to the current situation and a low level of trait anxiety understood as an enduring disposition. The level of anxiety is related to the age of the child, but only in the men who fathered a son: the older the son was, the greater was the intensity of state anxiety in the father.
Conclusions
The deep conviction that the father should be a role model for the son can be a source of anxiety about the ability to manage and the ability to meet the related responsibility. According to the tradition of our culture, the father has to prepare the son to be a man, to assume a man’s roles in society and teach him how to live. The lower intensity of positive emotions related to the birth of a daughter can be explained from the point of view of the true man stereotype – a daughter does not fulfil it.
The birth of the first child begins a new stage in family life, and the woman and the man must adopt new roles in society. However, adapting to the new conditions of life and the requirements of the new role can be difficult.
Participants and procedure
The main tools used in the study were the SUPIN scale, the STAI inventory and a questionnaire constructed by the authors. The participants were 90 men who became first time fathers in the period of 6 months prior to the study.
Results
The results indicate that the first time fathers show a medium level of state anxiety related to the current situation and a low level of trait anxiety understood as an enduring disposition. The level of anxiety is related to the age of the child, but only in the men who fathered a son: the older the son was, the greater was the intensity of state anxiety in the father.
Conclusions
The deep conviction that the father should be a role model for the son can be a source of anxiety about the ability to manage and the ability to meet the related responsibility. According to the tradition of our culture, the father has to prepare the son to be a man, to assume a man’s roles in society and teach him how to live. The lower intensity of positive emotions related to the birth of a daughter can be explained from the point of view of the true man stereotype – a daughter does not fulfil it.
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