Search Results (66)

This literature review examined the methodological and theoretical considerations underlying research on Black fathers in the United States and Canada. Drawing on 38 journal articles published between 2014 and 2024, we highlighted the methodological and theoretical characteristics of studies about Black fathers and explored the extent to which Black communities were involved in the research process. Most of the studies were qualitative, and the most commonly used theoretical framework was ecological systems theory. We also found that the involvement of Black communities in research on Black fathers was limited to recruiting participants and providing data for analysis. We contend that researchers need to increase the involvement of Black communities in research about Black life in the United States and Canada, and we propose community-based participatory research as a viable way to do so. Full article

Background: Fathers may experience psychological difficulties during the transition to parenthood, and depressive symptoms during the antenatal period may be associated with fathers’ well-being and adjustment to the paternal role. Marital satisfaction and paternal attachment may be important psychosocial factors associated with fathers’ mental health during this period. This study aimed to examine the relationships among marital satisfaction, paternal attachment, and depressive symptoms among expectant fathers. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed. The study was approved by the Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Non-Interventional Clinical Research Ethics Committee (20 December 2024; Approval No. 2024/13-07). Institutional permission was obtained from the hospital where the study was conducted. Written and verbal informed consent was obtained from all participants, and the study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Data were collected between January 2025 and September 2025 at a hospital located in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Türkiye. The study was completed with 336 fathers. Data collection instruments included the Personal Information Form, Marital Life Scale (MLS), Paternal–Antenatal Attachment Questionnaire (PAAQ), and Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS). Multiple regression analysis and forest plot analysis were performed. Results: A statistically significant difference was observed between EPDS scores and MLS, PAAQ, educational status, spouse’s educational status, place of residence, family type, income status, spousal attendance at antenatal visits, and history of depression (p < 0.05). The regression model was statistically significant (F(9326) = 14.4, p < 0.001) and explained 26.4% of the variance in EPDS scores (R² = 0.284). In the adjusted regression model, MLS, educational level, PAAQ, and family type were significantly negatively associated with EPDS scores, whereas a history of depression was significantly positively associated with EPDS scores (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Higher marital satisfaction and paternal attachment were associated with lower depressive symptoms among expectant fathers, whereas a history of depression was associated with higher depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of considering marital and attachment-related factors when assessing fathers’ psychological well-being during the antenatal period. Full article

Existing research highlights continuity across generations in paternal practices and attitudes, often rooted in men’s experiences of being fathered. The psychological processes through which men translate these early experiences into beliefs about fatherhood have received little attention. Understanding how men develop beliefs about fatherhood may help explain the continuity and change in fathering practices across generations. Using reflexive modernisation as a lens, this study examines how men construct beliefs about fatherhood, with particular attention to their experiences of being fathered and the socio-cultural context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve Australian men (M = 39 years) with varied relationships to fatherhood: non-fathers (n = 6), fathers (n = 3) and grandfathers (n = 3). Participants reflected on their early experiences of being fathered, current beliefs towards fatherhood and intended or current fathering behaviour. Reflexive thematic analysis resulted in four themes, namely: (1) Retrospective meaning-making of fathering experiences, (2) Negotiating fatherhood within a changing landscape, (3) The selective curation of beliefs, and (4) Beliefs as an ongoing project: content and tensions. The analysis suggests that belief formation is an ongoing, active and reflexive process responsive to the social context, reflected in men’s use of evaluation, comparison, negotiation and selective curation to build individualised beliefs about fatherhood. Findings also highlight how social structures sustain traditional norms and inhibit the translation of egalitarian ideals into reality. These findings extend existing understandings of fatherhood beliefs from what shapes them to how they are formed and negotiated, with implications for fatherhood interventions and practice. Full article

Sexual and reproductive health research has often centered women’s contraceptive and pregnancy-related experiences, while young men’s perspectives on sexual behavior, STI prevention, and reproductive responsibility remain less visible. This qualitative study explored how young Black heterosexual college men understood sexual health knowledge, masculinity, STI risk, condom use, pregnancy prevention, and readiness for fatherhood. Thirteen self-identified Black college men aged 19–22 years participated in individual semi-structured interviews at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) in the southern United States. Interviews were conducted online, transcribed, de-identified, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: fragmented sexual health knowledge and informal learning; learning masculinity through sexual socialization and developing sexual autonomy; experiential learning, STI stigma, and the negotiation of sexual risk; and reproductive responsibility and pregnancy prevention. Participants described limited formal sexual health education, peer and media influences on masculinity, risk judgments shaped by trust and familiarity, and stronger concern for pregnancy prevention than for STI prevention. Findings suggest that sexual health education and campus-based prevention should engage young Black men as reproductive actors with distinct needs, responsibilities, and relational contexts. Programs should integrate STI prevention, condom counseling, partner communication, alcohol-related risk reduction, and reproductive-intention counseling into male-centered, stigma-sensitive approaches. Full article

How do the frameworks of religion and spirituality influence perceptions of what it means to be a Black man and a family man? This study explores how increases in religiosity and spirituality influence Black masculinity and fatherhood among 33 Black Christian couples (n = 66). Qualitative interviews and analysis examine how religious beliefs and practices may facilitate shifts from independence-centered views of masculinity to family-oriented, spiritually grounded ideals. Participants described how deepened religiosity and spirituality were perceived as assisting with greater marital fidelity, fatherly involvement, and relational commitment, regardless of denominational affiliation, socioeconomic status, or education. Key mechanisms included (1) personal crises and faith community engagement, (2) divine interventions, (3) scripture study, and (4) recovering traditional religious masculinity roles. Findings suggest that religion and spirituality may provide an alternative framework for Black masculinity, one that emphasizes relationality, moral integrity, and family leadership. These processes are interpreted through Ryff’s six-factor model of eudaimonic well-being and mapped onto positive psychology constructs such as resilience, meaning-making, and the sanctification of family roles. Full article

A Orhan Pamuk’s first novel, Cevdet Bey and His Sons (Cevdet Bey ve Oğulları), published in 1982, follows three generations of an Istanbul bourgeois family from the late Ottoman period to the 1970s. Set during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic of Turkey, the novel explores the social and cultural tensions accompanying Turkish modernization. This article examines father–child relationships in the novel through the theoretical framework of multiple modernities. Rejecting the assumption that modernization follows a singular Western model, the study approaches Turkish modernization as a historically specific and layered experience shaped by local social and cultural dynamics. Within this context, the article focuses on paternal authority, masculine identity, intergenerational expectation, and memory across three generations of the family. The study further analyzes how photographs, domestic spaces, rituals, and everyday narratives preserve the symbolic presence of the father after death, allowing paternal authority to persist across generations. The article argues that the novel presents a representative portrait of an Istanbul bourgeois family negotiating the tensions between tradition and modernity during the Ottoman–Republican transition. Full article

This qualitative study examines how Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jewish fathers in Israel describe raising a child with autism within the everyday life of a religious family. Although research on autism and family life has expanded, fathers’ voices remain underrepresented, especially in religious families in which family routines, the Sabbat and holidays, and everyday religious practices shape parenting and participation at home. Data were collected from 127 fathers of children aged 3 to 18 through an online Hebrew questionnaire that included open-ended questions and were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings suggest that religiosity shaped fathers’ caregiving not only as a source of meaning, hope, and emotional strength but also as a practical framework for everyday accommodation and belonging. Four themes emerged: (1) religiosity as an anchor for resilience; (2) paternal love as a religious practice of accommodation; (3) paternal adaptation during the Sabbat and holidays; and (4) religious authority as a basis for legitimizing care practices and preserving the child’s place within family and religious life. Together, these findings underscore the importance of culturally responsive support that acknowledges how religious meaning systems shape paternal care, family participation, and children’s inclusion, while also suggesting that fatherhood may function as an ongoing mediating process within religious family life. Full article

While parenthood is gratifying, it is also a significant life transition, filled with challenges and stressors that require ongoing psychological and behavioral adjustments. This study aims to: (1) verify the psychometric characteristics of the Perceived Corporate Welfare Scale (PCWS), and (2), in line with the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory, investigate how corporate welfare and parenting self-regulation act as resources against perceived stress and quiet quitting. We further explored the mediating role of stress and the moderating effect of parenthood. A group of 788 Italian workers (43.5% non-parents; 29.6% moms; 26.9% dads) participated. The psychometric properties of the PCWS were tested using CFA. A moderated mediation model was estimated using Bootstrap methods (95% CI). The PCWS showed a robust one-factor structure with significant item loadings (>0.60) and satisfactory reliability (CR and AVE). Findings suggest that perceived corporate welfare and parenting self-regulation function as resources and are negatively associated with perceived stress. Perceived stress fully mediates the relationship between perceived corporate welfare and quiet quitting and partially mediates the relationship between parenting self-regulation and quiet quitting. Crucially, parenthood moderates this relationship: fathers’ perceived stress has a stronger association with quiet quitting than mothers’ does. Consequently, the indirect effects are also stronger for fathers. This study provides a validated tool for monitoring perceptions of corporate welfare. The results suggest that personalized interventions and an organizational culture that values parenthood are key to sustaining well-being and long-term employee engagement. Full article

Background/Objectives: Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) is an uncommon but treatable cause of non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA). Fertility can often be restored with gonadotropin therapy. This study evaluated spermatogenic and reproductive outcomes in men with HH-related NOA managed by stepwise gonadotropin therapy, microdissection testicular sperm extraction (microTESE) for persistent azoospermia, and assisted reproduction when indicated. Methods: A retrospective cohort study included 35 men treated between 2010 and 2022. Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), with or without follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), was administered to induce spermatogenesis. Outcomes included sperm appearance in the ejaculate, microTESE sperm retrieval rate in persistent azoospermia, and pregnancy and live birth outcomes after natural conception or in vitro fertilization with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI) when required. Results: Mean gonadotropin therapy duration was 12.0 months (range 6–24). Sperm appeared in the ejaculate in 27/35 men (77%). The remaining 8/35 (23%) underwent microTESE, with sperm retrieved in 7/8 (88%). Seven couples proceeded to IVF-ICSI, undergoing 11 cycles that yielded 6 clinical pregnancies (55% per cycle) and 5 live birth deliveries, including 2 twin pregnancies. Among responders, 13 natural pregnancies occurred, resulting in 13 live birth deliveries, including 2 twin pregnancies. Overall, 18/35 men (51%) achieved biological fatherhood, corresponding to 18 live birth delivery events (4 twin and 14 singleton deliveries) and 22 newborns. Conclusions: In men with HH-related NOA, exogenous gonadotropin therapy is expected to induce spermatogenesis in most patients. MicroTESE provides high sperm retrieval rates for those without ejaculatory sperm. Through an integrated approach of hormonal induction, microsurgical sperm retrieval, and assisted reproduction, approximately half of patients may ultimately achieve biological fatherhood in longer-term follow-up, depending on baseline severity and partner factors. Full article

Objective: To understand how emotion regulation may foster well-being through life transitions, one needs to consider situational factors and the specific strategy applied. Research has rarely investigated how emotion regulation relates to coping across diverse life transitions. Addressing this gap in the literature, the present paper investigated whether emotion regulation strategy use predicted distress during three distinct types of life transitions. Methods: A total of 305 men provided sociodemographic information and completed questionnaires assessing distress symptoms and cognitive emotion regulation strategy use monthly for a five-month period. Of the 305 men, 98 were first-time fathers, 34 had just received a cancer diagnosis, 81 were retiring, and 92 were control participants. Results: The results revealed that the prospective associations between emotion regulation strategy use and distress symptoms varied across life transitions. Self-blame was a predictor of increased anxiety in cancer patients (p = 0.012), acceptance was a predictor of increased depression in retirees (p = 0.007), rumination was a predictor of increased anxiety in fathers (p = 0.009), and for the control group, putting into perspective was associated with greater depression (p = 0.043), while catastrophizing were associated with greater anxiety (p = 0.003). Conclusions: The findings tentatively suggest that the adaptiveness of a given strategy varies depending on the specific life transition being experienced. This is consistent with the “person by situation by strategy” model, suggesting that successful emotion regulation is determined by the specific strategy applied, features of the situation, and person’s characteristics. Full article

Justice-involved boys are more likely to become teenage fathers than their community peers. This is linked to numerous negative outcomes, including increased delinquent behavior. To help legal practitioners better identify which boys are at risk of becoming a teen parent, this study identifies factors at the time of boys’ very first arrest that prospectively predict their odds of becoming a teen father. Data were drawn from a longitudinal study of 1216 adolescent boys at the time of their first arrest. Binary logistic regression models were used to predict the odds of becoming a teen father across three domains: individual factors, social and contextual factors, and risky behaviors. Approximately 15% of the total sample (n = 171) reported becoming a teen father after their first arrest. At the time of first arrest, poorer neighborhood conditions, increased peer delinquency, substance use, and self-reported offending history increased the odds that boys would become a teen father. Additional models indicated that substance use was the strongest driver of teen fatherhood. However, all factors failed to reached significance once condom use was included in this model. Practical implications for policymakers are discussed, along with suggestions for interventions to reduce teen pregnancy. Full article

Recent advances in reproductive science have prompted a profound reexamination of some of the most fundamental anthropological aspects of human life: the value of nascent human life, the meanings of motherhood and fatherhood, and the concept of family. Abrahamic religious traditions in particular offer a rich moral heritage, developed over centuries, that can significantly contribute to ethical reflection on assisted reproductive technologies. This article examines the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, which are predominant in the Western cultural context and greatly influence the lives and moral frameworks of more than half of the world’s population. The study underscores the strength of the ethical foundations shared across these religious traditions and common values, principles, and moral concerns, while also seeking to understand and integrate the distinctive nuances that differentiate them. Full article

This study explores the associations between parental playfulness and various aspects of parenting, specifically role overload, parenting behaviors, and the quality of coparenting. In addition, we explore the relation between parental playfulness and child playfulness, as well as the differences in playfulness between mothers and fathers. This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study relied on a sample of 348 parents (84.7% mothers) of children aged 3–8 years old (52.9% girls). Significant associations were found between parental playfulness and cognitive aspects of child playfulness (e.g., sense of humor). Certain dimensions of coparenting (e.g., support) and other parenting behaviors (e.g., challenging and warmth) were also correlated with parental playfulness. There was no association found between parental playfulness and parental role overload. However, a significant moderation effect of parental gender was found only for the association between parental playfulness and role overload. This analysis showed that parental playfulness was positively associated with role overload for fathers but was negatively associated for mothers. Lastly, we did not identify differences between mothers’ and fathers’ self-reported playfulness. These results provide important information about an understudied parental behavior, which may inform interventions promoting positive parenting. Full article

Given the critical role of fatherhood in child development and the significant challenges faced by fathers in underserved communities, there is a pressing need to better understand the specific barriers they encounter. This exploratory mixed-methods study examines the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) among fathers, including English, Spanish, and Creole speakers, and explores how social determinants of health exacerbate these barriers. Quantitative data were collected from June 2022–2023 using REDCap survey software. Additionally, three focus groups were conducted with 18 fathers residing in Palm Beach County (PBC), each group based on the primary language spoken at home. The focus groups were conducted in person via the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) outreach team at community centers within the PBC. Stated barriers to fatherhood were thematically classified according into three main themes: (1) limited access to and knowledge of resources in the community; (2) challenges in navigating new roles, resources, and fatherhood responsibilities; and (3) important values in parenting. Over 40% of the fathers reported barriers to being involved in their child’s life. The most frequent barriers included work (35.4%) and lack of transportation distance (12.5%). Bivariate analysis using the fisher’s exact test showed a significant association between scoring greater than 4 on the ACE criteria checklist and experiencing barriers to being involved in the child’s life (p-value = 0.013). Findings from this study aim to inform the development of culturally tailored interventions that address disparities in fatherhood support, ultimately contributing to improved outcomes for both fathers and their children. Full article

In this article, we examine the theoretical concept of hybrid masculinities from a praxeological perspective, focusing on fathers as caring parents. Examining the development of parenting practices and parental knowledge exchange, we conducted couple interviews with 42 couples (n = 42, 2021 and 2022) and analyzed how fathers’ and couples’ motivations for sharing parental leave (PL) and childcare allowance (CA) in Austria shape fatherhood practices. All interviewees had claimed CA for a minimum duration of five months. Since infant care has only recently been incorporated into normative constructions of masculinity, our praxeological analysis centers on fathers. By applying the theoretical concept of hybrid masculinities, we examine these practices which are still perceived as “new”. In the couple interviews we conducted, we analyzed the reports and views of both parents, which tended to be more fully expressed when the parents interviewed were in conversation with each other. We applied topic-specific content analysis and Informed Grounded Theory to analyze the empirical data, guided by semi-structured interview protocols and coded with MAXQDA. Our findings indicate that fathers successfully take on and embody caregiving responsibilities. However, they also continue to conform to traditional constructions of masculinity, particularly in their long-term reconciliation of childcare and employment. Considering international PL and CA policies, we discuss the relationship between parents’ dual PL uptake and social sustainability in the transformation of gendered parenting norms and the reduction in gender inequalities. Full article