Fatherhood Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Fatherhood - Essay Example .. The methodology for this study is to examine 'what makes a man a father' with reference to psychological, critical psychological and sociological perspectives. The literature search for psychological information regarding fathers, parenting and other topics that related to 'the nature of the claiming process for fathers' revealed a number of journal articles, books and articles in popular magazines like Psychology Today. Beaton, Doherty and Rueter (2003) conducted a detailed study designed to examine "family of origin processes and attitudes of expectant fathers" Methodology for the study included structural equation modeling and multiple regression analysis with a sample of 152 couples. The 'eco systemic model of fathering was tested and used to examine the 'relative strength of the modeling hypothesis and the compensation hypothesis for linking these constructs." The authors discovered that expectant fathers "who were either very close to their parents of very distant from their parents during childhood had more positive attitudes about father involvement." The authors of this study also note that "expectant fathers who believed their own fathers were competent in their paternal roles, had stronger attitudes about fatherhood. ... .." The eco-systemic model of how family of origin history and processes are associated with attitudes about father involvement previous to the birth of a man's first child were thoroughly examined in the new study along with reference to previous research of a similar nature. The authors point out that despite the fact scholars have been hypothesizing for decades that "family of origin processes are associated with future father involvement (work by Doherty, Kouneski and Erickson, 12998; Pleck, Charonoy and Levine, l985 and Pleck 1995 was cited in the article) little research has actually been done to test the hypothesis until they began to look at this particular issue. Beaton points out that "According to Doherty et al.'s (1998) eco-systemic model of father involvement, five interrelated factors determine responsible fathering: co-parenting relationship, mother factors, father factors, contextual factors and child factors. These factors interact with one another to determine how fathers will be involved with their children. These factors interact with one another to determine how fathers will be involved with their childrenIntergenerational processes from the past interact with current relational factors to determine father involvement" The new study by Beaton and colleagues (2003) was an investigation of "how these processes work" In keeping with traditional psychological models this study included an extensive literature review that clearly illustrates the serious and extensive efforts that have been undertaken in efforts to create a better understanding of the eco-system model in relation to our topic. "There have been two prominent conceptual models for understanding intergenerational influences on current family relationships: intergenerational