When Men Become Fathers: Men’s Identity at the Transition to Parenthood

Abstract

Men in the transition to parenthood have to integrate fatherhood into their self-concepts and identities. Contemporary societies, in particular, provide two contradictory discourses for fathersto-be: (1) discourses which state that fathers are to take care of financial providing (as breadwinners), and (2) over the last decades, discourses that describe highly involved and caring fathers. Most men adopt the traditional position of a breadwinning identity and describe themselves as responsible for financial care. As a consequence they tend to show little attentiveness to their children’s needs. Still, some men take up nontraditional practices and engage in child caring. We found two types of identities for such involved fathers: the feminized fatherhood identity and the distinctive fatherhood identity. Paternal identities were formed within the discourses provided by their social environment. The identity of feminized fatherhood is characterized by rejection of other concepts, but also by a devaluation of their own position as marginalized men. The distinctive fatherhood identity, in contrast, is defined by negation of hegemonic concepts and a positive valuation of difference.