Becoming a father: a qualitative study on the journey to fatherhood

Abstract

The transition to fatherhood represents one of the most significant changes in a man’s life and brings many challenges. Despite the great importance of this period, empirical data on it are not abundant, with only a small amount of psychologi-cal research on fatherhood available in the Czech Republic; this topic is also rather marginalized abroad. This qualitative study aims to explore men’s unique experiences with the process of becoming a father and to understand how paternal iden-tity is shaped.Four men who had recently become fathers participated in the research. A semi-structured interview was conducted with each of them.Using the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach, an in-depth analysis of the data identified five signifi-cant categories that emerge during the transition to fatherhood: responsibility and commitment to the child, father identity formation, fatherhood and motherhood, changes in the partner relationship and coping with the father role.The research suggests that the process of becoming a father is a long-term dynamic process, in which father identity is shaped and consolidated through a variety of situations and experiences. Within this process, paternal identity is also shaped through repeated comparisons and definitions of the role of the mother. Process of becoming a father involves de-velopmental, identity, personality, partnership and family aspects.