About Fathers: Masculinity and the Social Construction of Fatherhood

Abstract

Little research has been conducted on men's definitions of themselves as fathers. This study is a preliminary exploration of the ways in which definitions of fatherhood are constructed and determined by personal experience within a social context. The study examines eleven men's understandings of what it means to be a father, their recollections of the fathering they received, and the intersection of these recollections with their definitions of themselves as fathers.