Abstract
This study aims to explore the men's perceived meanings attached to the father role and to investigate the relationship between the father role meanings and men's psychological well-being. Using two waves of data from the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH) across 5 years, this study estimated the influences of the father role meanings at T1 on psychological well-being of fathers at T2 with hierarchical Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression models. Findings showed that the majority of fathers felt the father roles interesting, appreciated, sociable, and well-done. However, stepfathers reported significantly more negative meanings of the father role than fathers having biological children. Positive role meanings attached to the father role in terms of interesting and well-done were Significantly associated with men's psychological well-being. Although this study has some limitations by using the secondary survey data (NSFH), this study has an advantage in exploring the association between fatherhood experiences and men's psychological well-being from men's own perspectives. Also, this study has strength in a sense that long-term effects of the father role meanings were investigated and empirically provide findings in consistent with role identity.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have