The meaning of fatherhood as perceived by Turkish police fathers and their young children

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to provide insight and understanding of Turkish police fathers’ and their young children’s conceptualizations of fatherhood. Data for the present study came from 21 police fathers and their 4-to-6 year old children. We asked the participant fathers to respond to a broad question of “What kind of father am I?” in writing. We used Kinetic Family Drawing, a projective-expressive technique, to collect data from children. Obtained data were evaluated for the content, patterns, emergent themes, and narrative properties by constant comparative methods. Overall, the police fathers and their children in this study tended to identify fatherhood with the traditional provider model and the disciplinarian function. Rather than providing physical care, fathers were more inclined to engage in playful and non-containing interactions with their children. However, all participant fathers expressed desire to be more involved with their children than they currently are, be more actively engaged in their children’s lives and go beyond simply providing for their children’s needs financially. Key words: Meaning of fatherhood, Turkish police fathers, experiences of fathers.