Objective: To analyze meanings attributed to paternity by men who are fathers. Study design: Study with a qualitative approach and gender-theory focus, performed in the city of João Pessoa, Northeastern Brazil, in 2003. A total of ten men, whose children had been cared for in the pediatric outpatient clinic of a university hospital, participated in the study. Information analyzed was obtained with semi-structured interviews. Critical discourse analysis technique was employed to analyze participants' speech. Discourse analysis: Participants in the study viewed paternity as a new social role, more closely associated with material support for the family than the dimension of affective involvement with the child. However, participants experienced a transition process where the traditional father lived with those whose affective dimension of paternity was found to be the main concern of being a father. Conclusions: The meaning and concrete exercise of paternity were found in an area of responsibilities that predominantly reproduces the traditional father, but also recreates the father's role, including the affective dimension. © 2009 Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo.
CITATION STYLE
Faustino e Freitas, de M. W., Cavalcante da Silva, A. T. M., de Almeida Cardoso Coelho, E., Guedes, R. N., de Lucena, K. D. T., & Teixeira Costa, A. P. (2009). Paternity: Social responsibility of man’s role as provider. Revista de Saude Publica, 43(1), 85–90. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0034-89102009000100011
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