Devault, Annie <br/><br/>
Young Fathers’ Life Trajectories in the Context of Vulnerability: Belsky’s Model (1984) Revisited 

 -  2007.<br/>							 
<br/><br/> 20 
<br/><br/> Inspired by the earlier ecological model developed by Bronfenbrenner (1979), Belsky (1984) identified several interacting dimensions that influence on parental conduct: developmental history, personality, marital relations, work, social network and child characteristics. Twenty years later, this model is still used by researchers who apply an ecological perspective on parenting (e.g., Fagan et al., 2003). The aim of this article is to identity the dimensions in Belsky’s model that apply to the lives of young economically and socially vulnerable fathers. Seventeen fathers (19-25 years old) participated in the study. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted asking these fathers about their personal history, their coparental trajectory, their professional trajectory and about fatherhood. Content analysis revealed that despite an unstable and difficult personal history, the majority of fathers stay in contact with their children, even after a marital separation. The quality of the relationship and the support received from the mother of their children seems to have an important impact on father involvement.