Senécal, Isabelle

Work on representations of paternal and maternal lines when becoming a father. Exploratory research - 2015.


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Although it is recognized that fathers play an important role that begins during pregnancy and that their state of mind influences the way they carry out this role, there are few studies concerning the psychic process of becoming a father. Our research brings light to this theme with a study of the changes in the men’s representations concerning their own father, mother, spouse and themselves during this period. The data have been gathered from four interviews with seven men between the sixth month pre-partum and the fifth month post-partum. The data have undergone a semi-automatic content analysis, the results of which suggest that the psychic work of becoming a father can be categorized in different layers. We have obtained two series of results, leading us to imagine two types of psychic work: one that is organized according to generational logic and the other according to the logic of maternal and paternal line representations.