A paternidade no pós-divórcio a partir do olhar do pai: uma pesquisa longitudinal

Abstract

Fatherhood, in recent decades, has undergone some changes both in terms of roles and in relation to the paternal function. These modifications brought implications even in families that experienced divorce and need to maintain the exercise of parenthood. In this scenario, the establishment of child custody is also an aspect that can be a challenge for the parental duo, especially for the father, who usually does not have custody or residence of the children. Based on this, the objective of this doctoral research was to understand the experiences of fatherhood in the post-divorce period from the father's point of view, in a qualitative and longitudinal research. The study included 16 fathers, male, aged between 24 and 42 years old, grouped into two subsets, one of them with shared custody and the other with unilateral maternal custody, who entered into a child custody agreement at a public defender's office of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. As this is a longitudinal research, two stages of data collection were carried out, with a time interval of six months between them. As data collection instruments, a characterization form of the participants and semi-structured interviews were used, one for each stage of the research. Based on the thematic content analysis, the material was analyzed separately at each stage of the research and, finally, a joint analysis of all the collected material was carried out. The study results were organized into four articles, the first of which addressed how participants define fatherhood and also how their own paternal reference influenced their relationship with their children, emphasizing transgenerational aspects. The second article pointed out how parents perceive the judicial system in relation to child custody and the agreement reached, as well as highlighting the participants' understanding of shared custody and its assumptions. It is noteworthy that both the first and second articles presented results referring to the first stage of the research. The third article addressed the main difficulties faced by parents in the post-divorce period and the strategies used to deal with these impasses, such as: the use of technology and dialogue. Finally, the fourth article emphasized the experiences of post-divorce parenting and how parents perceive changes in family configuration, especially with the entry of new members. It should be explained that the third and fourth articles presented results from both stages of the study. As final considerations, it should be noted that the custody modality did not significantly interfere with the experience of fatherhood, but with the relationship established between the ex-couple. Furthermore, it is important to consider that the socioeconomic condition of the parents proved to be an important aspect in the analysis and understanding of the relationship with the children after marital dissolution. Finally, it is understood that the longitudinal character of the research provided the opportunity to listen to the same parents at different times, which contributed to the deepening of the data.