O envolvimento paterno de adolescentes com o bebê

Abstract

This study aims to understand the experience of adolescent parenthood and father involvement in child care.Three lower-class teenage parents who were first time parents of a healthy baby took part in this study. The instruments used were two semi-structured interviews, one of them about parenting and other child care, especially created to reach the objectives of the study. These interviews were conducted in two periods: immediately after birth and six months after it. For this an outline of longitudinal collective case study was used in such way pointing out the particularities and similarities between the cases. The results were organized in three studies. A theoretical study discusses teenage father involvement in child care through the bioecological theory of human development. An empirical study aiming to understand how lower-class adolescents perceive the transition to parenthood. A third study, also empirical one, that seeks to understand father involvement in child care when parents are teenagers. All the main results found in all three studies indicate that knowing the personal, family and social characteristics of teenage parents and the relationship patterns established in different environments in which they participate are of utmost importance. This understanding promotes better awareness of the variables which affect the experience of parenthood during adolescence and parental involvement in child care.