Az apa szerepe a kisgyermek életében

Abstract

Background and aims of research: Beyond historical review of the issue, this study attempts to reply to a question which has been present for thousands of years and these days became particularly important: What role does a father keep in a family regarding child rearing? What role does a father have in the life of his child? Beyond these questions the examination of traditional roles also needs to be tested: What do fathers whose children are in preschools regard as their own family-related and child rearing tasks? What activities do they consider as their own duty and what are the tasks of mothers in their viewpoint? What kind of play activities do they prefer with their toddler? Do they report about the importance of their child being interested in similar activities than them?

Sample and Methods: 101 fathers (M=35) took part in the study, who filled in our self-report questionnaire. 80 % of these father’s children attend to preschools. Participants had to rank the different sort of tasks from 1 to 6 according to the evaluation of each as a role of a father or a mother.

Results: Fathers of this sample henceforward keep on regarding the traditional role expectations as normative, so they describe the ensuring of financial stability of their family as their primary role while child-rearing and nurture are regarded as primarily the tasks of a woman from their perspective although the nurture of children resulted among the most important tasks within fathers from which we can conclude that in the era of „modern fathers” a more affectionate and nurturing image of fathers is to be integrated into their role construct repertory. Furthermore we can state that for fathers of boys having a common interest with their child is more important than for fathers of girls. Finally, fathers tend to prefer the more vehement, man-like play activities with their children as wrestling and contructive play.