In modern society, the role of fathers in parenthood tends to be as considered as the role of mothers. Becoming parent can lead to some positive effects, but also to some negative ones, which may have serious consequences on both parents and on the child. The purpose of the present work was to investigate whether a difference of a specific postpartum effect with regard to levels of perceived stress could be noticed in Swedish and French men who just became fathers for the first time. In this study, we pointed out the stress in daily life and the stress related to the role as a parent. All participants (nSwedish = 20; nFrench = 31) were men who became fathers for the first time a year or less before the measurement of stress. A questionnaire was submitted online and the data were analyzed using t-tests in order to measure the differences between French and Swedish regarding stress and ANCOVAs in order to measure if age and duration of the relationship have an impact on stress level. The results showed that Swedish fathers have a significantly higher perceived stress level than French fathers. However, there is no effect of age and duration of the relationship on the results. Moreover, no differences were found with respect to fathers’ parenting stress level.

Ikumen, meaning fathers with small children who are--or look like they are--actively involved in childrearing are a new phenomenon in contemporary Japan, despite the prevalent images of patriarchic and absent fatherhood. But why and how did yesterday's notorious company soldiers turn into today's ikumen? This dissertation interrogates this supposedly drastic shift in the view and the conduct of fatherhood as a cultural practice on historical, political economic, and linguistic grounds. Drawing on fieldwork, mass media, and historical analysis, I explore how new styles of fatherhood have been constructed and how they embody broader social issues of gender, class, and modernity and globalization. Gender roles in the modern family since the late nineteenth century have been strained, and ikumen will allegedly liberate both men and women to achieve the ideal of "work-life balance" in a "gender-equal society." Examination of various genres of language, from metapragmatic comments to the advertising of nursery items, however, suggests that the ideology of gender roles is naturalized and "male features" are appropriated to lead men into the "female" sphere of the home. I argue that this discourse represents the heteroglossic nature of language, and that our speech, influenced by accustomed thoughts, paradoxically strengthens that discourse despite our intentions. Ikumen are not only connected to concerns about gender, but also are predicated on Japan's historical and ongoing fantasy of modernity and globalization. From the label ikumen, to state and local campaigns for male participation in childcare, to the use of terms of address for parents, the idealized West and its monolithic images of stylish and active fatherhood and romantic couplehood are covertly exploited. As a whole, the ikumen movement ends up creating an "imagined community," in which "globalism" is believed to help one obtain a more authentic and global "self" through childrearing. I argue that the ikumen movement presents the perpetual but concealed power hierarchy of modernity, and that Japan and Japanese people docilely appropriate this historical truth, institutionalizing the counterhegemony as the new hegemony and as a form of cultural capital in the context of a disturbingly low birthrate and a sluggish economy.

This research analyses the first paternal experience of childbirth and its affects on how men experience themselves as fathers. The study adopts a moral and philosophical standpoint, to ensure that the experiences of other key stakeholders in the childbirth realm are considered. This recognises that childbirth is women�s business, and how, as a male researcher, I have the potential to impose my views from a position of social dominance. Qualitative data were collected from twenty four participants who described their experiences of childbirth, in five focus groups. Participants were men whose first experience of childbirth occurred from as recently as one month to five years ago. Twelve participants were then involved in individual interviews to discuss, in depth, their experiences of fathering. An interview was also conducted with a midwife to illuminate her experiences of men and childbirth. Using interpretive interactionism as the chosen method for data analysis, I have identified the first paternal experience of childbirth as an epiphany in its major form. Epiphanies of which there are four types; the major, the cumulative, the minor illuminative and the relived, are those experiences that have the potential to transform and even radically alter peoples lives, and how they define themselves and their relations with others (Denzin,1989b:15). Data were phenomenologically analysed and six primary childbirth and fathering themes have been identified. Men�s first experience of childbirth entails emotions that range from fear and anger to awe and amazement. The reason that this life experience constitutes an epiphany for men, is that it affects how they experience themselves as fathers. The memory of their partner�s labour and birth pain is significant in how men construct their paternal identity. Important to men is the ability to biologically sire a child, and in particular a son, the need to create the child in men�s own likeness and responsibility for financial provision and discipline of the child.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-118).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-118).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1997. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [369]-383).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1997. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [55]-63).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Duquesne University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-213) and index.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1995. / Includes copy of the seminar, with dual paging. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-172).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Carol Anderson Darling, Florida State University, College of Human Sciences, Dept. of Family and Child Sciences. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 19, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 199 pages. Includes bibliographical references.