Changes in Concept of Fatherhood during Child´s Transition to Primary School

Family development can be conceptualized as consecutive phases, which are separated by transitional periods. During transitions people have to adapt to the new situations in family and the broader social environment. The most often studied transition in family development is transition to parenthood. Besides other changes, the becoming parents change their self-concepts during this time, they have to establish a mother-child-relationship and a father-child relationship, and their marital quality also changes (Cowan & Cowan, 1992). Belsky and colleagues claimed, that during the transition to parenthood, marital quality is a resource, which facilitates adaptation to the new family situation (Belsky & Rovine, 1990; Belsky, Youngblade, Rovine & Volling, 1991). We assume that in later transitions in family life, parents also have to change their self-concepts, and marital quality is a resource for successful adaptation too. In this paper, we will discuss the period, when the first child enters school.