Psychological readiness for fatherhood: Theoretical analysis

The article presents a review of theoretical studies devoted to the problem of fatherhood and, in particular, the psychological readiness of young people to adopt the parental role. It is noted that in the context of multiple socio-cultural transformations of our time, the institutions of family and parenthood are one of the first one to undergo significant changes. The current trend towards moving away from traditional attitudes and reorientation of gender roles in the sphere of family relations leads to variability of fatherhood, rethinking the role of a man in raising children, and the emergence of new fatherhood practices. It is shown that the significance of paternal interaction with a child and, at the same time, the value of fatherhood for the personal development of a man himself are difficult to overestimate, while the issue of developing psychological readiness for parenthood and ways to optimize paternal activity have not been sufficiently developed in scientific psychology. This problem is a contradiction between the social demand for harmonious upbringing of a child in a healthy family and insufficient understanding of fatherhood as a holistic social phenomenon that requires a deep study of external and internal determinants that determine a man's psychological readiness for parenthood.