Abstract

This review introduces the reader to the main contributions on fatherhood. This have been done within the wider field of literature on parenthood. Following the most recent views, the paper proposes a developmental approach. Studies carried out on the transition to parenthood and on the first years of the child's life would be discussed Starting from Belsky's (1984) proposal that parenting needs to be understood within a global model, the review includes psychological knowledge in three main domains of determinants: psychological characteristics of parents, contextual sources of stress or support and child's characteristics. We will add as specific variable the developmental viewpoint both for parents (parenthood as develoopmental process) and child (the development of parenthhood in facing the first phases of child development).