How close relationships with the father impact family and reproductive attitudes of adolescents

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of involved fatherhood and close relationships with the father on the development of family and reproductive attitudes in adolescents. It shows the contradictory and ambiguous nature of the family consciousness of adolescents; along with giving priority to their careers, being geared towards delayed parenthood, and weakening the standard of having children in a family, the majority of teenagers do not deny that their parenthood may be challenging, including responsibilities for a disabled or adopted child or raising children alone. They show acceptance and potential willingness to follow a new cultural norm – men’s involvement in caring for their children, “good” fatherhood on the basis of the equality of rights and duties in raising children between mothers and fathers. The paper identifies gender-specific aspects of the father’s influence on the development of reproductive and parental attitudes in adolescents for varying degrees of closeness of relationships with their fathers. The most pronounced attitudes typical of boys who have close relationships with their fathers reflect the significance of the paternal role, responsibility for the family and the birth of children, self-confidence, self-reliance, and ability to withstand difficulties. Girls develop more humane attitudes towards unborn children, tend to plan the optimal time for childbearing, realize the importance of father’s contribution to the upbringing of a child and of having children in wedlock. Those boys who fail to have close relationships with their fathers are distinguished by a mindset towards being single, seeking career achievements, individualism, unwillingness to take responsibility for a family and children, and infantile personality. Girls have attitudes that accept divorce, raising children out of wedlock and without a father, permissibility of abortion, and refusal to have many children.