The contribution of subjective personal and social resources to the psychological well-being of fathers after childbirth

Fatherhood is a significant stage in a man's life, and it can contribute greatly to positive and fulfilling emotions and experiences. Nevertheless, fatherhood may also contribute to negative and stressful emotions due to the changes it brings about in various life areas (Nelson, Kushlev & Lyubomirsky, 2014; Saxbe & Goldenberg, 2018), causing fathers’ emotional well-being to deteriorate (Deave & Johnson, 2008). Since fathers' emotional well-being is associated with their personal functioning and their babies' healthy development, the aim of the current study was to evaluate fathers' emotional well-being during the first year after the birth of a child.

The study was based on the PERMA (Positive emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) model, introduced by Seligman (Seligman, 2011), as an organizing model for evaluating subjective personal and social qualities and strengths that, together, enhance and contribute to individuals' emotional well-being. This study examined the contribution of five personal and social variables to fathers' emotional well-being during the first year after the birth of a child. The study examined the contribution of five subjective personal and social resources to the father's well-being during the first year after the birth of his baby: relationship satisfaction, paternal involvement, social support, meaning in life and perception of parental self-efficacy. It was hypothesized that the higher the level of these five variables – relationship satisfaction, paternal involvement, social support, sense of meaning in life, and perception of parental self-efficacy – the higher the level of emotional well-being. In addition, perception of parental self-efficacy was examined as a mediating factor in the correlation between social support and emotional well-being and in the correlation between paternal involvement and emotional well-being was examined as well.

The study was a quantitative cross-sectional study. Self-report questionnaires were distributed to fathers in the first year after the birth of a child via social media, and 154 fathers completed the questionnaire. The questionnaires included demographic questions and questions relating to each of the research variables: emotional well-being (the dependent variable), relationship satisfaction, paternal involvement, social support, sense of meaning in life, and perception of parental self-efficacy (the independent variables).

Findings: Relationship satisfaction, social support, sense of meaning in life, and perception of parental self-efficacy all demonstrated a significant positive contribution to the explained variance in fathers’ emotional well-being following their child’s birth. The correlation between paternal involvement and emotional well-being was found to be slightly more complex: no direct correlation was found between the two. However, a negative correlation found in the regression turned into a positive correlation when mediated by perception of parental self-efficacy. In addition, it was found that perception of parental self-efficacy partially mediated the correlation between paternal involvement and emotional well-being as well as the correlation between social support and emotional well-being. Finally, in terms of the control variables, a negative correlation was found between age and emotional well-being, and emotional well-being among fathers who live in a community settlement was higher than that of fathers living in a city, moshav, or kibbutz.

Conclusions: This study contributes to the body of knowledge regarding the emotional well-being of fathers after the birth of a child, a field that has been neglected in the past but has begun to grow and develop in recent years. The findings demonstrate the importance of relationship satisfaction, paternal involvement, social support, sense of meaning in life, and perception of parental self-efficacy to the emotional well-being of fathers after the birth of a child. Therefore, as suggested by the PERMA model, focusing on fathers’ qualities and strengths after the birth of their child could promote their emotional well-being. In addition, unique intervention plans for fathers should be created in order to assist them before potential parenthood-related difficulties arise. Fathers should also be included in groups that offer emotional preparation for a child’s birth and/or for coping subsequently. Inclusion in these groups may boost their confidence, help them be involved with taking care of their babies, enhance their perceived self-efficacy, enable social support, and allow them to contemplate their meaning in life once the baby is born, and perhaps even to redefine it. Furthermore, it is important that professionals offer couple-focused interventions regarding the addition of a new child to the family. In light of the findings related to sociodemographic variables, it is also important that age group and type of residential environment be taken into consideration when providing assistance. Public awareness regarding the importance of fathers’ emotional well-being after a child’s birth should also be raised, so that people may be able to identify and treat fathers' needs in the best possible manner. Theoretically, as there is very little research about the emotional well-being of fathers after a child’s birth and, to the best of our knowledge, this was the first study to evaluate the PERMA model among fathers after the birth of a child, research of the model should be continued and applied to a broader population. Such research is key in understanding the needs of this population more accurately, and in creating suitable interventions to promote the emotional well-being of fathers before fatherhood-related difficulties arise.