title: Paternity: social responsibility of man's role as provider.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze meanings attributed to paternity by men who are fathers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study with a qualitative approach and gender-theory focus, performed in the city of João Pessoa, Northeastern Brazil, in 2003. A total of ten men, whose children had been cared for in the pediatric outpatient clinic of a university hospital, participated in the study. Information analyzed was obtained with semi-structured interviews. Critical discourse analysis technique was employed to analyze participants' speech. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: Participants in the study viewed paternity as a new social role, more closely associated with material support for the family than the dimension of affective involvement with the child. However, participants experienced a transition process where the traditional father lived with those whose affective dimension of paternity was found to be the main concern of being a father.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The meaning and concrete exercise of paternity were found in an area of responsibilities that predominantly reproduces the traditional father, but also recreates the father's role, including the affective dimension.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Pesquisa Políticas Públicas de Atenção à Mulher e Gênero, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, João Pessoa, PB, Brasil. waglaniafreitas@ccs.ufpb.br
authors.forename: Waglânia de Mendonça Faustino e
authors.initials: Wde M
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.forename: Ana Tereza Medeiros Cavalcante da
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Edméia de Almeida Cardoso
authors.initials: Ede A
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.forename: Rebeca Nunes
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Guedes
authors.forename: Kerle Dayana Tavares de
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Lucena
authors.forename: Ana Paula Teixeira
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Costa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005219:Father-Child Relations; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010334:Paternity; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012922:Social Change; D012941:Social Responsibility; D055815:Young Adult