Examining fatherhood in Greece and Italy

The present study examines Greek and Italian fathers’ perceptions of different aspects of fatherhood, namely, responsibility in undertaking childcare activities, emotional expressiveness within the family as well as their accounts of what it means to them to be a father. Three hundred and eleven fathers from Greece and 291 from Italy responded to the Parental Responsibility Scale, the Self-Expressiveness in the Family Questionnaire and the Fathers’ Perceptions of Fatherhood Scale. The results indicated that fathers from both countries agreed that childcare responsibilities should be undertaken by both parents. Further, Greek fathers were found to be less expressive of negative emotions than Italian fathers. They also valued negatively the feelings evoked by fatherhood and the impact of fatherhood on their life and work and considered that the strain evoked by fatherhood is less intense than that valued by their Italian counterparts. In both groups, positive self-expressiveness within the family was found to affect positively their perceptions of the meaning of fatherhood and parental responsibility, but this prediction was stronger for the Greek group. The reported findings provide a comprehensive picture of Greek and Italian fathers’ perceptions of what being a father means to them and broaden our understanding of the role of father within the family.