ZENITH International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research _______________ISSN 2231-5780

Vol.4 (9), SEPTEMBER (2014), pp. 66-71

Online available at zenithresearch.org.in

CONCEPT OF FATHER, PERCEPTION OF ORPHANS AND NONORPHANS: AN EXPLORATION

FATHIMA BUSHRA SALIHA*; JAYAN**
*UGC-RESEARCH SCHOLAR,
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY, CALICUT UNIVERSITY.
**PROFESSOR AND HEAD,
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY, CALICUT UNIVERSITY.

ABSTRACT
A father (or dad) is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal"
refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother. The verb "to father" means to procreate or to
sire a child from which also derives the gerund "fathering". It is normal to need a father. Male
and female both need a dad. Every human being wants to feel the presence of a loving father. Its
natural to long for this close connection. We hunger for a fathers support, understanding, and
comfort. An unstructured interview was conducted on both orphans and non-orphans and the
data was collected. And content analysis was used to analyze the data. The interview focuses on
how the individual perceive the concept father or fatherhood. The result shows that adolescence
who grew along with their father, during their developmental periods, view less of having a
father than the orphans perceive. Today life is different. The meaning of fatherhood has
broadened. A fathers role description is greater than we had assumed. Fathers are expected to
meet not only financial needs, but emotional and spiritual needs as well.
KEYWORDS: content analysis, father, perceptions, unstructured interview.

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