Plus l’environnement se complexifie, plus l’adaptation des enfants nécessite l’engagement direct du père

Abstract

Starting from a biosocial problematization of fatherhood, the writer suggests that as society becomes more complex, fathers in societies where monogamy represents the norm, are subject to greater social pressure to become directly involved with their children, at an ever earlier stage in the latter’s lives. The paternal role in the child’s awakening to the world (inclusive of the stimulatory and control dimensions) seems to be more and more necessary if the child is to properly adapt to an ever more demanding and competitive social environment. This model is, however, part of a more extensive model dealing with the area of parental complementarity.