• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.61-76
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• 2005

Using ethnographic methods, this study identified the meaning of paternal experience through 1 to 2 hours of individual interviews with the fathers of preschool children. The interviewees were 33 middle-class fathers from 28 to 41 years of age, Twenty had infants under 36 months of age the others had preschool children 37 months of age and older. Results were summed up with two statements : The first is that paternal experience with the under 36-month-old infants can be called "the stage of adjustment". The other statement is that paternal experience with 37-months and older preschool children can be called "the stage of model-building as a father".