CAMPOS, M. T. de. Ausência paterna e suas repercussões sobre desenvolvimento infantil [Father absence and its repercussions on child development]. 123 p. Master’s Dissertation – Universidade Metodista de São Paulo. São Bernardo do Campo (SP), 2010.
Available at: http://tede.metodista.br/jspui/bitstream/tede/1442/1/Mariana%20Campos.pdf
Abstract: This study aimed at a) investigating the effects of father absence on child development; b) describing the intrapsychic content of children with present parents and children with absent fathers in their homes. Therefore, three cases of school-age children who attended a non-governmental organization in the city of Santos were studied and the tools of semi-structured interviews were utilized with the mothers and the Thematic-Drawing-and-Story Procedure with the children. Application was made as follows: the participant was asked to design a child and then tell a story about the drawing. Thereafter, the child was asked to draw the father of the child in the drawing and tell a story about him following the same procedure. We decided also to apply The Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices with the children. Although each case had its peculiarities, the results showed indications of disturbances of sexual identity, helplessness, insecurity, depressive tendencies, and the association among father absence, cognitive deficit and/or intellectual inhibition. It was also observed, in one case, the mother’s difficulty in allowing the father to fulfill his role as “father”. It was concluded that father absence was perceived by the child not only as the absence of the father figure did not seem determined by the biological connection, but by the possibility of offering the child identification and affection. It would appear from this study that healthy psychological development can be facilitated by the introjection of good mother/father figures for the child. Thus, studies devoted to the theme of fatherhood are as important to be explored today as the ones intended to motherhood through the history of developmental psychology and psychoanalysis.