The present study aimed at investigating the separation-individuation process in male adolescents during transition period to fatherhood. Three young fathers, aged between 16 and 18 years old in the beginning of data collection, living in Porto Alegre, took part in the study. To evaluate this process, the study used a collective-case design, of a longitudinal character, which comprised four phases: third quarter of pregnancy, the baby's third month, his/her first and second year. The participants' answers were analyzed through qualitative content analysis, looking for indicators of the second (Blos, 1996) and the third individuation (Colarusso, 1990). It was possible to verify characteristics of the second individuation in the young fathers, as well as of the third, especially in the child's second year of life, indicating that fatherhood brought some advances for emotional development is concerned, even though it also made some tasks of adolescence more difficult to be achieved.
Adolescence; Fatherhood; Separation-individuation process