Kamil Janowicz

The last decades brought us a deeper reflection on the role of the future and thinking about it in our lives in psychology. Numerous studies supplied us with much empirical evidence on how crucial the role of thinking about one’s future is to human behavior and to general development. Making predictions about one’s future is one type of prospective activity. These predictions (vision) may be related to many areas of life, e.g., intimate relationship, work, being a parent. The current study aimed to develop a quantitative, self-report measure of the extension of the vision of own parenting (VOP). Findings from the first study (N = 450, M [age in years] = 20.82, SD = 2.81) resulted in reducing initial 105-item version to the 85-item one. Findings from the second study, with a different sample (N = 352, M [age in years] = 19.57, SD = 2.48), resulted in 78-item (divided into eleven scales) version of the Vision of Own Parenting Questionnaire (VOPQ). These results were supported by confirmatory factor analysis. The internal reliability of the VOPQ was assessed across two studies, and was found to be high (α = .72 - .89). The criterion validity was established in the second study, whereby the VOPQ subscales were demonstrated to be associated with future time perspective, empathy, and life values. The VOPQ represents a valid, psychometrically sound, and novel method of assessing the extension of the vision of own parenting and parenting valuing.

This paper presents a way of conceptualization of the Levinsonian Dream in relation to fatherhood and describes its shape in men at the novice phase in the following aspects: family planning, fatherhood valuing, one’s own preparation to fatherhood, taking part in a child’s life, and the relationship between fatherhood and other men activities. Research based on the author’s own survey concerning the Dream in relation to fatherhood was conducted on a sample of 33 male students aged 22–29. Qualitative and quantitative analysis has shown a substantial differentiation of men in terms of the extension, coherence, order, and realism of the Dream in relation to their future fatherhood. Rarely it constituted the main part of a holistic Dream describing the vision of their adult life, and in most cases it contained elements derived from both traditional and modern models of the father’s role.