Abstract
The perinatal period is known to be a vulnerable time for mental health. Historically, research
has focused on mothers’ experiences of this, although there is a growing evidence base
around fathers’ experiences of the transition to parenthood. This thesis aimed to explore the
experience of first-time fathers in the peri-natal period. Specifically, Part One of the portfolio
presents a mixed methods survey of the relationship between mental health and social media
use, exploring the potential roles of perfectionism and social comparison on this relationship.
The findings suggest that social media use, perfectionism, and social comparison are all
associated with worse mental health in fathers. Part Two of the portfolio presents a reflexive
thematic analysis of interviews that explored how fathers perceive expectations of themselves
from others and the role of fathers today. The findings suggested that while fathers are
striving for equality in parenting, there are ongoing barriers to this, that ultimately means the
parenting dynamic is inevitably unequal. It is important to note that the participants for Part
Two of the portfolio were recruited through an ‘opt-in’ system following completion of the
online survey for Part One of the portfolio. Therefore, the ethics approval and recruitment
methods overlap across both parts of the portfolio.