Explaining fathers' involvement in childcare: an ecological approach

Abstract

The study was conducted among a sample of 113 Israeli fathers, and aimed to examine the variables that explain paternal involvement in care of children between the ages of one and six. Based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological approach, the study examined the contribution of variables representing three ecological systems of the fathers: the ontogenic system -the fathers' background variables, and their childhood experiences with paternal involvement; the microsystem -children's characteristics (age and temperament); and mothers' characteristics (education, hours of work outside of the home, and fathers' assessments of maternal gatekeeping); and the macrosystem -type of community of residence (rural or urban). Maternal gatekeeping most significantly explained paternal involvement in most of the domains of childcare that were examined. Fathers living in urban communities who assessed their wives' maternal gatekeeping as high tended to be more involved in the domain of physical care than their counterparts living in rural communities. The child's temperament explained paternal involvement in the domains of showing love and playing with the children, whereas the fathers' childhood experiences with paternal involvement were related to their involvement in the domain of physical care. The implications of the findings for families and communities are discussed.L'étude a été réalisée auprès d'un échantillon de 113 pères israéliens, et vise à examiner les variables qui expliquent l'engagement paternel dans les soins des enfants âgés d'un à six ans. Basé sur une approche écologique de Bronfenbrenner, l'étude a examiné la contribution des variables représentant les trois systèmes écologiques des pères: le système ontogénétique -les variables de l'arrière-plan des pères, et de leurs expériences de l'enfance concernant la participation paternelle; le microsystème -les caractéristiques des enfants (d'âge et de tempérament); et les caractéristiques des mères (éducation, heures de travail en dehors de la maison, et évaluations des pères de la fonction de garde-barrière («gatekeeping») maternelle); et le macrosystème -type de communauté de résidence (rural ou urbain). La garde-barrière maternelle a expliqué de la manière la plus importante la participation paternelle dans la plupart des domaines de la garde d'enfants qui ont été examinés. Des pères vivant en milieu urbain qui ont évalué la garde-barrière maternelle de leurs femmes comme élevée avaient tendance à ê tre plus impliqués dans le domaine de la prise en charge physique que leurs homologues vivant dans des communautés rurales. Le tempérament de l'enfant expliquait l'engagement paternel dans les domaines de témoigner de l'amour et de jouer avec les enfants, alors que les expériences de l'enfance des pères avec l'engagement paternel étaient liées à leur participation dans le domaine des soins

Father Involvement During Early Childhood: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…By ignoring the timing of fatherhood, studies also do not capture how aspects related to the father's age, such as energy, health, or personal availability may account for his involvement (Parke, 2000). This is critical taking into account that younger and older fathers differ in interaction with their child, namely in domains of involvement (Kulik & Sadeh, 2015; Kwok et al, 2013; Monteiro et al, 2010). These findings call for a greater inclusion of personal aspects of the fathers, as stated by the heuristic models of fathering, to better understand how father involvement may vary across the life course and contexts of development (Cabrera et al, 2014; Parke, 2000).…”

Work and Family in the Second Decade of the 21st Century

“…Similar to housework, parent work is gendered: Mothers do more than fathers across all stages of child development (Bianchi & Milkie, ; Craig & Mullan, ), although increases in mothers' relative earnings, employment status, and work hours are all associated with fathers performing more solo child care, physical care, and managerial care (Hook, ; Raley, Bianchi, & Wang, ). In heterosexual, dual‐earner families, fathers do more child care than ever before (Kotila, Schoppe‐Sullivan, & Kamp Dush, ; Kulik & Sadeh, ; Yavorsky, Kamp Dush, & Schoppe‐Sullivan, ); yet women continue to do more of the hands‐on tasks and mental labor (i.e., planning, organizing; Offer, ). Despite the increase in men's participation in child care, we uncovered no study of dual‐earner families where men did more than women.…”

Measuring German Fathers’ Involvement in Childcare

“…In the literature, contemporary changes of fatherhood often are characterized as showing a gap between fathers' (more modern and egalitarian) attitudes and (more traditional and inequal) practices (Bergmann and Hobson 2002;Bühlmann, Elcheroth, and Tettamanti 2010;Cyprian 2005;Grunow 2007;LaRossa 2012;Meuser 2009). The reasons for this gap are mostly seen as originating in constraints for fathers caused by mothers' gatekeeping (e.g., Gaunt 2007;Kulik and Sadeh 2014), by structural and cultural factors at their workplace (e.g., Bygren and Duvander 2006;Haas, Allard, and Hwang 2002;Hallberg and Klevmarken 2003;Reimer 2015), or by economic considerations at the level of the family (e.g., Geisler and Kreyenfeld 2011) and the level of policies (Gornick and Meyers 2003) that codify the fathers' role as the main breadwinner. The explanation of changes in fatherhood still is a contested question which might in part, however, stem from ambiguity in different measures of paternal engagement (e.g., Lamb 1987).…”