Gender role beliefs, work–family conflict, and father involvement after the birth of a second child.

Abstract

A major task for parents during the transition to second-time parenthood is to help their firstborn adjust to their new roles as siblings. Increased father involvement has been theorized to be protective for firstborn adjustment. Fathers, however, are under increasing pressure to balance both work and family responsibilities. Here we evaluate fathers' relative involvement in two-child families as a function of family structure, gender role beliefs, and work-family conflict in 222 dual- and single-earner families from the Midwestern region of the United States after the birth of a second child. Couples reported on father involvement with firstborns and infants when the infants were 1, 4, 8, and 12 months old. On average, fathers increased their involvement with infants but decreased their involvement with firstborns. Dual-earner fathers were more involved with their children than single-earner fathers. Although mean levels of father involvement were different between dual- and single-earners, multi-group parallel process trajectory latent growth curve models revealed more similarities than differences between dual- and single-earners in processes guiding father involvement. Both dual- and single-earner fathers engaged in juggling childcare between children and both dual- and single-earner fathers' involvement with infants was constrained by work-family conflict. Gender role beliefs predicted child care involvement for dual-earner, but not single-earner fathers: more egalitarian gender roles predicted greater involvement with the firstborn immediately after the birth of the second child. Results underscore the need for greater workplace support for fathers' caregiving roles after the birth of an infant.

Does Parenthood Change Implicit Gender‐Role Stereotypes and Behaviors?

“…Relatedly, our results might not be generalizable to other family types than families with a mother, a father, and two children with an age difference of around 2 years. Gender-traditional task division increases with the birth of additional children (Sanchez & Thomson, 1997), especially when additional births are close together in time (Kuo, Volling, & Gonzalez, 2017). Also, single, gay, and lesbian parents are less traditional in their gender-role behavior (Stacey & Biblarz, 2001).…”

Fathers Are Parents, Too! Widening the Lens on Parenting for Children's Development

“…Indeed, research on the quality of father–child relationships or father–child attachment pales in comparison to studies on men's role as economic providers . However, the notion that fathers are mostly economic providers and are not engaged in the emotional well‐being of their children does not reflect the reality of the experiences of fathers and families today; this is the case especially in dual‐earner households where both mothers and fathers work outside the home to support their families, and consequently both are actively involved in childrearing . Although mothers still do more household tasks than fathers (about 17 hr per week compared to fathers’ 10 hr), contemporary fathers are more involved in hands‐on activities than they were in previous decades and consequently, are more involved in caring for their children, which affects their development .…”

Men, Chronic Pain, and Prescription Pain Medication Use: The Role of Gender Role Beliefs in a Longitudinal Moderated Mediation Model

“…These beliefs in men have been identified to be relatively stable across time [32] and one of the prominent domains of social influence [33], including the transition of gender role beliefs from parents to children [34]. Researchers suggest that in the United States, a more traditional belief in domestic gender roles includes the idea that marriage, child care, and house work are female domains and essential to female identity, whereas males are characterized as being the breadwinner or provider for the family while maintaining their independence and strength [35,36]. According to self-categorization theory, when men categorize themselves in salient social groups such as being a "man," they adopt a social identity, which leads to increased adherence to group norms such as more traditional masculine gender role beliefs [14,37].…”