The Characteristics and Lived Experiences of Modern Stay-at-Home Fathers

When Fathers Feel Socially Constrained to Assume a Role: A Negative Predictor of the Coparental Relationship in Switzerland

“…Both parents’ expectations and needs are thus to be considered, as this will strengthen parental alliance and coparental cohesion, which will in turn also be beneficial to mothers. In Europe, social policies vary greatly between countries, for example, regarding access to and duration of paternity leave; fathers should benefit from the same support and information as mothers (the vast majority of resources available for new parents being focused on the child and mothers only; Lee et al, 2020 ) and their expectations should be heard, as this will contribute to the well-being of the whole family.…”

“…In the United States and in Western Europe, the increase in mothers’ work hours was paralleled by an increase in fathers’ participation in housework and childcare ( National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Child Care Research Network, 2000 ; Gottfried et al, 2002 ; Jacobs and Kelley, 2006 ; Goldscheider et al, 2015 ; Frejka et al, 2018 ). However, the gender revolution is not accomplished yet: for example, the increase in the number of mothers in the workforce full time was not followed by a similar increase in the number of fathers being the primary caregiver ( DeRose et al, 2019 ; Lee et al, 2020 ), and in dual-earner families, mothers still assume responsibility for most of the parenting duties, as social expectations regarding traditional roles are still present and influential ( Yeung et al, 2001 ; Raley et al, 2012 ). This is particularly the case in Switzerland; in 2020, women still spent more time on domestic and family work than men did (28.7 vs. 19.1 h per week, respectively; Federal Statistical Office, 2021 ).…”

“…Intrinsic motivation for parenting is one of the main predictors of paternal engagement ( Lamb and Tamis-LeMonda, 2004 ). Whereas it has long been assumed that fathers are necessarily intrinsically motivated to be more invested in their work duties available data suggest that a significant portion of fathers at home have chosen to do so specifically to take care of their children and not only because they are unable to find a job ( Lee et al, 2020 ). Moreover, some fathers may want to be engaged with their children and have expectations about parenthood ( Goodman, 2005 ), but do not dare engage as much as they would like because of the negative reaction of their social environment ( Steinhour, 2018 ).…”

A Mixed Methods Study of the Challenges and Rewards of Fatherhood in a Diverse Sample of U.S. Fathers

“…The cumulative result is that more families are opting for mothers to be the family breadwinner and more fathers are staying at home as the primary caregiver. In the U.S., the number of stay at home fathers (SAHFs) has more than doubled in the last 20 years to the point that approximately 20% of all stay at home parents are now fathers (Lee et al, 2020).…”