| Abstract: | Predictors of paternal participation in child care and housework are examined. A longitudinal sample of 66 couples expecting their 1st child completed extensive questionnaires during the wives' last trimester of pregnancy and 3–8 mo after birth. Regressions were conducted in which paternal participation in child care and housework was regressed on variables pertaining to each of 4 models of paternal participation: relative economic resource, structural, family systems, and sex-role attitude. Composite models of paternal participation in housework and child care were then developed. Fathers' involvement in child care is best explained by mothers' work hours and fathers' feminism. Fathers' contribution to housework seems best explained by discrepancies in income between spouses, wives' occupational prestige, and dynamics in the marriage. Differences in the determinants of fathers' contributions to child care and housework are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
