Involvement in Childrearing and Mothers' and Fathers' Adjustment

Abstract

Combining social construction of gender and equity perspectives on parents' division of labor, this study extended research on associations between parents' childrearing involvement and adjustment by (a) differentiating between types of childrearing activities (task focused vs. relationship focused), (b) examining patterns of differences in these links for mothers versus fathers, and (c) testing whether gender‐role attitudes regarding family labor moderated these associations. One hundred sixty‐nine mothers and fathers reported on perceptions of their involvement in relationship‐focused and task‐focused childrearing, gender role attitudes, and their adjustment (parenting efficacy, depression, parenting stress, and role overload). Results indicated that fathers benefited from greater overall childrearing involvement, whereas higher relationship‐focused care was linked to more negative adjustment for mothers. Gender role attitudes moderated these links for fathers, such that traditional fathers who were more involved in childrearing reported better parental adjustment. The within‐couple complexities of involvement in childrearing and implications for parenting programs are discussed.

The Indirect Effect of the Mindful Parenting of Mothers and Fathers on the Child’s Perceived Well-Being Through the Child’s Attachment to Parents

“…This is consistent with the literature that shows that women usually present poorer psychological adjustment than men (e.g., Bekker and van Mens-Verhulst 2007). In addition, mothers are usually more involved in childcare and experience higher levels of parenting stress than fathers (Riina and Feinberg 2012), which may also explain their increased levels of anxiety. We have also explored differences between children and adolescents in attachment and well-being.…”

Dual trajectories of maternal parenting stress and marital intimacy during toddlerhood

“…However, more recent research finds that mothers are still primarily responsible for making sure children are cared for, and as a result, they engage in more physical labor, spend more time multitasking, and have less flexible schedules than fathers even in dual‐earner families (Craig, ; Offer & Schneider, ). Moreover, some of these parenting obligations have also been linked to greater parenting stress and increased depression (Riina & Feinberg, ). Finally, all measures were based on maternal report, which increases the likelihood of shared‐rater variance and limits the generalizability to mothers.…”

Parenting Stress and Sexual Satisfaction Among First-Time Parents: A Dyadic Approach

“…In a sample of Australian dual-earner couples, women often felt the brunt of the stress from parenting and household labor because they were shouldering the largest portion of responsibility (Dempsey, 2002). Women may also be expected to perform with immediate competence in this new parenting role, whereas men are less likely to feel this expectation (Cowan & Cowan, 2000; Riina, & Feinberg, 2012). Despite the increase in fathers’ involvement in the parenting role over the past decades (Dempsey, 2002), there is little societal pressure on fathers to perform early parenting duties with the same level of competence as women (LaRossa, 1998).…”