Paternal Involvement with Children: The Influence of Gender Ideologies

Author(s): Ronald E. Bulanda

Source: Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 66, No. 1 (Feb., 2004), pp. 40-45
Published by: National Council on Family Relations
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3599864
Accessed: 07-01-2020 12:06 UTC

REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3599864?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

National Council on Family Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and
extend access to Journal of Marriage and Family

This content downloaded from 193.147.77.21 on Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:06:31 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 RONALD E. BULANDA Bowling Green State University

Paternal Involvement with Children:

The Influence of Gender Ideologies

Although prior social science research has
established the ability of gender ideologies to
influence the domestic division of labor, it has
neglected to disentangle their potentially unique
influence on paternal involvement with children.
Past research examining the influence of gender
ideology on parenting behaviors does not
acknowledge potential differences that may result
from accounting for each parent's gender ideol-
ogy. Using both waves of the National Survey of
Families and Households (N 1,088), I assess
the effect of both mother's and father's gender
ideology on two measures of paternal involve-
ment. Whereas egalitarian fathers demonstrate
greater involvement than traditional fathers,
mother's gender ideology failed to predict pater-
nal involvement. Egalitarian mothers do not
appear to negotiate greater father involvement
successfully.
In recent years, social scientists have increasingly
emphasized the importance of father involvement
with children (Aldous, Mulligan, & Bjarnason,
1998; Amato, 1998; Marsiglio, Amato, Day, &
Lamb, 2000). This is easily understood, as
increased paternal involvement may contribute to
children's overall development (Coltrane, 1996),
alleviate the burden of the second shift experi-
enced by many women (see Hochschild, 1989),
Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University,
Bowling Green, OH 43403 (bulanda@bgnet.bgsu.edu).
Key Words: fathers, gender ideology, parental involvement. prevent it (Allen & Hawkins).
and improve a family's overall well-being (Glass,
1998). Thus, the importance of assessing the deter-
minants of fatherhood cannot be overstated.
Gender ideology is an important factor to con-
sider in the analysis of determinants of paternal
involvement in child care (Aldous et al., 1998).
Gender ideologies represent what individuals view
as appropriate roles for men and women, which in
turn affects their own behavior (McHale &
Huston, 1984), as demonstrated by how husbands
with egalitarian beliefs do more housework
than those with traditional views (Coltrane &
Ishii-Kuntz, 1992). It is apparent, however, that
spouses' behaviors do not always correspond to
their respective ideologies (Blaisure & Allen,
1995). For example, research suggests that greater
paternal involvement may violate some women's
perception that family is primarily a woman's
domain (Allen & Hawkins, 1999). Similarly,
Greenstein (1996) demonstrates that wives' gender
ideology may prevent some husbands from being
as involved as they would like in household labor.
It may be that the gender ideology of a traditional
wife leads to a lack of reinforcing behavior for a less
traditional husband who attempts to become more
involved with his children. Her belief that a man is
not capable of nurturing or caring for children may
lead her to limit the amount of her husband's
involvement. Evidence suggests that some mothers
may prefer that fathers not become more involved
with their children (Allen & Hawkins, 1999; Glass,
1998; Hochschild, 1989). Although greater paternal
involvement may be welcome by many women,
their perceptions of fathers' family work skills may

40 Journal of Marriage and Family 66 (February 2004): 40-45

This content downloaded from 193.147.77.21 on Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:06:31 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Gender Ideologies and Paternal Involvement 41

CHILDCARE AS A DISTINCT CONCEPT broad assessment of fathering. The first measure,

breadth of involvement, entails paternal inter-
The primary goal of this study is to determine action with children in several different activities.
whether the influence of fathers' gender ideology
The second measure addresses fathers' propor-
on paternal involvement is contingent upon the
tional time spent with children in these activities.
gender ideology of mothers. Empirical evidence This relative measure is an effective method of
supports this notion with regard to the division of
assessing paternal involvement (Pleck, 1997), and
labor and traditionally female tasks (Allen &
parallels other gender ideology studies that assess
Hawkins, 1999; Greenstein, 1996). Men with
measures of housework (Greenstein, 1996).
egalitarian or traditional gender ideologies con-
tribute little to domestic labor when married to
I anticipate that fathers married to egalitar-
ian mothers will demonstrate greater paternal
women with traditional gender attitudes. Thus, it involvement than fathers married to traditional
appears that a wife's traditional ideology may
mothers. Further, because I expect mothers'
have a significant inhibiting effect on the tasks
gender ideology to be the primary influence on
men do within the home. This project investi-
paternal involvement, I do not anticipate that
gates whether a similar process occurs with
egalitarian fathers will demonstrate more involve-
regard to parenting.
ment than traditional fathers, controlling for
Thus far, much research analyzing the effect of
mother's gender ideology.
gender ideology on the division of labor assumes
I assess the influence of parental gender
that housework and child care have the same
ideologies while accounting for other potentially
predictors (Deutsch, Lussier, & Servis, 1993;confounding measures. Characteristics of parents
Starrels, 1994). Some even have combined
and children may influence both parent-child
elements of child care and housework in their
relations and parenting. These factors include
measures of family work (Allen & Hawkins,
the age of the mother and father, race, education,
1999; Greenstein, 1996). Although there is an
hours of employment, relative income, and
overlap in activities, each possesses unique employment status (Aldous et al., 1998; Coltrane &
elements. Indeed, the effect of neglecting house-
Ishii-Kuntz, 1992; Harris & Morgan, 1991;
work is not of the same magnitude as neglecting Sanchez & Thomson, 1997; Starrels, 1994).
child care (Deutsch et al., 1993). In addition, the
Children's characteristics may play a role as well,
intrinsic rewards of being directly involved with
such as age, gender composition, and number of
one's own children (Deutsch et al.) may motivate
children (Harris & Morgan). Each of these character-
men to be actively engaged in child care. The istics is included in the analyses.
same is unlikely for household chores. Thus, ana-
lyzing child care as an isolated concept, despite its METHOD
connection with domestic labor, is an important
step in disentangling distinct determinants and This study uses data from the two waves of the
influences. National Survey of Families and Households
Although some studies have distinguished the (NSFH), a multistage probability sample of the
concepts of domestic labor and child care, they noninstitutionalized adult U.S. population
fail to examine how the variable combinations of (Sweet, Bumpass, & Call, 1988). The first wave
gender ideologies between parents differ in effect of data was collected between 1987 and 1988
(Aldous et al., 1998; Deutsch et al., 1993). Find- and includes 13,008 respondents. In addition to
ings on just main effects are contradictory. the primary interview of the main respondent, a
Deutsch et al. offer support for the notion that a self-enumerated questionnaire was used to collect
father's nontraditional gender ideology predicts data from a secondary respondent, the main
greater paternal involvement, but Aldous and respondent's spouse or partner. This is a notable
associates did not replicate this finding. These improvement on surveys that rely on the specu-
competing results suggest that a model account- lative reports of only one spouse. In addition, the
ing for both parents' gender ideologies is needed. NSFH data are appropriate for this investigation
This study improves on previous research in because they include items that allow for
two important ways. First, gender ideology well-rounded measures of paternal involvement.
measures are provided by both members of the The items included in the measurement of pater-
married couple. Second, this study employs two nal involvement adequately represent activities
measures of paternal involvement, offering a varying in depth and style of interaction. This

This content downloaded from 193.147.77.21 on Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:06:31 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 42 Journal of Marriage and Family

TABLE 1. DESCRIPTIVE
element satisfies criticism thatSTATISTICS FOR VARIABLES IN
findings of grea
paternal involvement may ANALYSES (N= 1,088)
represent minim
levels of interaction Variable
(LaRossa, 1988).
M or % SD
This study focuses on the parental behavior o
biological married parents
Paternal involvement (individuals) with
Proportional
least one child younger than 13hours 0.43old
years 0.20 at Tim
Breadth 3.91 0.97
1 (n = 2,142). Six and one-half percent of the
Gender ideology
respondents were excluded because of a lack
Father
valid gender ideology Egalitarian
measures (n = 139). Mo
30.2
than 71% of these subjects
Neutral were
36.6reinterview
and continuously married in33.3
Traditional 1992 at Tim
Mother
(n = 1,428). Of this subsample, 76% (n = 1,08
Egalitarian 31.2
had valid data on both paternal involveme
Neutral 41.2
measures. Together, Traditional
these exclusions
31.9 lim
generalizability to continuously married biolo
Father's age 39.59 5.92
cal parents. Further, the dependent measures
Father's education (in years) 13.76 2.78
paternal involvement refer only to focal childr
Father's race
older than 5 years. White 84.6
Table 1 shows the descriptive
Non-White statistics
15.4 of th
families in the analytic
Work sample.
hoursThe gender ideo
ogy and race measuresFather are derived43.62 from 15.28 Wave
Mother are
and the remaining variables 24.52 from19.00Wave

Approximately 30% of Mother the mothers

employed and fath
Yes 70.5
were classified as egalitarian, and close to a th
No 29.5
were classified as traditional. Most (84.6%)
the fathers were Family
White, and averagedinco
nearly
Couple incomea 39.99 38.09
years of age with at least
Mother's 12 years
relative of0.22
income 0.23 educati
Fathers worked an average
Sons
of 43 hours per wee
and mothers worked just Haveover
son(s) 24 hours per wee
79.1
Only 70.5% of mothers Nowere
son(s) employed,
20.1 contr
buting almost a quarter of child
Age of youngest the8.01couple's to
income. Almost 80% of families had at least one
Number of children
son, and most (78.8%) had more than one child. I child 21.2
The average age of the youngest child was 8 years. 2 children 47.2
> 3 children 31.6

Note: Measures are deriv

Dependent Variables gender ideology and race.
aThis measure does not add to the fit of the model
I operationalized paternal involvement with chil-
beyond the account of relative income, and is omitted.
dren in two ways. First, fathers' involvement was
assessed in terms of breadth of interaction with
their child(ren). This measure reflects how often
with the child(ren), relative to mother's involve-
fathers spend time with the children (a) in leisure ment, is the ratio of fathers' total hours in breadth
activities away from home (picnics, movies, activities relative to the total hours spent by both
sports, and so forth), (b) at home working on a mothers and fathers. Scores on this measure
project or playing together, (c) having private range from 0 to 1.
talks, (d) helping with reading or homework,
and (e) watching television or videos. Responses
Independent Variables
ranged from 1 never or rarely to 6 almost every
day (c = .78). Items were summed and divided by The primary independent variable is traditional
6. This results in a range of 1 to 6. The breadth gender ideology. The extent to which men and
measure includes items that may involve poten- women adhere to traditional gender ideologies is
tially low levels of interaction (watching TV), measured with a four-item scale from Wave 1 of
and items that suggest more intimacy (private the NSFH. Individuals responded to the follow-
talks). Second, fathers' proportional hours spent ing items: (a) It is much better if the man earns

This content downloaded from 193.147.77.21 on Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:06:31 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Gender Ideologies and Paternal Involvement 43

the main living and the woman proportional

takes care hours.of
Table
the2 presents the ordinary
home and family; (b) Preschool children
least squares are
regression estimates predicting the
two is
likely to suffer if their mother measures of paternal
employed; (c)involvement. The first
model examines the influence
How much do you approve/disapprove of of the mother's
and father's
mothers who work full-time when their gender ideologies on the breadth of
youngest
paternalmuch
child is under age 5? and (d) How involvement.
do youConsistent with expecta-
approve/disapprove of mothers tions,
who it iswork
apparent that egalitarian fathers
part-
time when their youngest child is under
demonstrate greaterage 5?
involvement than traditional
Responses were coded so that higher
fathers. Contrary scores
to expectations, the gender
reflect more traditional attitudes
ideology(Aldous et al.,
of the mother is not associated with
1998). Next, scores for each item were
the breadth of standar-
paternal involvement. Fathers are
dized to a mean of 0 with a standard deviation
less involved when theyof are older or when their
1, and then summed. children are older. Father's education, mother's
employment
Alpha reliabilities for both mother andand father
relative income, and having at
least one
gender ideology was .77. For ease of son are associated with greater breadth
interpreta-
tion, dummy variables were created of paternal
to involvement.
distinguish
traditional parents from nontraditional The second model in Table 2 is less successful
(egalitar-
ian) parents. Parents whosein score predicting was
paternal.5 SD
involvement. As expected,
above the mean were coded as traditional, egalitarian fathers are more involved than tradi-
whereas those with scores below this point weretional fathers, in terms of proportional hours. The
coded as egalitarian (Sanchez & Thomson,lack of influence of mother's gender ideology,
1997). Respondents with scores between these however, was not anticipated. Not surprisingly,
points were classified as neutral. This classifica-the fathers' work hours are negatively related to
tion scheme is most amenable to the assessment the proportional hours of father's involvement.
and comparison of respondents scoring on
opposite ends of the gender ideology scale. CONCLUSION

RESULTS
Recently, social science research has focused on
father involvement and emphasized its import-
Ordinary least squares regression was used ance to to the families, and especially to children
(Aldous et al., 1998; Amato, 1998; McBride &
assess the effect of each parent's gender ideology
on paternal involvement, defined as breadth Mills,
and 1993; Starrels, 1994). In addition, studies

TABLE 2. OLS REGRESSION ANALYSES PREDICTING PATERNAL INVOLVEMENT (N= 1,088)

Breadth of Involvement Proportional Hours

Age of father -.02*** -.01

Father's race (non-White) -.06 -1.55
Father's education .06*** -.13
Father's work hours -.004* -.08
Mother's work hours (not employed) -.00 .13*
Mother employed .27* -1.45
Mother's relative income .09 -.44
Have son(s) (no son) .19** 2.22
Age of youngest child -.06*** .35
Number of children (2 children)
1 child -.04 .83
> 3 children -.32*** .12
Egalitarian father (traditional) .21* 6.11**
Neutral father .05 1.68
Egalitarian mother (traditional) -.02 .31
Neutral mother .14 1.91
Intercept 4.34 40.67
R2 .17 .05

Note: Referen
*p < .05. **p

This content downloaded from 193.147.77.21 on Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:06:31 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 44 Journal of Marriage and Family

sample, a subset of
have examined the influence of the original
gender sample, is con-
ideolog
on men's participationtinuously
in married
domestic between the first
work and second
(All
& Hawkins, 1999; Greenstein,
waves of the National 1996). Here,
Survey of Families and I a
What characteristics, with
Households. respect
Therefore, the results mayto gen
be gen-
ideology, maximize paternal involvement
eralized only to intact families. Finally, results wi
children? Is influence are
ofnot fathers'
generalizable beyond the breadthideolo
gender and
on paternal involvementproportional hours of paternal on
contingent involvement.
the In gend
the future, researchers should focus on alternative
ideology of the mothers?
measures ofwas
Mothers' traditionalism fathers' behavior
not and a include the
significan
predictor of paternalquality
involvement. Fathers m
of father-child relationships.
ried to egalitarian mothers are neither more n
less likely to become involved REFERENCES
with their ch
dren. Instead, the influence of gender ideolo
is direct. ControllingAldous,for
J., Mulligan, G. M., & Bjarnason, T.
mothers' (1998).
ideolog
Fathering over time: What makes the difference?
fathers with less traditional attitudes about gen
Journal of Marriage and the Family, 60, 809-820.
are more involved in both breadth of involvement
Allen, S. M., & Hawkins, A. J. (1999). Maternal gate-
and proportion of hours spent with children. keeping: Mother's beliefs and behaviors that inhibit
These findings have important implications for greater father involvement in family work. Journal
how we understand the division of parenting of Marriage and the Family, 61, 199-212.
Amato, P. R. (1998). Men's contributions to their chil-
labor. Although prior research reminds us that dren's lives. In A. Booth & A. Crouter (Eds.), Men
parenting is a dynamic process resulting from in families: When do they get involved? What dif-
parents' negotiations with each other (Glass, ference does it make? (pp. 241-278). Mahwah, NJ:
Erlbaum.
1998; Greenstein, 1996), the ideas mothers have
Blaisure, K. R., & Allen, K. R. (1995). Feminists
about gender are inconsequential to some
and the ideology and practice of marital equality.
measures of paternal involvement. Instead, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 57, 5-19.
fathers' ideas about gender influence their levels Coltrane, S. (1996). Family man: Fatherhood, house-
of involvement. work, and gender equity. New York: Oxford Uni-
Mothers are responsible for the overwhelming versity Press.
Coltrane, S., & Ishii-Kuntz, M. (1992). Men's house-
majority of child-care tasks (Greenstein, 1996;
work: A life course perspective. Journal of Mar-
Hochschild, 1989; Milkie & Peltola, 1999), riage and the Family, 54, 43-57.
despite the rise in nontraditional behavior, includ- Deutsch, F. M., Lussier, J. B., & Servis, L. J. (1993).
ing mothers' increased labor force participation. Husbands at home: Predictors of paternal participa-
tion in childcare and housework. Journal of
Perhaps this is not surprising, as the results sug-
Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1154-1166.
gest that fathers need positive nontraditional gen- Glass, J. (1998). Gender liberation, economic squeeze,
der attitudes in order to be actively involved with or fear of strangers: Why fathers provide infant care
their children, regardless of mothers' attitudes. in dual-earner families. Journal of Marriage and the
These results may affirm the notion that cultural Family, 60, 821-834.
Greenstein, T. N. (1996). Husbands' participation in
expectations are far too ingrained in society to domestic labor: Interactive effects of wives' and
expect more equitable arrangements in child care husbands' gender ideologies. Journal of Marriage
or family work to emerge (Sanchez & Thomson, and the Family, 58, 585-595.
1997), at least for men. Future research must Harris, K. M., & Morgan, S. P. (1991). Fathers, sons,
and daughters: Differential paternal involvement in
assess potentially shifting gender ideologies
parenting. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 53,
with more recent cohorts of both mothers and 531-544.
fathers. Hochschild, A. R. (with Machung, A.) (1989). The
This study has several limitations. First, meas- second shift: Working parents and the revolution at
ures of paternal involvement are restricted to home. New York: Viking.
fathers' activities with children older than 5 LaRossa, R. (1988). Fatherhood and social change.
Family Relations, 37, 451-457.
years. Thus, the results may not be generalizedMarsiglio, W., Amato, P., Day, R. D., & Lamb, M. E.
to fathers with younger children. Second, the (2000). Scholarship on fatherhood in the 1990s and
measure of gender ideology is narrow. Whenever beyond. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62,
1173-1191.
possible, researchers should use a more complete
McBride, B. A., & Mills, G. (1993). A comparison of
measure of gender ideology. It would be ideal to mother and father involvement with their preschool
calculate a gender ideology score not limited to age children. Early Childhood Research Quarterly,
items on parental work roles. Third, the final 8, 457-477.

This content downloaded from 193.147.77.21 on Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:06:31 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Gender Ideologies and Paternal Involvement 45

McHale, S. M., & Huston, T. Sanchez,

L. (1984). Men
L., &and
Thomson, E. (19
women as parents: Sex role orientations,
mothers and employ-
fathers: Parenthood,
division Child
ment, and parental roles with infants. of labor. Gender and Soci
Devel-
opment, 55, 1349-1361. Starrels, M. E. (1994). Gender diffe
childPlaying
Milkie, M. A., & Peltola, P. (1999). relations.
all Journal
the of Fam
148-165.
roles: Gender and the work-family balancing act.
Journal of Marriage and the Sweet,
Family, 61, 123-132.
J., Bumpass, L., & Call, V. (1988). The design
Pleck, J. H. (1997). Paternal involvement: Levels,
and content of the National Survey of Families and
sources, and consequences. In M. E.NSFH
Households. LambWorking(Ed.),
Paper No. 1. Madison:
The role of the father in child development
University of Wisconsin, Center for Demography
(pp. 66-103). New York: Wiley.and Ecology.

This content downloaded from 193.147.77.21 on Tue, 07 Jan 2020 12:06:31 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms