Abstract
Seventy European American families with 6-month-old infants participated in this investigation of current parenting roles. Parental reports and observations revealed that mothers were more involved with the infants and fathers were employed outside the home more hours per week than mothers. Both parents rated the mother as a better caretaker of the infant than the father. The mother rated the father's caretaking abilities higher than he rated himself. In concordance with previous research, maternal concerns about separations related to employment were found to be influenced by maternal employment factors. Paternal concerns about separations related to employment were also influenced by maternal employment factors. Changes in parenting roles were discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atkinson, A. (1991). Fathers' participation in day care.Early Child Development and Care, 66 115–126.
Bronstein, P. (1988). Marital and parenting roles in transition: An overview. In P. Bronstein & P. Cowen (Eds.),Fatherhood today: Men's changing role in the family. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Curry, D. (1991, April).The relationship between separation anxiety and mental health in fathers and mothers at three months. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.
Darling-Fisher, C., & Tiedje, L. (1990). The impact of maternal employment characteristics on fathers' participation in child care.Family Relations, 39 20–26.
DeMeis, D., Hock, E., & McBride, S. (1986). The balance of employment and motherhood: Longitudinal study of mothers' feelings about separation from their first-born infants.Developmental Psychology, 22 627–632.
Fein, G., Gariboldi, A., & Boni, R. (1993). Antecedents of maternal separation anxiety.Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 39 481–495.
Hock, E. (1984). The transition to day care: Effects of maternal separation anxiety on infant adjustment. In R. Ainslie (Ed.),The child and the day care setting. New York: Praeger.
Hock, E., DeMeis, D., & McBride, S. (1988). Maternal separation anxiety: Its role in the balance of employment and motherhood in mothers of infants. In A. Gottfried & A. Gottfried (Eds.),Maternal employment and children's development. New York: Plenum Press.
Hock, E., McBride, S., & Gnezda, M. (1989). Maternal separation anxiety: Mother-infant separation from the maternal perspective.Child Development, 60 793–802.
Hock, E., & Schirtzinger, M. (1992). Maternal separation anxiety: Its developmental course and relations to maternal mental health.Child Development, 63 93–102.
Lamb, M. (1977). Father-infant and mother-infant interaction in the first year of life.Child Development, 48 167–181.
Lamb, M. (1987). Introduction: The emergent American father. In M. Lamb (Ed.),The father's role: Cross cultural perspectives. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.
McBride, S. (1990). Maternal moderators of child care: The role of maternal separation anxiety.New Directions in Child Development, 49 53–70,
McBride, S., & Belsky, J. (1988). Characteristics, determinants, and consequences of maternal separation anxiety.Developmental Psychology, 24 407–414.
McCartney, K., & Phillips, D. (1988). Motherhood and child care. In B. Birns and D. Hay (Eds.),The Different Faces of Motherhood. New York: Plenum Press.
Menaghan, E., & Parcel, T. (1990). Parental Employment and Family Life: Research in the 1980s.Journal of Marriage and Family, 52 1079–1098.
Owen, M., & Cox, M. (1988). Maternal employment and the transition to parenthood. In A. Gottfried and A. Gottfried (Eds.),Maternal Employment and Children's Development. New York: Plenum Press.
Parke, R., & Tinsley, B. (1987). Family interaction in infancy. In J. Osofsky (Ed.),Handbook of infant development (2nd Ed New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Pitzer, M., & Hock, E. (1989). Employed mothers' concerns about separation from their first-and second-born child.Research in Nursing & Health, 12 123–128.
Pleck, J. (1985).Working Wives/Working Husbands. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Sigel, I., Dreyer, A., & McGillicuddy-DeLisi, A. (1984). Psychological perspectives of the family. In R. Parke (Ed.),Review of child development research. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Stifter, C., Coulehan, C., & Fish, M. (1993). Linking employment to attachment: The mediating effects of maternal separation anxiety and interactive behavior.Child Development, 64 1451–1460.
Tabachnick, B., & Fidell, L. (1989).Using multivariate statistics. New York: Harper Collins.
Zill, N. (1991, Winter). U.S. children and their families: Current conditions and recent trends, 1989.Newsletter of the Society for Research in Child Development, pp. 1–3.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Preparation of this article was made possible by an Indiana University Southeast Summer Faculty Fellowship Award. I wish to thank the families who participated in this research project and the following research assistants: Leslie Angel, Rhonda Bottorff, Kathryn Haendiges, Cora McNab, Beth Smith, and Sandi Wiseheart.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wille, D.E. The 1990s: Gender differences in parenting roles. Sex Roles 33, 803–817 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544780
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544780