Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 8, 457-477 (1993) A Comparison of Mother and Father Involvement With Their PreschoolAge Children Brent A. McBride Gall Mills University of Illinois This study examined variations in mother and father involvement in child- rearing activities. Subjects were 100 families whose oldest children were between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Three aspects of parental involvement (interaction, accessibility, and responsibility) and four predictors of pater- nal involvement (demographic backgrounds, marital quality, parental stress, and role perceptions) were measured. Results indicated that mothers participated in childrearing activities at a significantly higher rate than fathers. This pattern held true in both dual-earner and single-earner families. Mothers spent a significantly higher proportion of their inter- action time in functional and work-related activities whereas fathers spent a significantly greater proportion of their interaction time in play activities. Implications are discussed for future research on father involvement. It has been only in recent years that researchers and practitioners have begun to acknowledge the influence of fathers on the development of their young children. Prior to the late 1970s, most studies of parent-child relationships assumed mothers to be the dominant influence on children's development, with fathers playing a secondary or supportive role (Zaslow, Rabinovich, & Suwalsky, 1991). More recent studies suggest otherwise. When fathers assume an active parental role they can have a positive in- fluence on all aspects of their children's development (Lamb, 1986). Fathers assume multiple roles in families (including direct child care) and influence children in multiple ways, directly and indirectly (via mothers). This influence ranges from enhancing children's internality and cognitive development (Radin, 1982; Sagi, 1982), to helping shape their gender-role identification (Baruch & Barnett, 1986), to encouraging more positive psychosocial ad- justment (Lamb, 1981). Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Brent A. McBride, University of Illinois, Human Development and Family Studies, 1105 West Nevada St., Urbana, IL 61801. • Received May 26, 1992; Revision received May 24, 1993; Accepted July 26, 1993. 457
Transcript
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 8, 457-477 (1993)
A Comparison of Mother and Father Involvement With Their Preschool Age Children
Brent A. McBride Gall Mills
University of Illinois
This study examined variations in mother and father involvement in child- rearing activities. Subjects were 100 families whose oldest children were between the ages of 3 and 5 years. Three aspects of parental involvement (interaction, accessibility, and responsibility) and four predictors of pater- nal involvement (demographic backgrounds, marital quality, parental stress, and role perceptions) were measured. Results indicated that mothers participated in childrearing activities at a significantly higher rate than fathers. This pattern held true in both dual-earner and single-earner families. Mothers spent a significantly higher proportion of their inter- action time in functional and work-related activities whereas fathers spent a significantly greater proportion of their interaction time in play activities. Implications are discussed for future research on father involvement.
It has been only in recent years that researchers and practitioners have begun to acknowledge the influence of fathers on the development of their young children. Prior to the late 1970s, most studies of parent-child relationships assumed mothers to be the dominant influence on children's development, with fathers playing a secondary or supportive role (Zaslow, Rabinovich, & Suwalsky, 1991). More recent studies suggest otherwise.
When fathers assume an active parental role they can have a positive in- fluence on all aspects of their children's development (Lamb, 1986). Fathers assume multiple roles in families (including direct child care) and influence children in multiple ways, directly and indirectly (via mothers). This influence ranges from enhancing children's internality and cognitive development (Radin, 1982; Sagi, 1982), to helping shape their gender-role identification (Baruch & Barnett, 1986), to encouraging more positive psychosocial ad- justment (Lamb, 1981).
Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Brent A. McBride, University of Illinois, Human Development and Family Studies, 1105 West Nevada St., Urbana, IL 61801.
• Received May 26, 1992; Revision received May 24, 1993; Accepted July 26, 1993. 457
458 McBride and Mills
Historically, men have not participated actively in childrearing despite the possible positive benefits for children and families. However, the roles of fathers have been changing in recent years (Levant, 1988). There are rapidly changing societal expectations for men to assume more active roles in raising their children (Darling-Fisher & Tiedje, 1990; Furstenberg, 1988; Harris & Morgan, 1991; Marsiglio, 1991); some scholars contend there is growing empirical support for contemporary American norms that call for an expanded paternal role in childrearing. For example, LaRossa and his colleagues (LaRossa, Gordon, Wilson, Bavian, & Jaret, 1991) suggest that, "conventional wisdom has it that America is in the midst of an unprece- dented revolution in men's paternal role expectations--that popular attitudes about what fathers can and should do are changing in ways not dreamed of before" (p. 994). This possibly new context for parenting heightens interest in variations in the ways parents become involved in childrearing activities. This study examines differences between mothers and fathers in childrearing involvement, with a particular focus on correlates of paternal involvement.
C O R R E L A T E S OF F A T H E R I N V O L V E M E N T
Belsky's (1984) process model of parenting has become a central component of many research efforts to identify father roles in rearing young children (Belsky, Youngblade, Rovine, & Volling, 1991; Cowan & Cowan, 1987; Levy-Shift & Israelashvili, 1988; Volling & Belsky, 1991). This model out- lines three sources of influence on parenting quality: characteristics of the parent (e.g., personality, attitudes toward childrearing, etc.), characteristics of the child (e.g, temperament, age, gender, etc.), and contextual sources of stress and support (e.g., marital relationship, social support, occupational/ work experiences, etc.). Although not all studies have examined the same antecedents or correlates of father involvement, Volling and Belsky (1991) suggest there is some consensus regarding important variables.
Quality of the marital relationship is commonly examined as a contextual source of stress and support, yet the nature and direction of this influence are not clear. In their study of families involved in the transition to parent- hood, Feldman, Nash, and Aschenbrenner (1983) report that marital satis- faction for both husbands and wives was the most consistently powerful predictor of paternal involvement and satisfaction. Similarly, Volling and Belsky (1991) report that positive marital relations tend to predict more responsive and stimulating father-infant interactions. Levy-Shift and Israelashvili (1988) also report that husbands with higher levels of marital satisfaction were more involved with their infant children than those fathers with lower levels of marital satisfaction.
In contrast to the above findings, Cowan and Cowan (1987) report that perceptions of marital quality were not a determinant of father involvement in a longitudinal study of the transition to parenthood. Crouter, Perry-
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Jenkins, Huston, and McHale (1987) also report that marital negativity was positively related to increased father involvement with school-aged children in dual-earner families, an unexpected finding. Belsky, Youngblade, Rovine, and Volling (1991) report mixed findings on the relationship between parental involvement and marital satisfaction. In a longitudinal study, they found father-infant interactions decreased as perceptions of the marital relationship decreased, where mother-infant interactions increased as marital quality decreased. Even though Harris and Morgan (1991) report a positive relationship between wives' perceptions of marital quality and greater levels of father involvement, they argue that increased paternal in- volvement tends to be associated with increased marital conflict and decreased marital quality. These inconsistent patterns of the findings in existing studies have created confusion as researchers attempt to determine the association between marital relationships and paternal involvement.
Maternal employment status is also a commonly examined contextual source of stress and support in the literature on correlates of paternal involve- ment, yet results again have been mixed and inconclusive. In a study of dual- earner families, Barnett and Baruch (1987) report that hours of maternal employment significantly predicted father involvement with kindergarten and fourth-grade children. Crouter et al. (1987) report that fathers in dual- earner families were significantly more involved in childrearing than those in single-earner families, despite a decrease in their marital satisfaction. Cowan and Cowan (1987) reported similar findings from their longitudinal study which revealed a positive relationship between hours of maternal employment and increased father involvement.
Maternal employment has not always been found to be associated with increased father involvement. Using data examining parental involvement with 9-month-old infants, Darling-Fisher and Tiedje (1990) report that men with spouses employed full time were the most involved fathers, yet mothers were still carrying the majority of responsibility for child care in these families. Using data from 1,465 men as part of the National Survey of Families and Households, Marsiglio (1991) reports that maternal employ- ment status was a poor predictor of father involvement with children from birth to 4 years old, and those ages 5 to 18 years (analyses run separately). He suggests that father involvement may be less responsive to maternal employment than previously thought. These findings raise questions as to whether fathers adjust their involvement patterns to compensate for mater- nal employment outside the home.
Mixed and inconclusive findings also emerge from research using atti- tudes toward parenting as a correlate of father involvement. Levy-Shift and Israelashvili (1988) found that a high value placed on fatherhood prenatally was a significant predictor of paternal involvement with infants. Also, Palkovitz (1984) reports that fathers with more androgynous role percep- tions were more involved with their 5-month-old infants, and Cowan and
460 McBride and Mills
Cowan (1987) found that fathers with more child-centered attitudes reported greater levels of involvement with their 18-month-old children. In contrast, Crouter et al. (1987) report that a significant relationship between role attitudes and increased father involvement was revealed only in dual- earner families. Furthermore, Marsiglio (1991) reports that a measure of gender role attitudes was a poor predictor of father involvement with younger children (i.e., children from birth to age 4).
Stress resulting from the parenting role has been recognized as another parental characteristic related to father involvement. In their longitudinal study, Wallace and Gotlib (1990) report that perceived parental stress emerged as a significant predictor of marital adjustment as couples went through the transition to parenthood. Cowan and Cowan (1987) report a similar relationship between parental stress and marital satisfaction for fathers going through the transition to parenthood. They report that less parental involvement was associated with greater levels of parental stress for fathers. In a study of fathers of preschoolers, McBride (1989) found a significant relationship between parental stress factors and fathers' percep- tions of competence in parenting. Although not directly linked with actual levels of father involvement, these findings suggest that perceived parental stress may be related to paternal involvement and family functioning.
Although the Belsky (1984) model is useful in identifying factors thought to be related to paternal involvement, the inconsistent results from the studies to date raise questions about the exact nature of influence on father participation in childrearing activities. Moreover, there is a lack of studies with fathers of children of preschool age or older. The majority of the early studies of father involvement used data from families going through the transition to parenthood period or those with infants. The study presented here is an attempt to address some of these inconsistencies and limitations in the literature by examining variations in maternal and paternal involvement in rearing a preschool-age child. The following research questions were examined: (1) At what level do men participate in childrearing activities? (2) Are there differences between mothers and fathers in their levels of partici- pation in childrearing activities, and do these differences vary as a result of maternal employment? (3) What is the relationship between family demo- graphics, marital quality, parental stress, and attitudes toward the paternal role with actual levels of father involvement? (4) What is the relationship between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of parental involvement and family functioning?
METHODS
Subjects Subjects for the study were 100 predominantly white, middle-class families from two midwestern communities. Subjects were recruited through fliers
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placed in local community agencies, newspapers, day care centers, and grocery stores. Criteria for inclusion in the study consisted of the oldest child being between the ages of 3 and 5 years, both biological parents living in the home with the target child, and the family being willing to have an assistant visit the home to conduct a 2-hour interview.
Mean ages for the fathers, mothers, and children were 32.8 years, 31.2 years, and 47.6 month, respectively. Fifty-two of the target children were boys and 48 were girls. Thirty-seven percent of the participating families had one child, 58°7o had two children, and 5070 had three. Thirteen percent of the families had combined incomes of less than $15,000, 16070 had in- comes between $15,000 and $25,000, 2807o had incomes between $25,000 and $40,000, and 43070 had incomes greater than $40,000. The median edu- cation level was 16 years for fathers and 15 years for mothers. All 100 fathers and 70 of the mothers were employed outside the home.
Definition o f Father Involvement The lack of a clear and consistent definition of father involvement has been a major obstacle to research on the paternal role (Baruch & Barnett, 1986; Marsiglio, 1991). This lack of a consensus in the definitions used has become an even greater barrier in light of changing societal expectations (McBride & McBride, 1990). The historical perception of the father's role as that of family provider (i.e., breadwinner) and moral support for the mother is no longer valid in guiding research efforts in this area. Lamb, Pleck, Charnov, & Levine (1987) proposed a three-part model (interaction, accessibility, and responsibility) that may help overcome this limitation.
An extended version of the Lamb model was used to operationalize father involvement for the study presented here (see Appendix A). Category 1 of this model (interaction) involves the father interacting one-on-one with his children in activities such as playing with them, feeding them, and so forth. Four subcategories (play, functional, parallel, and transitional) were added to the original model and used to delineate the nature of the interaction activities. Play interactions consist of the father and child actively partici- pating in a child-centered activity for pleasure. Functional interactions in- volve the father performing or assisting the child in some care task that would not be completed by the child alone (e.g., dressing, hygiene, feeding child). Parallel inteactions involve the father and child completing an adult- centered activity together (e.g., cleaning, shopping) or the father and child participating in separate activities while periodically interacting. Transi- tional interactions involve the father performing a task which assists the child in moving from one activity to another but which the child could still do without a parent's assistance (e.g., bedtime routine, arrival/departure routines from day care). In category 2 (accessibility) the father may or may not be directly engaged in interaction but is still available (physically and psychologically) to his child. In Category 3 (responsibility) the father
462 McBride and Mills
assumes responsibility for the welfare and care of his child (e.g., making child care or baby-sitting arrangements, knowing when the child needs to go to the pediatrician). Being "responsible" doesn't necessarily involve direct interactions with the child; the anxiety, worry, and contingency planning that comprise paternal responsibility often occurs when the father is doing something else. Although Lamb (1986) suggests that responsibility is the most important form of paternal involvement, research suggests it is the category involving the least participation of men (Baruch & Barnett, 1986; McBride, 1990, 1991a).
Procedures A combination of self-report and interview data was collected for this study. A series of questionnaires were used to collect information on paren- tal responsibility in addition to the various predictor variables, and a time diary interview protocol was used to measure interaction and accessibility (see the subsequent section of "Measures"). An initial telephone screening was conducted with respondents to insure that families met the criteria for inclusion in the study and to explain expectations for participation. Upon agreeing to participate, subjects were scheduled for a home visit by a research assistant. During this visit, (a) the mother was interviewed while the father completed the questionnaires, and (b) the father was interviewed while the mother completed the questionnaires. The completion of inter- views and questionnaires by mothers and fathers was counterbalanced to prevent an order effect.
Measures
Involvement Variables. The extended version of the Lamb model was utilized to guide data collection for parental involvement. The Parental Responsibility Scale (PRS) was used to measure parental responsibility. This instrument is a composite version of those used by Baruch and Barnett (1986), Lamb et al. (1988), and McBride (1990) in measuring parental re- sponsibility. The PRS lists 14 common child care tasks in which parents of preschoolers typically participate (e.g, supervising child's personal hygiene, making baby-sitting arrangements, selecting appropriate clothes for child to wear, etc.). Each parent completed the instrument separately and designated who had primary responsibility for each task on a 5-point scale ranging from (1) mother almost always to (5) father almost always). Responsibility was defined for the parents as remembering, planning, and scheduling the task. It was assumed that a parent could have responsibility for a task without actually performing it. The possible range of scores was from 14 to 70 with higher scores representing greater paternal participation in this category of involvement. Internal consistency for the PRS was
Parental Involvement 463
moderate, with Cronbach alphas of .77 and .79 for mothers and fathers, respectively.
The Interaction/Accessibility Time Chart (McBride, 1990, 1991a) was used to measure interaction and accessibility. Information for this chart was collected through individual interviews with each parent, utilizing a forced- recall technique to assess these two forms of involvement. Data were col- lected for the most recent workday and nonworkday prior to the interview taking place. Prompts and cues used with the forced-recall technique allowed the parents to describe their waking activities in great detail for the target days. Information recorded was categorized as interaction or accessibility, or no involvement at all. The final interaction score was the total number of minutes the parent interacted with the child on the workday and nonwork- day combined. Interaction subscale scores for the workday and nonwork- day also were computed. An accessibility total score and subscale scores were computed in a similar fashion. All interaction activities were also cate- gorized as being functional, play, parallel, or transitional forms of interac- tion. Proportions of total interactions falling into each category were then computed. Pairwise reliabilities were computed on data collected from 15 of the families. Levels of agreement for each of the coding categories ranged from 81 to 95%.
Predictor Variables. Based on the previous literature, four areas were identified for exploration as possible predictors of paternal involvement (family demographics, marital relationships, parental stress, and attitudes toward the paternal role). A variety of family demographic information was collected as part of the questionnaires that each parent completed (e.g., age, education, employment status, family income).
To assess the perceived quality of the marital relationship, parents were asked to complete the Marriage Opinion Questionnaire (MOQ). The MOQ (Perry-Jenkins & Crouter, 1990) is a 9-item instrument designed in a semantic differential format. Parents are asked to respond to each pair of adjectives along a 7-point scale to indicate their perceptions of the marriage during the past 2 months (e.g., miserable vs. enjoyable). Higher total scores for the MOQ are indicative of more positive feelings about the marriage. The MOQ has been found to exhibit high levels of validity and reliability in previous studies (Perry-Jenkins & Crouter, 1990). Internal consistency for the pre- sent sample was high, with alphas of .91 and .92 for fathers and mothers, respectively.
The Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-S) was used to assess each parent's perceived parental stress. The PSI-S (Abidin, 1990) is a screening and diagnostic technique designed to yield a measure of the relative magni- tude of stress in the parent-child system. The PSI-S consists of 36 items using a 5-point Likert-type scale for response (strongly agree or strongly dis- agree). This instrument assesses three major domains of parental stress
464
Table 1. Mean Involvement Scores for Mothers and Fathers
a Paired-samples t tests, df=99. * p < .01. ** p < .001.
(parental distress, parent-child dysfunctional interaction, and difficult child). Higher scores are reflective of a less stressful parent-child relation- ship. Although relatively new, the PSI-S holds promise as an assessment tech- nique in that it is based on the longer version of the Parenting Stress Index. The long version of the PSI has been used extensively in both clinical settings and research applications. Internal consistency for the PSI was high (alphas of .90 for both mothers and fathers).
An adapted version of the Role of the Father Questionnaire (ROFQ) was used to measure parental attitudes toward the paternal role. The ROFQ (Palkovitz, 1984) is a 15-item scale designed to determine the extent to which a parent believes the father's role is important in child development. Subjects indicate a level of agreement or disagreement along a 5-point scale for each item. Higher scores are reflective of attitudes that fathers arc capable of and should demonstrate involvement with their children. Origi- nally intended for use with parents of infants, the ROFQ was adapted to bc reflective of father involvement with preschool-aged children. A moderate level of consistency was displayed on the ROFQ, with alphas of .73 and .74 for fathers and mothers, respectively.
RES UL TS
Research Question 1 Means and standard deviations were computed on each of the three involve- ment variables (see Table 1) to examine the levels of fathers' participation in childrearing activities. As can be seen from the totals, fathers spent an average 1.7 hr per workday and 3.1 hr per nonworkday interacting with their children. Fathers were also accessible to their children an average of 4.8 hr on workdays and 9.8 hr on nonworkdays. The mean Responsibility
Parental Involvement 465
scores of 33.9 and 29.3 for fathers and mothers respectively suggest an average response of 2.4 and 2.1 for each of the 14 items on the PRS (2 = mother usually responsible). Although the correlation between maternal and pater- hal scores on this measure was somewhat low, given that they were rating the same phenomena (r= .64), results indicate that both mothers and fathers perceived very little participation by men in this form of involvement.
Lamb and his colleagues (Lamb et ai., 1987) have suggested that interac- tion and accessibility behaviors by fathers are related (i.e., the amount of time a father is accessible to his children is a determinant of the amount of interaction he has with them). Correlations computed with the paternal in- volvement variables lend partial support for this contention (see Table 2). For fathers with employed spouses, significant correlations were revealed between Interaction and Accessibility (r= .59, p<.001), Interaction and Responsibility (r= .25, p < .05), and Accessibility and Responsibility (r = .41, p< .001). A similar pattern of significant correlations was not revealed for fathers with nonemployed spouses. These findings suggest that an interrela- tionship exists among the paternal involvement variables for those fathers with employed spouses.
Research Question 2 To examine how mothers and fathers differ in involvement in childrearing activities, a series of paired-samples t tests were computed on the involve- ment variables (see Table 1). Results revealed significant differences in Workday (t = - 5.86, p <.001), Nonworkday (t = - 2.51, p <.01), and Total Interaction scores ( t=-5 .90 , p<.001), with mothers scoring higher on each. A similar pattern was revealed in Accessibility scores, with significant differences on the Workday (t = -7.80, p < .001), Nonworkday (t = -4.02, p<.001), and Total Accessibility Scores ( t=-8.94, p<.001). Fathers reported a significantly higher rate of paternal participation in Responsibility than mothers (t=9.24, p<.001), yet a mean of 33.9 suggests that they perceived themselves to be participating very little in this category of in- volvement. These findings indicate that mothers participated in childrearing activities at a significantly greater rate than fathers.
To see if this pattern of significant differences in childrearing activities remained when both parents worked outside the home, a similar series of analyses were conducted for dual-earner families only (see Table 3). Results revealed significant differences in Workday (t= -2.88, p < .01) and Total Interaction scores (t= -3.07, p < .01) as well as in Workday ( t = - 4 . 5 8 , p< .001), Nonworkday (t= -3.18, p < .01), and Total Accessibility scores (t= -5.48, p < .001), with mothers scoring higher on each. Significant dif- ferences on the PRS (t= 8.18, p < .001) favoring fathers were revealed, yet the means of 34.9 and 30.4 suggest that fathers and mothers both perceived very little paternal participation in this category of involvement. These
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Parental Involvement
Table 3. Mean Involvement Scores for Dual-Earner Couples
a Paired-samples t tests, d f = 69. * p < .01. ** p < .001.
analyses would suggest that in dual-earner families mothers still continue to participate in childrearing activities at a significantly higher rate than fathers.
A series of analysis of variance (ANOVA) functions were utilized to examine whether mothers and fathers varied their involvement patterns based on maternal employment status (employed vs. nonemployed). For mothers, analyses revealed significant differences on the Workday Interaction mea- sure, F(1, 98) = 24.64, p < .001; and on the Workday Accessibility measure, F(1, 98)=52.41, p<.001, with nonemployed mothers scoring higher on each. For fathers, analyses revealed a significant difference on the Workday Interaction measure, F(1, 98)= 4.26, p < .05, with fathers having employed spouses scoring higher.
Correlations were computed between the number of hours mothers worked outside the home and the workday parental involvement variables to determine how powerful an effect maternal employment was having on this involvement (analyses used families with employed mothers only, n =70). Correlations revealed a significant inverse relationship between hours of maternal employment and Workday Interaction (r= .35, p < .01) and Workday Accessibility (r= .58, p < .001) scors for mothers. No signifi- cant correlations were revealed between hours of maternal employment and fathers' Workday Interaction (r= .08) and Workday Accessibility (r= .20) scores. Fisher's Z Transformation scores converted to standardized z scores indicated the differences between these correlations for mothers and fathers to be significant for both Workday Interaction (p< .05) and Workday Accessibility (p < .01). Coefficients of Determination based on these corre- lations also indicated that hours of maternal employment accounted for 12% of the variance in mothers' Workday Interaction and less than 1% of the variance in fathers' Workday Interaction. Hours of maternal employment also accounted for 33% .of the variance in mothers' Workday Accessibility
468 McBride and Mills
Table 4. Mean Proport ional Interaction Scores. for Mothers and Fathers
a Paired-samples t tests, df=99. * p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001.
and only 4¢/0 of fathers' Workday Accessibility. No significant correlations were revealed between hours of paternal employment and fathers' Workday Interaction (r = . 15) or Workday Accessibility (r = . 17) scores. These findings suggest that maternal employment was negatively related to mothers' work- day involvement patterns yet had little relationship with fathers' involvement.
To examine whether mothers and fathers differed in the types of inter- action activities they participated in, a series of paired-samples t tests were computed on the proportional Interaction scores (see Table 4). Analyses indicated significant differences in the Workday ( t=3.44, p < .01), Non- workday ( t=2.47, p < .05), and total play proportions ( t= 3.44, p < .001), with fathers having higher scores on each. Significant differences also were revealed on the Workday ( t = - 2 . 6 1 , p< .05 ) , Nonworkday ( t = - 2 . 4 2 , p < .05), and Total Functional proportions ( t= -2 .31 , p < .05) as well as on the Workday (t = - 2.33, p < .05) and Total Parallel proportions (t = - 2.13, p < .05), with mothers scoring higher on each. These findings would suggest that fathers spend a significantly greater proportion of their interaction time playing with their children whereas mothers spend a significantly greater proportion of time in functional and parallel forms of interactions.
A similar series of analyses for dual-earner coupled only were conducted to explore whether these significant differences in interaction proportions existed when mothers worked outside the home (see Table 5). Significant differences were revealed on Workday (t = 2.93, p < .01) and Total Play pro- portions (t = 2.45, p < .05), with fathers scoring higher on each, and differ-
Parental Involvement
Table 5. Mean Proportion Interaction Scores for Dual-Earner Couples
a Paired-samples t tests, df= 69. * p < .05. ** 19< .01.
ences on Nonworkday (t= -2 .38 , p < .05) and Total Parallel proportions (t = - 2.69, p < .01) were found, with mothers scoring higher. No significant differences were revealed on the Functional or Transitional proportions.
Research Question 3 Part correlation procedures were used to explore the relationship between the predictor variables and measures of paternal involvement. Hours of maternal employment were controlled in these analyses owing to the skewed distribution on this variable. No significant correlations were revealed between the three primary predictor variables (i.e., MOQ, PSI-S, and ROFQ) and the involvement measures for either mothers or fathers. However, significant differences in father involvement measures were revealed when using median splits for the MOQ measure (i.e., high vs. low). Significant differences in the Total Interaction, F(1, 98)= 5.12, p < .05, and Responsibility scores, F(1, 98)=6.57, p < .01, were revealed with fathers having greater MOQ scoring higher on each. A similar pattern was revealed with mothers. Significant differences in fathers' Total Interaction scores, F(1, 98)=4.48, p < . 0 5 , were found, with mothers having greater MOQ scoring higher. These results indicate that fathers with more favorable perceptions of the marriage were spending more time interacting with their children and participating more in responsibility forms of involvement, and mothers with more favorable perceptions of the marital relationship had husbands who were spending more time interacting with their children.
470 McBride and Mills
Research Question 4 Analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of parental involvement, paternal roles, and family functioning (Research Question 4). In completing the PRS, mothers and fathers were separately rating the distribution of family participation in responsibility behaviors. Discrepancy scores between mother and father ratings on this instrument were computed to explore whether differences in parental perceptions of this form of involvement were related to family functioning. Discrepancy scores were computed by subtracting mothers' PRS scores from fathers' PRS scores. Correlational analyses revealed significant inverse relationships between these discrepancy scores and mothers' MOQ ( r=- .23, p < .05) and PSI-S ( r=- .25, p < .05) scores. Similar relationships between discrepancy scores and fathers' MOQ and PSI-S scores were not revealed. The distribution of PRS scores indicated that fathers were rating themselves higher in this form of involvement than mothers were. These findings would suggest that differences in perceptions of this form of involvement were having a negative impact on mothers' perceptions of their marriages, and in the amount of parental stress they were experiencing.
In completing the ROFQ, mothers and fathers were each providing an in- dication of their attitudes toward the paternal role and how involved men should be in raising their children. Correlational analyses revealed a signifi- cant relationship between mother afLd father ROFQ scores when mothers worked outside the home (r= .41, p<.01), yet little relationship existed when mothers were not employed (r=.16). Significant differences in fathers' ROFQ scores were revealed based on maternal employment status, F(I, 98)=5.80, p<.05, with fathers having employed spouses scoring higher. No significant differences in mothers' ROFQ scores were revealed based on maternal employment.
Median splits in ROFQ scores for mothers and fathers were computed to explore whether differences in family functioning were evident based on atti- tudes toward the paternal role. Analyses revealed significant differences in fathers' PSI-S, F(1, 98)= 17.04, p<.001, and MOQ, F(1, 98)= 13.96, p < .001, scores, with men having greater ROFQ scores scoring higher on each. A similar pattern of differences was not revealed in mothers' PSI-S or MOQ scores. These analyses would suggest that fathers who had more favorable attitudes toward paternal involvement were reporting greater per- ceptions of quality in their marriage and fewer symptoms of parental stress.
Discrepancy scores between mother and father ratings on the ROFQ were computed to explore whether differences in parental attitudes toward the paternal role were related to family functioning. Correlational analyses revealed no significant relationships between these discrepancy scores and MOQ or PSI-S scores for mothers or fathers. Closer examination of these
Parental Involvement 471
discrepancy scores revealed 50 families in which mothers had higher ROFQ scores (i.e., more favorable attitudes toward an increased father's role), 42 families with fathers having higher ROFQ scores, and 8 families in which no discrepancy existed. A series of ANOVA functions were utilized to examine whether or not the direction of these discrepancies was related to family functioning. Analyses revealed a significant difference in fathers' PSI-S scores, F(1, 98)=5.61, p<.05, when mothers reported higher ROFQ scores. This difference became even greater when examining only families in which both spouses worked, F(1, 64) = 12.84, p < .001. No other significant differences in family functioning measures were revealed based on these dis- crepancies. These findings would suggest that fathers were experiencing greater levels of parental stress when their spouses held higher expectations for paternal involvement.
DISCUSSION
Data collected for this study were used to examine variations in the ways in which parents become involved in childrearing activities within contempor- ary society. An emphasis was placed on examining the ways in which fathers approached the parenting situation, and the relationship this had with family functioning. In recruiting families with preschool-aged children as subjects, and employing Belsky's (1984) process model of parenting to guide data col- lection, attempts were made to overcome some of the shortcomings of the existing literature on father involvement.
In examining the levels at which men participate in childrearing activities (Research Question 1), the data presented here suggest that actual patterns of paternal involvement may not be that different from previous genera- tions of fathers. In spite of a changing societal context for fatherhood, the levels of paternal participation in childrearing measured in this study all fall within ranges of paternal involvement as outlined by Lamb et al. (1987) from studies conducted during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As with past generations of families, our findings indicate that fathers continue to par- ticipate very little in childrearing activities, even when examined by the categories outlined in the extended Lamb model. These findings raise an in- triguing question: If societal expectations for fatherhood are changing, as suggested by family studies scholars, are actual parenting behaviors by fathers keeping pace with these expectations, and if not, why not?
The examination of variations in the levels of participation by mothers and fathers in childrearing activities (Research Question 2) led to findings in this study suggesting that differences exist in the ways in which parents become involved. Mothers reported spending significantly greater amounts of time in interaction and accessibility than did fathers. This pattern re- mained consistent for both workdays and nonworkdays. Mothers also were
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found to spend a significantly greater proportion of their interaction time in parallel and functional activities, whereas fathers were found to spend a significantly greater proportion of their interaction time in play activities. Both mothers and fathers reported limited paternal participation in respon- sibility as well. These findings suggest that a traditional pattern in the distribution of parental labor exists in the families studied (i.e., mothers assume primary leadership for childrearing, and if fathers are involved, they are "playing" with their children).
This pattern which suggests that mothers were the primary caretakers of their young children remained consistent when examining dual-earner families only (Research Question 2). In dual-earner families, mothers re- ported spending significantly greater amounts of time in interaction and accessibility than did fathers. Both mothers and fathers in these families also reported limited paternal participation in responsibility as well. In addition, findings indicated that hours of maternal employment had a sig- nificant inverse relationship with mothers' participation in childrearing activities. No such relationshiop was found between hours of paternal employment and fathers' involvement. This phenomenon runs counter to expected paternal behaviors within a changing societal context for father in- volvement and raises serious concerns about the distribution of household and childrearing labor in dual-earner families. Can we continue to expect mothers who work outside the home to complete a "second shift" of work inside the home as described by Hochschild (1989)? These findings indicate that a "second shift" phenomenon does exist in the dual-earner famiies studies in spite of current societal expectations for fatherhood.
The findings on dual-earner families are not totally discouraging. Even though mothers reported significantly greater levels of involvement in these families, differences in fathers' rates of participation were found based on maternal employment status. Fathers with employed spouses reported sig- nificantly greter levels of participation in interaction on workdays, respon- sibility, and functional forms of interaction than fathers with nonemployed spouses. Although these levels of participation were significantly lower than those of mothers, they indicate that fathers may be adjusting their involve- ment patterns to compensate for maternal employment. These findings sug- gest that mothers have been decreasing their involvement time in response to maternal employment whereas fathers were increasing their involvement in spite of mothers' higher overall rates of participation. This finding parallels that of Darling-Fisher and Tiedje (1990) that suggests that although men with employed spouses were more involved than those whose wives stayed at home, the mothers still carried the majority of responsibility for child care. These differences in paternal involvement patterns based on maternal employment status fall short of meeting the childrearing demands in dual-earner families though. It is also no longer acceptable for maternal
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employment to have such a negative relationship with mothers' involvement while paternal employment has little or no relationship with fathers' in- volvement (as indicated in the data presented here). An interesting question then is raised: How can early childhood and parent educators better prepare fathers in dual-earner families to assume a more equitable role in raising their young children?
Contrary to expected outcomes, no significant relationships were revealed between perceived marital quality, parental stress, and attitudes toward the paternal role with actual levels of father involvement (Research Question 3). However, the findings lend partial support to the previous literature regard- ing a relationship between father involvement and marital quality. When median splits were used on the MOQ measure (high vs. low perceived marital quality), results revealed that fathers with more favorable percep- tions of the marriage spent more time interacting with their children and participating in responsibility behaviors, and mothers with more favorable perceptions of the marital relationship had husbands who were spending more time interacting with their children. The failure to find other signifi- cant relationships may be due to measurement problems (e.g., lack of variability among subjects, ceiling effect, etc.) as opposed to the relation- ships not existing. The current findings suggest that further investigation in this area is warranted.
Finally, findings from this study suggest that mothers and fathers may differ in their perceptions of who does what in terms of childrearing and that these differences are negatively related to family functioning (Research Question 4). These findings support previous research which indicates that such differences in parental perceptions exist (Darling-Fisher & Tiedje, 1990) and that these differences can have negative consequences for families (LaRossa, 1988). In the data presented here, little agreement was found when mothers and fathers independently rated parental participation in responsibility. Fathers viewed themselves as participating at a much higher rate than mothers viewed their spouses' participation. Discrepancies on this measure were related to perceptions of greater parental stress and lower marital satisfaction for mothers. Discrepancies between mothers' and fathers' perceptions of the paternal role were also found to be negatively related to paternal stress reported by fathers. These analyses suggest that mothers and fathers held similar attitudes toward the paternal role in families where both parents worked. A similar congruence in these attitudes was not evident in families where mothers were not employed. These dis- crepancies in role perceptions and paternal involvement appeared to be negatively related to family functioning for both mothers and fathers. An interesting question again becomes: How can early childhood and parent educators help reduce these discrepancies between mothers' and fathers' perceptions and thus improve family functioning?
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A note of caution about the data is warranted. Subjects for this study came from predominantly white, middle-class families with both parents living in the home. Results should be generalized to other family groups with care. We are just beginning to develop an understanding of variations in paternal involvement based on cultural, socioeconomic, ethnic, and regional differences in family structures (see Bozett & Hanson, 1991, for a review). In fact, recent data examining the role of fathers in low-income and minority families suggest that, given appropriate support and encourage- ment, these men can and do assume an active parental role (Ahmeduzzaman & Roopnarine, 1992; Erickson & Gecas, 1991). However, the potential dif- ferences in involvement based on family structure and background should not diminish the impact of the findings presented here. It is in these predominantly white, middle-class, dual-earner families that societal pressure to redefine parental roles appears to be the greatest (Zaslow, Rabinovich, & Suwalsky, 1991).
I M P L I C A T I O N S
Findings from this study indicate that the distribution of parental labor between mothers and fathers in contemporary socieity is not that different from that in previous generations of parents, and that a second-shift phenomenon exists in dual-earner families. Results also indicate that discrepancies in mothers' and fathers' perceptions of parental involvement are negatively related to family functioning. If we assume that societal ex- pectations for paternal involvement have changed, as suggested by LaRossa et al. (1991), Marsiglio (1991), and others, early childhood and parent educators must explore the development of education and support pro- grams designed specifically for fathers. Such programs can help men strug- gling to meet the demands of changing expectations for fatherhood and help sensitize them to the multiple aspects of active parental involvement (e.g., increasing participation in functional forms of interaction, assuming more "responsibility" for childrearing activities). These programs also may help fathers develop realistic assessments of their participation in childrear- ing activities and thus help prevent some forms of negative fallout as a result of discrepancies in parental perceptions of involvement (e.g., decreased marital quality, increased parental stress). If change is desired in the ways fathers approach the parenting situation, we must seriously explore the education and support mechanisms that are available to fathers in the 1990s.
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