abstract: 'This article examines how much fathers participate in child care, an

  important component of domestic duties, and factors related to it. It

  has the advantage of longitudinal data, so that it is possible to look

  at changes in fathers'' participation and factors affecting changes and

  continuities over time. The data come from the 1987-1988 and 1992-1993

  National Surveys of Families and Households. The sample is restricted to

  White, two-parent families with at least one child younger than 5 years

  of age at the time of the first survey. The analyses control for the

  number of children and the gender of the child for whom there is

  fathering information. Based on prior theories and research, the study

  variables related to fathers'' child care include performance of

  household tasks, their marital quality, gender tale ideologies,

  perceptions of the fairness of the division of domestic label; and the

  mothers'' childcare hours. The labor-force variables are the husbands''

  and wives'' hours of paid employment, as well as the earned incomes of

  husbands and wives. The findings indicate that hours on the job keep

  some men from active fathering, but if they begin taking care of young

  children, a continuing pattern is established. Mothers'' child-care hours

  are positively related to fathers'' child care, and fathers do more with

  sons. The discussion places the findings in theoretical context.'
affiliation: 'Aldous, J (Corresponding Author), Univ Notre Dame, Dept Sociol, 325
  OShaughnessy, Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA.

  Univ Notre Dame, Dept Sociol, Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA.'
author: Aldous, J and Mulligan, GM and Bjarnason, T
author-email: joan.aldous.1@nd.edu
author_list:
- family: Aldous
  given: J
- family: Mulligan
  given: GM
- family: Bjarnason
  given: T
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.2307/353626
eissn: 1741-3737
files: []
issn: 0022-2445
journal: JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
keywords: child care; childrearing; fathering; parenting; paternal involvement
keywords-plus: 'DUAL-EARNER COUPLES; HOUSEHOLD LABOR; MENS HOUSEWORK; CHILD-CARE;

  DIVISION; GENDER; PARTICIPATION; DETERMINANTS; PERCEPTIONS; INVOLVEMENT'
language: English
month: NOV
note: '34th Seminar of the Committee-on-Family-Research of the

  International-Sociological-Association, ISRAEL, MAY 19, 1997'
number: '4'
number-of-cited-references: '44'
orcid-numbers: Bjarnason, Thoroddur/0000-0002-1400-231X
pages: 809-820
papis_id: 4d1e47f9d2ac955615172e7bb383151e
ref: Aldous1998fatheringtime
researcherid-numbers: Bjarnason, Thoroddur/A-9603-2008
times-cited: '150'
title: 'Fathering over time: What makes the difference?'
type: Article; Proceedings Paper
unique-id: WOS:000077295200001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '29'
volume: '60'
web-of-science-categories: Family Studies; Sociology
year: '1998'