Dual-Income Couples’ Gender Role Attitudes, Paid Leave Use, and Second-Birth Intentions

Abstract

This study examined whether dual-income couples’ gender role attitudes are associated with their paid leave use and second-birth intentions. Forty employed wives who returned to the workplace after childbirth and their employed husbands were recruited from the Central New York area. Actor–partner interdependence model path analysis was used to test the above associations at the dyadic level. This study found two indirect effects: Paid leave use mediated not only the relationship between husbands’ egalitarian gender role attitudes and their own second-birth intentions, but also the relationship between husbands’ egalitarian gender role attitudes and their wives’ second-birth intentions as well. This study suggests that enhancing husbands’ egalitarian gender role attitudes can be a possible solution for increasing their paid leave use and couples’ subsequent fertility intentions. This study provides insight regarding benefits of paid leave for researchers and policymakers.