Mothers' and Fathers' Well‐Being: Does the Gender Composition of Children Matter?

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveThis study examines whether—and if so how—gender composition of children matters for mothers' and fathers' well‐being during parenting activities.BackgroundDespite that parents interact with girls and boys differently and spend different amounts of time with them, scholars have paid little attention to how gender composition of children matters for parental well‐being.MethodThe study assessed parental well‐being during time spent with children, across four measures of subjective well‐being (N = 16,140 activities, 8,621 parents), pooled across three survey waves (2010, 2012, and 2013) from the American Time Use Survey Well‐being Module. Random intercept models were used to account for the multilevel structure of the data.ResultsFor both mothers and fathers, gender composition of children was not associated with different levels of happiness or meaning while parenting. However, fathers reported greater stress parenting all girls and mixed‐gender children (i.e., girl/s and boy/s at the same time) compared to parenting all boys. Mothers reported greater fatigue and stress parenting all girls, compared to parenting all boys. Controlling for activity type explained some of the stress patterns.ConclusionThis study, which is contextualized in broader literature on gender stereotypes, interactional processes, and time‐use, makes several contributions to research on gender, family, and health and identifies an important factor—gender composition of children—that helps shape mothers' and fathers' well‐being while parenting.