Perceived Paternal and Maternal Involvement: Factor Structures, Mean Differences, and Parental Roles

Abstract

This study was designed to compare the factor structures and means for mothering and fathering, as retrospectively perceived by young adult children. Three dimensions of perceived parenting were examined: nurturance, reported involvement, and desired involvement. We used the existing Nurturant Fathering and Father Involvement Scales, and the newly developed parallel Nurturant Mothering and Mother Involvement Scales. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the originally validated factor structure of the fathering measures fit the data well and that the factor structures of paternal and maternal nurturance and involvement were isomorphic. These scales appear to index parenting functions that generalize across mothers and fathers. Meandifference analyses indicated that fathers were significantly less involved than mothers in all of the domains surveyed except providing income, and that the patterns of means for fathers (but not for mothers) were highly consistent with the seminal work of Parsons and Bales. Implications for the study of parenting are discussed.