The involvement in childcare of married and cohabiting fathers: evidence from Italy

Silvia Meggiolaro,Fausta Ongaro

doi:10.1186/s41118-018-0051-9

Abstract

This study analyses paternal involvement in the daily basic childcare of Italian cohabiting and married fathers with children aged 0–3. The aims are (a) to verify whether cohabiting fathers are more or less involved in childcare than married ones are and (b) to examine the mechanisms behind the possible differences. The focus is on both the daily basic childcare as a whole and on the specific activities of daily basic care (such as putting the child to sleep, dressing the child and changing its nappies). In addition, also potential differences among married fathers are examined, distinguishing between those who marry directly and those with pre-marital cohabitation. Results show that a higher involvement in the daily basic childcare of cohabiting fathers and of married fathers with pre-marital cohabitation may be completely explained by the fact that these typologies of couples are selected by structural differences which are positively associated with the higher fathers’ basic childcare.

Highlights

Since the literature has stressed the relevance for the children’s development and wellbeing of an active involvement of the father in the childcare (Pleck and Masciadrelli 2004; Pleck 2010; Smith Leavell et al 2012), research has become increasingly focused on this topic
Little is known about the paternal involvement in childcare of unwed resident fathers (González et al 2010; Perry et al 2012; Bianchi et al 2014), despite the fact that cohabitation is rapidly increasing in western societies (Kasearu and Kutsar 2011)
Are cohabiting fathers more or less involved in childcare than married ones are? If so, what are the mechanisms behind these differences? Is there a direct causal relationship between marital status and the paternal role or rather an indirect effect due to certain structural differences such as the father’s or familial characteristics? We will focus on answering these questions for both a group of daily basic care as a whole and, for each type of basic care performed within Italian families

Summary

Introduction

Since the literature has stressed the relevance for the children’s development and wellbeing of an active involvement of the father in the childcare (Pleck and Masciadrelli 2004; Pleck 2010; Smith Leavell et al 2012), research has become increasingly focused on this topic Most of these studies have referred to married or to non-resident fathers. This study aims to fill, at least partly, this gap in the literature by analysing paternal involvement in the daily basic childcare (such as feeding the child, putting it to sleep or changing its nappies) performed by Italian cohabiting and married fathers with children aged 0–3.

Background

Findings

Changing nappies