The Relationship Between Fathers\u27 Participation in Child Care and Children\u27s Gender Role Stereotypes : Toy Choice, Adult Family Roles, and Adult Occupational Roles

As social roles change, family roles change. the purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship of fathers\u27 participation in childcare to the development of gender role stereotypes in 4- and 5-year-old children in two-parent families. Parent and child demographic characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, and mothers\u27 employment were also included as variables in the study. Three nursery schools in Brookings, South Dakota were contacted to provide subjects for the study. A total of 53 nursery school families volunteered and completed the study. Fathers\u27 participation in childcare was measured with a mail-out form of the Paternal Involvement in Child Care Index. Children\u27s stereotypes were measured by a Q-sort task developed for this study. The task included pictures of children\u27 s toys, adult family roles, and adult occupational roles, which children categorized as male, female, or both. Chi-square analyses were used to test the hypotheses that children\u27s stereotypes would be inversely related to fathers\u27 participation in childcare, mothers\u27 work, and socioeconomic factors; and, that female children and first born children would show fewer stereotypes. Three variables were significantly related to children\u27s gender role stereotypes. Fathers\u27 participation in child rearing showed a significant relationship to children\u27s toy choice. Children in shared caregiving families, exhibited fewer stereotypes when categorizing children\u27s toys than children of mother primary caregiver families. Father\u27s education was related to children\u27s occupational stereotypes. Children whose fathers had bachelor\u27s or master\u27s degrees exhibited significantly more stereotypes than children whose fathers had higher or lower educational levels. Child\u27s gender was also related to children\u27s stereotypes. Girls categorized adult family roles significantly, more stereotypical than boys in the sample