Tradition in transition: The multiple determinants of paternal involvement in childcare in urban Chinese families

Paternal involvement in childcare is an important aspect in the study of fatherhood. This research used the cross-sectional survey method to study paternal involvement in childcare in dual career families with only one child in urban Chinese areas. One of the purposes of this study was to explore the factors that have contributed to motivating or discouraging paternal involvement in childcare, while the other purpose of this research was to explain the individual variations in terms of paternal involvement in childcare in urban Chinese families. A total of 255 pairs of father-mother dyads were sampled from three cities in mainland China. Fathers sampled were first categorized into two groups according to the gender of their children, and then the fathers were divided into three groups according to the three age cohorts of their children. Various statistical procedures, including t-test, ANOVA, MANOVA, and multiple regression analysis, were performed for detecting the significant determinants for both the quality and the quantity of paternal involvement in childcare. Gender of children was not found to be a significant predictor for both the quality and quantity of paternal involvement in childcare. Age of children was found to be a significant determinant for the quantity of paternal involvement in childcare. With the increase of children\u27s age from two to seven years old, the quantity of paternal involvement increased steadily, and peaked at the age before the children entered elementary schools. Maternal attitude toward paternal involvement in childcare was also found to be a significant determinant for the quantity of paternal involvement in childcare. Besides, maternal attitude toward paternal involvement in childcare, along with paternal perception of marital quality, was also detected to be two of the significant determinants for the quality of paternal involvement in childcare. Paternal perception of gender roles was not found to exert significant impact on both the quality and quantity of paternal involvement in childcare in this study. Paternal perception of his childcare competence was also not detected to be a significant predictor in the analysis model used in this study