The Influencing Factors Of Father Involvement And Its Social Class Heterogeneity

For a long time,gender inequality in the division of childcare and unpaid labor has brought about various negative effects on women in terms of physical,mental,emotional,economic,and social aspects.In response to this issue,the study of motherhood has experienced vigorous development and accumulation,but in recent years,society and academia have increasingly recognized the contribution and role of fathers in children’s education and caregiving activities,and that father involvement in parenting is also an important factor in alleviating gender inequality in childcare.Although the level of fathers’ involvement in parenting activities is considered important for improving the burden of stress on mothers in "lonely parenting" and "motherhood penalty," promoting the simultaneous development of gender equality in both public and private domains in our country,as well as ensuring stable demographic situation in the context of declining birth rates,what factors affect father involvement in the division of child care and how to improve it are not yet clear due to the fact that relevant research in China is still rare.Among the limited studies that have been conducted,scholars,basing on classical theory based on the division of unpaid labor,suggest that father involvement may be influenced by various factors.However,these theories also have their limitations.Overall,current research on this topic is still lacking in terms of research quantity,outdated data sources,single indicator selection,and insufficient attention to parental division of labor or father involvement.In order to respond to some of the shortcomings in previous researches,this study used the China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)2020 as data source,selecting fathers who are aged 20-60 years old,with children aged 0-16 years old,married and employed and their spouse as the analysis sample to study the factors influencing the father’s involvement and men’s child care dependency on their spouse for parenting participation.Specifically,this paper focuses on the effects of hours of paid work,income level,gender ideology,couple’s emotional attitudes,intergenerational grandparenting,and child characteristics on fathers’ parenting involvement,while controlling for other basic demographic variables.Subsequently,different occupational,income,and education level differences in the effectiveness of various influencing factors were tested using subsample regression.Results show that fathers who have children aged 0-5 years old,relatively short paid labor time,middle level income,and have harmonious relationships with their spouses,spend more time in parenting activities than other fathers.Moreover,in terms of the factors influencing the father’s dependency on their spouse for child care labor,fathers who have fewer paid work time,higher level of marital satisfaction,and children under 3 years old or over 12 years old(i.e.before the child enters kindergarten or during middle school),have lower levels of dependency on the mother and a relatively equal division of child care responsibilities when compared to other families.Additionally,with regards to the heterogeneity of these influencing factors,fathers in higher occupational or educational positions are more likely to be significantly affected by emotional factors in their father involvement,while those in middle and high-income levels are more likely to be significantly affected by paid labor hours and child age.On the other hand,the father’s involvement in child care and their dependency on their spouse for are not significantly influenced by personal characteristics such as income level,gender role beliefs,intergenerational care,education level,and health status.This reflects the current Chinese fathers place great emphasis on parenting responsibilities,and reminds us that improving the inequality of family parenting involvement and unpaid labor division requires a comprehensive effort from society to individuals.