Long paternity leave improves the relationship of co -parenting between mothers and fathers, according to a new study.
It is not always easy for new mothers to entrust their baby to others, even if it is dad. Which can put the couple in difficulty. A study of The Ohio State University could well have a solution to help young parents find their place more easily: lengthen paternity leave.
The researchers have, in fact, found that mothers were less likely to discourage fathers from getting involved in parenting if the latter had benefited from a long leave after the child’s birth.
The results were published in the journal Sex roles.
Long paternity leave: mothers are less likely to discourage dad’s initiatives …
To better understand how each parent finds their place with their infant, the researchers followed 182 couples waiting for a child. The two partners worked.
The parents were questioned four times: when the mother was in her third trimester of pregnancy and when the baby was 3, 6 and 9 months old.
When assessing nine months, mothers and fathers were asked about maternal control. That is to say the extent to which the mother inhibits or welcomes the father’s involvement in child care.
“They were asked how frequency the mothers encouraged the father’s commitment to parenting by adopting opening behaviors, for example by asking him for his opinion on childcare behavior. We also asked the Parents how much mothers adopted discouraging or closing behaviors, such as criticizing the father “specify the authors in their press release.
Results of the responses obtained and analyzed: when the dad took a long leave after birth, the two parents agreed that mothers were less likely to adopt an attitude limiting the involvement of the father or to discourage him.
Moreover, Longer paternity leave is linked to a change in attitude of mothers with regard to babies’ care. These mothers also seem to depend on the assessments of others on their ability to fulfill their maternal role.
“It is difficult to change the attitudes of people, but a longer paternity leave seems to change not only the way in which mothers react to the involvement of fathers in the custody of children, but also the way in which they perceive the parental role “”indicates Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, co-author of the study.
… But there is still a long way to go to break the stereotypes
On the other hand, the researchers highlighted another surprising fact in view of the first results. If they do not discourage dads, mothers whose spouses have had a long paternity leave, have no more encouraging behaviors towards dads than others.
For researchers, one of the reasons for this maternal behavior would be that our society still believes that mothers should take the initiative to take care of their children.
“Mothers may think that they are the main parent by default and therefore they do not make an effort to encourage fathers to get more involved”explains researcher Reed Donithen.
However, the overall results confirm that a longer paternity leave can trigger many changes that reduce the load that new mothers support in terms of child care.
“Many research on parenting transition suggests that almost all couples fall into the trap of having uneven roles – even very educated couples and two income like those of our study”explains Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan. “This study suggests that a longer paternity leave could be a way to get out of the trap, that it could lead to a situation where fathers would play a more egalitarian role in parenting.”
