Fathers' Involvement in Child Health Care: Associations with Prenatal Involvement, Parents' Beliefs, and Maternal Gatekeeping

Using data from 182 dual-earner couples experiencing the transition to parenthood, this study examined associations between prenatal involvement, gender-role beliefs, and maternal gatekeeping and new fathers' involvement in child health care. Results indicated that prenatal father involvement w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Family relations 2013-10, Vol.62 (4), p.649-661
Main Authors: Zvara, Bharathi J., Schoppe-Sullivan, Sarah J., Dush, Claire Kamp
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beliefs
Child Care Services
Child Health
Child. Socialization
Children
Children & youth
coparenting
Decision making
Family Roles
FATHER INVOLVEMENT
Fathers
Gatekeeping
gender role beliefs
Health care
maternal gatekeeping
Mothers
Parent-child relations
Parenthood
Parents
Prenatal Care
prenatal involvement
Sexuality. Marriage. Family relations
Sociology
Sociology of the family. Age groups
Teenagers
Womens Health Care
Young Children
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Summary:Using data from 182 dual-earner couples experiencing the transition to parenthood, this study examined associations between prenatal involvement, gender-role beliefs, and maternal gatekeeping and new fathers' involvement in child health care. Results indicated that prenatal father involvement was associated with fathers' direct engagement in child health care and perceived influence in child health-related decision making. Fathers also demonstrated greater direct engagement in child health care when mothers held more nontraditional beliefs about gender roles. Moreover, when mothers were more encouraging of fathers' involvement in childrearing, fathers felt more influential in child health-related decision making, whereas when mothers engaged in greater gate-closing behavior, fathers with more traditional gender-role beliefs felt less influential in child health-related decision making. This study suggests that fathers' prenatal involvement, mothers' beliefs, and maternal gatekeeping may play a role in the development of new fathers' involvement in child health care at the transition to parenthood.
ISSN:0197-6664
1741-3729
0197-6664
DOI:10.1111/fare.12023