Fathers' participation in family work : consequences for fathers' stress and father-child relations
Date
1989
Authors
Almeida, David Manuel
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Abstract
The present investigation examined the extent to which fathers' participation in family work (household tasks and child care) was related to fathers' experience of stress and father-child relations. Using Pearlin, Lieberman, Menaghan, and Mullan's (1981) life strains model of the stress process, it was hypothesized that high participation in family work could constitute life strains and thus have the potential for arousing global stress (e.g., anxiety and depression) as well as situation-specific stress (e.g., household labour stress). Second, it was hypothesized that participation in family work, namely child care, would be associated with more accepting father-child relations as well as more father-child conflicts. Third, this investigation explored whether fathers' feelings of stress moderated the relationship between family work and father-child relations.
Subjects (N=75) were fathers in dual earner families from Victoria, B.C. Data for the analyses were from questionnaires completed on two occasions six months apart--August 1988 (Time 1) and February 1989 (Time 2). Measures were fathers' participation in household tasks (proportional share, weekly frequency, and weekly hourly estimate) and child care (proportional share, weekly frequency, and weekly hourly estimate); fathers' stress (anxiety, depression, parental stress, and household labour stress); and aspects of father-child relations (acceptance, conflict frequency, and conflict intensity). The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression and correlations of residual change scores. Results showed that first, fathers who participated more frequently in household chores experienced more stress than fathers who participated less frequently in household chores. However, changes in fathers' participation in family work were not associated with changes in fathers' stress. Second, fathers who spent more time doing child care tasks, relative to fathers who spent less time doing child care, were more accepting of their children and had more conflicts with their sons and fewer conflicts with their daughters. Also, increased participation in child care was associated with increased acceptance and increased frequency of conflict. Third, for fathers experiencing more stress, increased participation in child care was associated with more frequent conflict whereas for fathers experiencing less stress, increased participation in child care was associated with fewer conflicts. The discussion centers around the implications regarding fathers' participation in family work for fathers' stress and father-child relations and offers directions for future research.