Explaining fathers' involvement in childcare: an ecological approach
The study was conducted among a sample of 113 Israeli fathers, and aimed to examine the variables that explain paternal involvement in care of children between the ages of one and six. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological approach, the study examined the contribution of variables
representing three ecological systems of the fathers: the ontogenic system – the fathers' background variables, and their childhood experiences with paternal involvement; the microsystem – children’s characteristics (age and temperament); and mothers' characteristics
(education, hours of work outside of the home, and fathers' assessments of maternal gatekeeping); and the macrosystem – type of community of residence (rural or urban). Maternal gatekeeping most significantly explained paternal involvement in most of the domains of childcare that
were examined. Fathers living in urban communities who assessed their wives' maternal gatekeeping as high tended to be more involved in the domain of physical care than their counterparts living in rural communities. The child’s temperament explained paternal involvement in the domains
of showing love and playing with the children, whereas the fathers' childhood experiences with paternal involvement were related to their involvement in the domain of physical care. The implications of the findings for families and communities are discussed.
Keywords: child’s temperament; community; l'engagement paternel dans la garde d'enfants; la communauté; la garde-barrière («gatekeeping») maternelle; le tempérament de l'enfant; maternal gatekeeping; paternal involvement in childcare
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: 1: School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel 2: Mental Health Rehabilitation Community, Netanya, Israel
Publication date: 02 January 2015
- Editorial Board
- Information for Authors
- Subscribe to this Title
- Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content