Father Engagement in Low-Income Families: The Role of Workplace Characteristics and Gender Roles

This study examines the role of fathers’ gender roles and work conditions as they independently and in combination predict father engagement with infants. In recent decades, conceptualizations of fatherhood have retained the breadwinner ideal while adding caregiving responsbilities. Despite this shift, fathers’ involvement with their children, on average, remains less than mothers. Using a longitudinal sample of 77 working-class couples, analyses were conducted with fathers’ reports of their engagement in play and instrumental caregiving tasks as the outcome. Results revealed that fathers with more egalitarian gender-role beliefs were more engaged in play with infants as reported by fathers. Coworker support was associated with fathers engaging in more instrumental tasks and play. Fathers’ beliefs about gender-roles and their workplace flexibility interacted to predict their engagement in play, with more traditional fathers being more involved under conditions of high workplace flexibility. Thus, workplace flexibility may be an important predictor of father engagement for more traditional fathers, who would otherwise be less engaged than their egalitarian counterparts. This study underscores the importance of supportive work conditions to increase engagement in fathers and suggests that the workplace might be an effective intervention site for fathers’ parenting.