Curious about the first cross-cultural paper of our SAFE-SORRY project on overprotective parenting? We are excited to share the preregistration of our study: “Parents’ gender role beliefs and their overprotection and responsiveness across 11 countries: Unraveling the role of gender inequality”.

What is this study about?
We aim to understand how gender role beliefs shape parenting by focusing on the role of parents’ endorsement of gender essentialism. Gender essentialist beliefs propose that men and women are of two different “kinds” or “essences”. They also sustain a gendered vision of parenthood, where women are seen as inherently more qualified for child-rearing than men. In our previous work we have found important links between parents’ gender essentialist beliefs and their involvement in their teenager’s life.

What’s new in this study?
This time, we take a cross-cultural perspective, examining this relationship across 11 different countries, each with varying levels of gender inequality. By doing so, we aim to uncover how societal gender inequalities and broader socio-cultural contexts may shape parenting. Our goal is to better understand the driving mechanisms behind the connection between parents’ gender essentialist beliefs and their involvement in parenting.

We are thrilled to finally start exploring this rich dataset!