We are pleased to announce the publication of one of our studies in the Journal of Family Issues! This study looked at the potential links between parents’ egalitarian values and the way they behave with their child and the other parent.
The literature highlights the important links that exist between parents’ gender values and their level of investment in their child’s life. For instance, fathers who adhere to more egalitarian values in terms of gender would also spend more time with their children compared to fathers with more traditional values. We were therefore keen to better understand whether these values were also linked to certain types of parenting and co-parenting behavior (i.e., with the other parent), and to what extent within a family mothers and fathers influence each other. We therefore used a large-scale survey of over 6700 families in Australia. (Co)parenting practices were measured through coparenting support (support between both parents in child-related tasks), warm parenting, and parental hostility. Our results revealed that in families where mothers report more egalitarian values, fathers are also warmer with their children and report more coparenting support. Mothers’ values are linked to fathers’ practices only! However, these results were no longer observed in families where the mother did not work. Do not hesitate to read or download the paper !