Couples' parental leave decisions and experiences: A dyadic perspective on gender-role influences II

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Bettina Wiese
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology ; Social Psychology, Industrial and Organisational Psychology
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 393963867

This project builds on the project „Couples' parental leave decisions and experiences: A dyadic perspective on gender-role influences“. We examine the impact of mothers´ and fathers´ role attitudes on couples´ parental leave decisions and everyday leave experiences. Past quantitative studies confirmed relationships between individual gender-role attitudes and individual leave behavior, but did not take a truly dyadic perspective. In contrast, this research project puts interdependencies (i.e., reciprocal influences) between the two partners to the fore, both conceptually and methodologically. We investigate (a) whether and why (expectant) mothers´ and fathers´ parental leave decisions are influenced by partner´s attitudes and (b) whether partnership satisfaction and decisional regrets depend on acting in line with or deviating from partners´ role preferences. We expect own and partners´ traditional role attitudes to predict longer leaves among mothers and shorter leaves among fathers. Traditional gender-role attitudes are conceptualized for both men and women for the family domain and for the work domain. Partner influences are assumed to be stronger if a person is high on communal traits. Because women typically score higher on communion, they might be more susceptible to influences of their partners´ attitudes. In contrast, agentic traits are expected to strengthen the association between a person´s gender-role attitudes and his/her own leave decisions. With respect to longer term consequences of couples´ leave decisions, we will model (linear and non-linear) trajectories of men´s and women´s satisfaction with partnership. Here, besides direct associations between leave length and satisfaction, we will test for moderator effects, referring to gendered role attitudes, too. Similarly, concerning everyday experiences, we will investigate how gendered role attitudes and behaviors affect momentary partnership satisfaction and leave regrets as well as return-to-work regrets. Particularly, we will analyze whether maternal gatekeeping decreases men´s partnership satisfaction and increases leave taking regrets. For a father on leave, mother´s criticism might undermine his satisfaction of being at home with the child. To predict dyadic leave taking behavior, a longitudinal design with 300 couples expecting their first child is used. The project comprises five measurement points: one during pregnancy, and four postnatal measurement occasions (3, 6, 12, and 18 months after childbirth). The first three measurement points are completed. In addition, a subsample of 120 couples in which either the mother or the father or both is/are on leave are currently participating in a one-week diary phase. Here, we assess momentary partnership satisfaction and decisional regrets as day-level dependent variables and relate them to both individual and partner´s parent-role attitudes as well as to daily maternal gatekeeping behavior.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants