Poster #171 - Exploring Chinese Fathering in Four Geolocations: What Are Fathers Doing These Days?

• In Event: 3-053 - Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

Research on Chinese families has increased in recent years, especially among families in Mainland China, with a dearth on families in Taiwan and Hong Kong (see Chuang, 2018). However, the historical and socio-political contexts of the various Chinese societies have generally been overlooked (see Luo et al., 2013). Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan have experienced differing factors such as political laws and social policies due to the countries’ ideological objectives and socialization goals, which may consequently affect family dynamics and relationships.

This is the first study to explicitly explore father involvement with three-year-old children in four Chinese contexts/societies. Participants included 273 fathers (67 Canada (CAN), 56 Mainland China (CH), 47 Hong Kong (HK), 103 Taiwan (TW)). Fathers completed two 24-hour time diaries (a work- and non-workday). Fathers’ levels of involvement (FI) were categorized according to Lamb et al.’s model: accessibility (focusing on chores), engagement (including play, care). The third dimension, responsibility, was not culturally relevant. Outside activities (visiting friends), work, and other (such as grocery shopping) were also analyzed. Actual times spent on these activities as well as fathers’ proportionate times (percentage of time) were explored by country. Also, fathers reported whether they spent the time alone (e.g., chores) or with the child (e.g., playing) or joint (with their wives).

Focusing on fathers’ recall of the absolute amounts of time spent in various activities, FI significantly varied by country and how they spent the time (alone, joint) (see Table 1). Generally, fathers were more accessible by themselves than with their spouses (2:19, 1:54), including doing chores, especially CAN fathers. CAN fathers were more accessible to their children than were CH fathers. Analyzing the proportionate levels (percentage of fathers’ time in relation to their total awake time), the results were similar.

For engagement, fathers generally played more with than taking care of their children (1 hour, one minute; 54 minutes). Specifically, CAN and CH fathers played more with than caring for their children whereas TW fathers did more childcare duties than playing. HK fathers time spent playing with and caring for their children were similar. TW took care of their children more than did CAN and CH. For play, CAN spent more time playing than did TW, and CH played more with their children than did HK. However, when time was analyzed as a percentage of time, TW also spent more caretaking time than did CH. For play, proportionate analyses revealed that CAN and TW were similar , but CH was more than TW and HK. Collectively (play, care), CH were more engaged with their children than were CAN and CK, but not TW. TW spent more time doing outside activities than did CH, and parents tended to do these outside activities together than alone. Associations of the various FI were also explored.

Policies such as the one child policy in Mainland China may have influenced fathers’ roles as playmates whereas CAN, with limited social support, they are involved in more household chores. These findings stress the importance of sociocultural contexts which may influence fathering.

Authors

• Susan Chuang, University of Guelph
  Presenting Author

• David S Green, University of Guelph
  Non-Presenting Author

• Lok Yuen, Community
  Non-Presenting Author

• April C. T. Shen, National Taiwan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Agnes Ng, The Nurturing Education Limited
  Non-Presenting Author

• Meihua Zhu, East China University of Science and Technology
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yajun Zheng, University of Hong Kong
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yen Joyce Feng, National Taiwan University
  Non-Presenting Author