The Relationship Between how Mothers and Fathers Divide Tasks and Their Coparenting Relationship Quality

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Topic - Family Context & Processes

Abstract

The transition into parenthood for many first-time parents can be challenging due to the new roles and tasks. Cohabitating couples may face challenges in navigating division of their new parenting duties, including discrepancies in perception of the allocation of household tasks between partners and how they wished they were allocated. These added challenges can be detrimental to couples’ relationship quality and couple satisfaction when both parents are not supportive in coparenting (Durschi et al., 2016, Khazan et al., 2008). Furthermore, there is an association between partners' perception of inequality in division of household tasks and their relationship satisfaction (Dekkers & Danielle, 2007). 
Traditional gender roles identify mothers as caregivers and fathers as financial support (Gallegos, 2020). Yet societal shifts in the past several decades suggest a more equal level of distribution for parenting, household, and financial responsibilities (Barstad, 2014), which could also influence the association between division of labor and the coparenting relationship. Thus, this study aims to 1) understand fathers’ and mothers’ perceptions of the division of household, childcare, and financial tasks and their ideal division, and 2) the extent to which discrepancies between a parent’s perceived and ideal division of labor, and discrepancies between partners, is associated with the coparenting relationship.
To answer these questions, 210 low-income couples (n=420 caregivers) with 9-month-old babies who were part of a longitudinal study of parenting practices participated. To measure allocation of tasks, we developed a Gender Allocation Task, in which each parent used an abacus with 12 beads to indicate how the couple divided their labor between 3 tasks – household, childcare, and finances – as well as how the parent wished the labor was split. Discrepancies were calculated for a) each parent’s perceived and desired allocation and b) each parent’s perceived allocation and their partner’s perception of allocation. We then assessed whether discrepancies between a) ideal and perceived and b) between partners predicted coparenting relationship quality as measured with the Coparenting Relationship Scale (Feinberg, Brown & Kan 2012).
Both parents perceived mothers as doing more of the housework and child care and that fathers did and should contribute more financially. Table 2 displays frequencies. When mothers reported doing more housework than their ideal, it significantly predicted a decrease in coparenting relationship quality (β=-0.03, p<0.05), however, discrepancies were not significant for fathers. There were no statistically significant findings for financial task allocation. For mothers, but not fathers, perceived discrepancies were associated with a decrease in the coparenting relationship for housework (β=-0.05, p<.001) and child care (β=-0.04, p<.05). Discrepancies in perceived allocation of financial tasks were not statistically significant for either parent. There were no statistically significant findings for discrepancies in ideal allocation between parents and the coparenting relationship for any task. These findings suggest that despite claims of a societal shift towards more equitable distribution of tasks, families still express perceived and ideal allocations that reflect traditional gender roles and that only when mothers experience discrepancies between what they feel they do and what why to do, the coparenting relationship suffers.

Authors

• Esmeralda Martin, University of California - Irvine
  Presenting Author

• Clarielisa Ocampo, University of California - Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melissa Dahlin, University of California - Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Stephanie M Reich, University of California - Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Natasha J Cabrera, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author