Periodic Reporting for period 4 - FATHERCHILD (The role of the father in child development and the intergenerational transmission of inequality: Linking sociological stratification questions to developmental psychology research)
Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2022-12-31
The results yielded from our ERC project provide evidence that the assumption that mothers have a more important influence on child development needs to be reconsidered. Our results reveal that when we focus on relatively ‘generic’ parenting measures, such as warmth and sensitivity, we do not find evidence for differences between fathers and mothers, nor in the linkages that these parenting behaviors have with child outcomes. These findings suggest that fathers matter as much as mothers do. That said, when we turn to measures of parenting that are perceived to be more gendered (such as challenging parenting behavior), we do see some differences between mothers and fathers, and also in the linkages with child outcomes. Together, these findings provide a richer understanding of differences and similarities in mothers’ and fathers’ parenting and their relationship with child development. Finally, the results from our project indicate the importance of a family systems perspective in prevention and intervention programs, as the quality and quantity of both paternal and maternal involvement and the quantity and the quality of the co-parenting relationship are linked with child development.
Finally, insights derived from our project reveal that that country context shapes parenting and family functioning and that changes in policies (be them welfare cuts or Covid-19 lockdowns) affect family functioning, parenting and child outcomes. These patterns differ by SES, although in a more complicated way than is often hypothesized.
The results of our project are published in high-quality international peer-reviewed journals and have also been presented to societal stakeholders via public lectures, meetings with European and Dutch politicians and policy makers, interviews in national newspapers and television and so forth. Most importantly, our research, our meetings with politicians, and our media performances, have contributed to new legislation in the Netherlands, in particular the WIEG (Wet Introductie Extra Geboorteverlof), which, amongst others, is a substantial expansion of the number of paid leave days for fathers and partners in comparison to the previous legislation, which removes some of the financial hurdles for taking up leave.