Table 1.
Sample Characteristics
| Full Sample |
Paternity Leave |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variables |
M (SD) or %(n) |
Min | Max | None M (SD) or % (n) |
One Week M (SD) or % (n) |
2 weeks+ M (SD) or % (n) |
Effect Sizeb |
| Paternity leave-taking (Wave 2) | |||||||
| No leave | 20% (262) | 0 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| One week | 59% (774) | 0 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| 2 weeks or more | 21% (283) | 0 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Dependent variables (Wave 5) | |||||||
| Father involvement | 1.89 (1.15) | 0 | 3 | 1.59 (1.23) | 1.93 (1.13) | 2.08 (1.06) | 0.02*** |
| Father-child closeness | 2.25 (1.09) | 0 | 3 | 1.96 (1.22) | 2.28 (1.08) | 2.43 (0.95) | 0.02*** |
| Father-child communication | 0.00 (0.80) | −1.42 | 1.20 | −0.19 (0.86) | 0.01 (0.79) | 0.15 (0.75) | 0.02*** |
| Mediating variables (Wave 4) | |||||||
| Father engagement | 3.42 (1.66) | 0 | 7 | 3.07 (1.86) | 3.44 (1.59) | 3.70 (1.58) | 0.02*** |
| Co-parenting support | 2.75 (0.34) | 1 | 3 | 2.66 (0.33) | 2.75 (0.31) | 2.79 (0.29) | 0.01*** |
| Relationship satisfaction | 3.47 (1.30) | 1 | 5 | 3.06 (1.35) | 3.49 (1.26) | 3.76 (1.22) | 0.03*** |
| “Good Father” identity | 1.21 (0.77) | 0 | 2 | 1.07 (0.81) | 1.23 (0.76) | 1.29 (0.74) | 0.01** |
| Controls (Wave 1) | |||||||
| Age | |||||||
| Mother age | 25.95 (6.06) | 16 | 44 | 24.68 (5.61) | 25.96 (6.00) | 27.08 (6.43) | 0.02*** |
| Father age | 28.41 (7.13) | 16 | 57 | 27.76 (7.43) | 28.46 (7.02) | 28.87 (7.13) | 0.00 |
| Race/Ethnicity | |||||||
| Mother is Whitea | 30% (395) | 0 | 1 | 10% (41) | 61% (239) | 29% (115) | 0.18*** |
| Mother is Black | 43% (574) | 0 | 1 | 31% (176) | 54% (309) | 15% (89) | 0.25*** |
| Mother is Latina | 23% (299) | 0 | 1 | 14% (43) | 65% (195) | 20% (61) | 0.08* |
| Mother is other race/ethnicity | 4% (51) | 0 | 1 | 10% (5) | 57% (29) | 33% (17) | 0.07* |
| Father is Whitea | 27% (359) | 0 | 1 | 7% (28) | 61% (219) | 31% (112) | 0.22*** |
| Father is Black | 45% (597) | 0 | 1 | 29% (176) | 55% (326) | 16% (95) | 0.23*** |
| Father is Latino | 24% (309) | 0 | 1 | 16% (50) | 64% (199) | 19% (60) | 0.07 |
| Father is other race/ethnicity | 4% (54) | 0 | 1 | 17% (9) | 55% (30) | 28% (15) | 0.03 |
| Education | |||||||
| Mother education | 2.37 (1.03) | 1 | 4 | 2.07 (0.94) | 2.35 (1.03) | 2.71 (1.03) | 0.04*** |
| Father education | 2.33 (1.00) | 1 | 4 | 2.08 (0.90) | 2.30 (1.01) | 2.66 (0.99) | 0.04*** |
| Income | |||||||
| Father income | 3.35 (2.19) | 0 | 8 | 2.69 (1.88) | 3.48 (2.12) | 3.96 (2.30) | 0.04*** |
| Mother income | 2.04 (2.07) | 0 | 8 | 1.77 (1.80) | 1.94 (2.03) | 2.62 (2.26) | 0.02*** |
| Work Hours | |||||||
| Mother does not work | 34% (448) | 0 | 1 | 20% (92) | 62% (276) | 18% (80) | 0.06 |
| Mother works part-time | 21% (275) | 0 | 1 | 19% (51) | 60% (165) | 21% (59) | 0.02 |
| Mother works full-timea | 45% (596) | 0 | 1 | 21% (130) | 55% (323) | 24% (143) | 0.06 |
| Father works part-time | 11% (141) | 0 | 1 | 30% (42) | 50% (71) | 20% (28) | 0.09** |
| Father works full-timea | 89% (1178) | 0 | 1 | 19% (225) | 60% (700) | 21% (253) | 0.03 |
| Professional occupationa | 17% (226) | 0 | 1 | 13% (29) | 56% (126) | 31% (71) | 0.12*** |
| Labor occupation | 49% (650) | 0 | 1 | 22% (144) | 61% (395) | 17% (111) | 0.10** |
| Sales occupation | 8% (112) | 0 | 1 | 17% (19) | 69% (77) | 14% (16) | 0.07 |
| Service occupation | 24% (309) | 0 | 1 | 23% (72) | 53% (164) | 24% (73) | 0.07 |
| Other occupation | 2% (22) | 0 | 1 | 9% (2) | 50% (11) | 41% (9) | 0.07 |
| Marrieda | 35% (468) | 0 | 1 | 10% (44) | 60% (282) | 30% (142) | 0 23*** |
| Cohabiting | 40% (523) | 0 | 1 | 21% (108) | 61% (318) | 18% (97) | 0.06 |
| Nonresident father | 25% (328) | 0 | 1 | 34% (110) | 53% (174) | 13% (44) | 0.21*** |
| Number of other children | 1.03 (1.20) | 0 | 5 | 1.37 (1.40) | 1.01 (1.18) | 0.78 (0.97) | 0.03*** |
| Religious participation | 1.95 (1.35) | 0 | 4 | 1.83 (1.31) | 1.98 (1.37) | 1.99 (1.34) | 0.00 |
| Child is male | 51% (676) | 0 | 1 | 20% (137) | 58% (392) | 22% (147) | 0.02 |
| Child age (Wave 5) | 9.30 (0.31) | 8.83 | 11.08 | 9.30 (0.30) | 9.31 (0.33) | 9.30 (0.28) | 0.00 |
| First child | 42% (551) | 0 | 1 | 16% (90) | 60% (331) | 24% (130) | 0.08* |
| Father did not establish paternity | 14% (182) | 0 | 1 | 38% (70) | 51% (93) | 10% (19) | 0.20* |
| Positive father attitudes | 3.77 (0.39) | 1 | 4 | 3.75 (0.42) | 3.76 (0.41) | 3.84 (0.30) | 0.01** |
| Traditional gender attitudes | 37% (484) | 0 | 1 | 19% (96) | 63% (302) | 18% (86) | 0.07 |
| Engaged father attitudes | 67% (881) | 0 | 1 | 19% (168) | 58% (513) | 23% (200) | 0.05 |
| Mother’s health | 2.96 (0.91) | 0 | 4 | 2.87 (0.91) | 2.92 (0.92) | 3.15 (0.82) | 0.01*** |
| n | 1319 | 262 | 774 | 283 | |||
a
Used as reference category.
b
Significant differences by length of paternity leave were determined by Chi-square tests for categorical variables and ANOVA for continuous variables). Cramer’s V is reported to show effect size for Chi-square tests and eta-squared is reported to show effect size for ANOVA.
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
***
p < .001.