2015/11/23 by Jessica L. Collett, Kelcie Vercel, Olevia Boykin · 34 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Developmental psychology #Face (sociological concept) #Family Dynamics and Relationships #Identity (music) #Inequality #Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving #Psychology #Social psychology #Social science #Sociology #Work-Family Balance Challenges
paper · doi:10.1177/0190272515607493
published in Social Psychology Quarterly 78(4), 345-364 (SAGE Publishing)
crossref issued 2015/11/23 · crossref published 2015/11/23 · crossref published-online 2015/11/23 · openalex publication_date 2015/11/23 · crossref created 2015/11/23 · crossref published-print 2015/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref deposited 2026/05/01 · crossref indexed 2026/08/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Despite growing acceptance of a “new fatherhood” urging fathers to be engaged in family life, men’s relative contributions to housework and child care have remained largely stagnant over the past twenty years. Using data from in-depth interviews, we describe how identity processes may contribute to this persistent inequality in parenting. We propose that the specificity of men’s identity standards for the father role is related to role-relevant behavior, and that the vague expectations many associate with “new fatherhood” both contribute to and result from men’s underinvolvement. Consistent with this proposal, we find that while all fathers face difficulty living up to expectations of “new fatherhood,” those with vague identity standards contribute less to carework and are less committed to the father identity, in part because they are less likely to experience self-discrepancy. We outline the implications of our results for future research in identity theory and for understanding inequality in households.