Parents' experiences of work-family conflict: Does is matter if coworkers have children?

Objective: To examine how the perception of work-family conflict relates to the share of parents in women’s and men’s direct coworking environments.Background: The framework of supplementary and complementary person-team fit posits that individuals’ relative positions within their coworking environments have an impact on their wellbeing. Depending on women’s and men’s parenthood status and the corresponding (dis-)similarity compared to their colleagues, this idea was applied to the perception of work-to-family and family-to-work conflicts.Method: Time-based and strain-based work-to-family and family-to-work conflicts were analyzed by gender and parenthood with random effects panel regression models using longitudinal data from the LEEP-B3-survey, a large-scale linked employer-employee survey from Germany (2012/2013 and 2014/2015; 2,228 women and 2,656 men). The composition of the respondents’ working groups was included as a moderating interaction variable.Results: Mothers and fathers of children aged 0–11 years reported higher work-to-family and family-to-work conflicts than parents of older children and childless women and men. For mothers of children aged 0–11 years, a higher share of parents in their working groups was associated with less time-based family-to-work conflict. For fathers of children aged 0–11 years, the same associations were found for overall work-to-family conflict, strain-based work-to-family conflict as well as for all dimensions of family-to-work conflict.Conclusion: Similarity between the team members regarding parenthood seemed to reduce mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of work-family conflict beyond several other situational characteristics of the individuals and the workplaces.

Loneliness Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Are Unpartnered and Childless Older Adults at Higher Risk?

Objectives: COVID-19 mitigation efforts had the potential to exacerbate loneliness among older adults, particularly for the unpartnered or childless, yet COVID-19 loneliness among these groups remains unstudied. Methods: Using data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) collected before (October 2019- March 2020) and during the pandemic (June-August 2020), we examine two loneliness outcomes: 1) “have you felt lonely recently?” (both waves), and 2) “have you felt lonelier than before the pandemic?” (2020), and explore differences by partnership and parenthood status. Results: Before COVID-19, those who lacked one tie but had the other (unpartnered parents or partnered childless) were at highest loneliness risk. During COVID-19, unpartnered and childless—especially unpartnered—remain at higher risk for loneliness, entering loneliness, and not “exiting” loneliness. Discussion: We discuss these findings in light of family norms and needs in pandemic and non-pandemic times, and provide recommendations for future research.

Gender Inequality in Housework: Persistence and Change by Partnership and Parenthood Status in the Early 2000s

Heterosexual unions and parenthood are key contributors to gender inequality in housework. Over the last two decades, the social meaning of partnership and parenthood has changed. This study investigated whether this change in the narrative of partnership and parenthood status influenced changes in the housework gender gap. Using the American Time Use Survey 2003–2005 and 2013–2015, the findings show that housework gender gap was larger for people in a couple relationship than for singles. For nonparents, the gender gap in housework was no difference between those married and those cohabiting. Gender inequality in housework persisted among married parents but decreased among cohabiting parents, mainly because of the increase in cohabiting fathers’ housework time. These findings suggest a heterosexual union, particularly marriage, reproduces conventional gender roles. Men’s gendered behaviors were not uniform but diverse across partnership and parenthood status.

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Security and Safety Workers Toward the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Aim: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of security and safety workers toward the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted between April and July 2020 using a self-developed structured questionnaire that was randomly distributed online among security and safety employees in government or private sectors.Results: Among the 712 participants, 53.9% were female and the respondents' mean age was 39.43 years. Television was chosen as the most reliable source of information by 75.0% of the participants. Most of the respondents had a sufficient knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic, as the majority of them answered the knowledge questions correctly. The significant predictors for their knowledge were their educational level, age, marital status, parenthood status, and employment sector (private or government). Our study revealed an overall 98.6% positive attitude of safety and security workers toward COVID-19. Majority of the respondents were following good and safe COVID-19 prevention practices.Conclusion: High level of knowledge was reflected in both the attitude and practice of the participants toward the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gender, motherhood, and the perception of just earnings: Results of a multifactorial (vignette) study

Gender pay gaps and wage penalties for mothers are well-established phenomena. Their persistence may be partially explained by the fact that the unequal distribution of rewards between genders is often perceived as just and legitimate. The goal of our study was to establish to what extent and under what conditions motherhood and fatherhood status affect perceptions of just inequalities. Using expectation states theories, we predicted that there would be greater acceptance of the unequal distribution of rewards between women and men with the same job experience in top-level occupations compared with bottom and mid level occupations. We also predicted that being a male or female parent would further accentuate the relationship between gender and occupational prestige, leading to acceptance of even greater income gaps between mothers and fathers. A vignette study conducted in 2017 on a representative sample of Polish respondents active in the labor force, which yielded approximately 38,000 observations, provides evidence partially conforming to our predictions. That is, willingness to tolerate differences in just earnings for men and women is higher in the high occupational status categories than in the medium and low occupational status categories. The effects of parenthood are less clear. Although the legitimized difference in earnings varies by age and parenthood status, we found rather moderate levels of motherhood penalties and much higher premiums for fatherhood, especially at the early stages of men’s careers. In addition, contrary to our predictions, mothers in high-prestige occupations were not penalized more than mothers in low and medium prestige occupations. Perceptions of legitimized inequalities between genders were independent of respondents’ characteristics.

Is there a marriage or parenthood effect on police income?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the gendered effects of marriage and parenthood on income inequality among police officers.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses survey data collected by the Current Population Survey (CPS) from 1976 to 2018. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is employed to analyze the effect of gender, marriage and parenthood on the yearly income of police officers, controlling for other demographic variables.FindingsThe analyses reveal that there is a large income difference among men and women police officers and the compensation processes appear strongly gendered based on family composition. Police women experience a large motherhood income penalty, while police men with traditional family structures have significant income advantages.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the CPS dataset allows us to track national level trends of within-occupational income inequality, these data are unable to provide detailed information on the specifics of each police job, such as rank of police officers or work experience. Despite these limitations, this study uncovers important patterns in how family structure shapes police income.Originality/valueThe present study fills the knowledge gap about marriage and motherhood penalty among police. This study represents one of the first attempts to explore the gendered compensation processes that are shaped by marriage and parenthood status among police officers at a national level.

The dynamics of family structure as a leading factor of decline in birth rate (on the example of Tuva Republic and Republic of Khakassia)

The goal of this research is to examine family structure due to the decline in birth rate in Tuva Republic and Republic of Khakassia in the early Xxi century. The authors attempt to reveal the factors affecting the decline in birth rate, and determine other components of the dynamics of family structure (number of families, family size, parenthood status). The object of this research is the transformation of the structure of family institution, while the subject is the dynamics of current family structure in the two republics. The article reviews the leading factor of the dynamics of birth rate. The authors’ special contribution consists in covering the problem of decline in birth rate as a result of transformation of family structure in the regions of Southern Siberia. The scientific novelty lies in studying the regional component of decline in birth rate under the influence of a set of factors, including the transformation of family structure. The area of application of the research results is the activity of ministries and departments, as well as special courses in the university on the discipline Familistic. The following conclusions were made: 1) birth rate is affected by various factors, such as education of women, urbanization level, financial situation in family, household structure; 2) state of the key components in the dynamics of family is characterized by the increase in a number of households, reduction in their size, complication or simplification of family structure, prevalence of one-child and growth of the portion of two-children families.

Baby cry recognition is independent of motherhood but improved by experience and exposure

Neurobiological changes affecting new mothers are known to support the development of the mother–infant relationship (the ‘maternal brain'). However, which aspects of parenting are actually mother-specific and which rely on general cognitive abilities remains debated. For example, refuting earlier findings, a recent study demonstrated that fathers identify their own baby from their cries just as well as mothers. Here we show that this performance is independent not only of sex, but also of parenthood status. We found that mothers' ability to recognize their newborn from their cries increased rapidly within few days postpartum, with highly multiparous mothers performing better. However, both male and female non-parents could similarly recognize an assigned baby, even after a very short exposure. As in mothers, both the initial amount of experimental exposure to the baby's cries (learning opportunity) and prior experience of caring for infants (auditory expertise) affected participants' performance. We thus suggest that, rather than being female-specific or motherhood-dependent, the ability to recognize a baby from their cries derives from general auditory and learning skills. By being available to non-parents of both sexes, it may contribute to the caregiving flexibility required for efficient cooperative breeding in humans.