Open AccessCouples’ Communication Behaviour and the Gender Division of Family Work Across the Transition to Parenthood
Author(s) -
Silke Büchau,
Pia S. Schober,
Dominik Becker
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of family issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.814
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1552-5481
pISSN - 0192-513X
DOI - 10.1177/0192513x211055111
Subject(s) - division of labour , constructive , argument (complex analysis) , psychology , childbirth , sociology , inequality , transition (genetics) , gender studies , developmental psychology , social psychology , political science , pregnancy , medicine , mathematical analysis , biochemistry , chemistry , mathematics , process (computing) , biology , computer science , gene , law , genetics , operating system
This study investigates the conceptual argument that constructive and explicit couple communication may reduce gender inequalities in couples’ division of family work. We focus on the transition to parenthood which for most couples in Germany results in a shift towards a more traditional division of labour. Using 314 first-time parents from the German Family Panel, we apply growth curve models to assess whether partners’ prenatal characteristics explain the division of housework and childcare around the time of childbirth and in the following years. After controlling for gender ideologies and economic resources, male partners’ frequency of positive communication is associated with greater father involvement in housework and childcare from the start. However, neither men’s nor women’s communication behaviours dampen the shift towards a more traditional division of housework and childcare in the first years after childbirth. The frequency of negative communication does not correlate with the division of family work.