par Lamprianidou, Elli-Anastasia ;Eira Nunes, Cindy ;Gaunt, Ruth;Venard, Gaëlle;Van Petegem, Stijn Julien
Référence 16th European Sociological Association Conference (Porto, Portugal)
Publication Non publié, 2024-08-27
Communication à un colloque
Résumé : In this study we used gender essentialism as a lens to examine culturally embedded gender inequalities between mothers and fathers. Gender essentialism pertains to the belief that men and women are biologically distinct, and thus better suited for different societal roles and behaviors (Bem, 1993), including parental roles (Hays, 1996). In the specific context of parenting, an essentialist view of gender can explain traditional gender values and expectations, seeing mothers as better suited to caring for children. Previous research has focused on the relationship between parents’ gender traditional values and their involvement mostly in terms of quantity, that is hours spent on childcare. By focusing on the quality of parental involvement, this study aimed to fill previous gaps by investigating the relationships between mothers’ and fathers’ gender essentialist beliefs and their involvement in positive (i.e., parental responsiveness, autonomy support) and negative parenting practices (overprotection, controlling parenting). Our sample consisted of 1,260 Belgian heterosexual parents (Mage = 49.6 years old; 62% of mothers) of adolescents. For both mothers and fathers, the endorsement of gender essentialist beliefs was related to more involvement in negative parenting practices. Additionally, among fathers, gender essentialist beliefs were associated with less involvement in positive practices. These findings highlight the importance of considering parental gender values when studying parenting, as these can play an important role in understanding the quality of parents’ involvement in their children's lives

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