IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eurpop/v36y2020i1d10.1007_s10680-019-09518-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fathers’ Use of Parental Leave and Union Dissolution

Author

Listed:
  • Trude Lappegård

    (University of Oslo)

  • Ann-Zofie Duvander

    (Stockholm University)

  • Gerda Neyer

    (Stockholm University)

  • Ida Viklund

    (Stockholm University)

  • Synøve N. Andersen

    (Statistics Norway)

  • Ólöf Garðarsdóttir

    (University of Iceland)

Abstract

With increasing union dissolution and changing gender behaviour, questions have emerged about possible links between gender equality and union stability. The aim of this article is to examine whether and how early fathers’ involvement in child-rearing is associated with union dissolution in three Nordic countries. All three countries have reserved part of their parental leave to be used by one parent in order to promote fathers’ engagement in child-rearing. Our analysis uses fathers’ parental leave as a proxy for his involvement, and we distinguish between fathers who take no leave (“non-conforming fathers”), fathers who take only the reserved part (“policy-conforming fathers”) and fathers who take more than the reserved part (“gender-egalitarian-oriented fathers”). We find that couples in which the father uses parental leave have a lower risk of union dissolution than couples in which the father takes no leave. The pattern is consistent for all countries, for the whole study period 1993–2011, and for cohabiting and married couples. However, we do not find support for asserting that the couples with greatest gender equality, in which fathers take longer leave than the policy reserves, are the most stable unions, as the pattern is not uniform in the three countries. We attribute this to the fact that gender equality within the family in the Nordic countries is still an ongoing process, and the relationship between gender behaviour and union stability is still in flux.

Suggested Citation

  • Trude Lappegård & Ann-Zofie Duvander & Gerda Neyer & Ida Viklund & Synøve N. Andersen & Ólöf Garðarsdóttir, 2020. "Fathers’ Use of Parental Leave and Union Dissolution," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(1), pages 1-25, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:36:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-019-09518-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10680-019-09518-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10680-019-09518-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10680-019-09518-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1, July.
    2. Gordon B. Dahl & Katrine V. L?ken & Magne Mogstad, 2014. "Peer Effects in Program Participation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2049-2074, July.
    3. Becker, Gary S, 1985. "Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 33-58, January.
    4. Wendy Sigle-Rushton, 2010. "Men's Unpaid Work and Divorce: Reassessing Specialization and Trade in British Families," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 1-26.
    5. Nicole Hiekel & Aart Liefbroer & Anne-Rigt Poortman, 2014. "Understanding Diversity in the Meaning of Cohabitation Across Europe," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 30(4), pages 391-410, November.
    6. Johansson, Elly-Ann, 2010. "The effect of own and spousal parental leave on earnings," Working Paper Series 2010:4, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    7. Trude Lappegård & Turid Noack, 2015. "The link between parenthood and partnership in contemporary Norway - Findings from focus group research," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(9), pages 287-310.
    8. Jennifer A. Holland, 2013. "Love, marriage, then the baby carriage? Marriage timing and childbearing in Sweden," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 29(11), pages 275-306.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Farré, Lídia, 2016. "Parental Leave Policies and Gender Equality: A Survey of the Literature/Permisos de Paternidad e igualdad de género: Una revisión de la literatura," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 34, pages 45-60, Enero.
    2. Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2017. "Intra-household commuting choices and local labour markets," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(3), pages 734-757.
    3. R.Ramya, 2019. "Care Work and Time Use: A Focus on Child Care, Personal Care and Elderly Care Time," Shanlax International Journal of Economics, Shanlax Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 34-41, March.
    4. Løken, Katrine V. & Lommerud, Kjell Erik & Holm Reiso, Katrine, 2018. "Single mothers and their children: Evaluating a work-encouraging welfare reform," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 1-20.
    5. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Matthew Comey & Amanda Eng & Pamela Meyerhofer & Alexander Willén, 2020. "Culture and gender allocation of tasks: source country characteristics and the division of non-market work among US immigrants," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 907-958, December.
    6. Anna Oksuzyan & Angela Carollo & Sven Drefahl & Carlo G. Camarda & Kaare Christensen & Alyson A. van Raalte, 2017. "Does the age difference between partners influence the career achievements of women?," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2017-008, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    7. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A. & Raddatz, Claudio, 2016. "Comparative advantage, international trade, and fertility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 48-66.
    8. Dávid Erát, 2021. "Educational assortative mating and the decline of hypergamy in 27 European countries: An examination of trends through cohorts," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(7), pages 157-188.
    9. Donatella Cavagnoli, 2008. "Addiction to work: An Inelastic Wage Elasticity of Labour Supply Equals Long Hours of Work," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 11(2), pages 129-147.
    10. Angela Carollo & Anna Oksuzyan & Sven Drefahl & Carlo Giovanni Camarda & Linda Juel Ahrenfeldt & Kaare Christensen & Alyson van Raalte, 2019. "Is the age difference between partners related to women's earnings?," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(15), pages 425-460.
    11. Bjerk, David & Han, Seungjin, 2007. "Assortative marriage and the effects of government homecare subsidy programs on gender wage and participation inequality," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 1135-1150, June.
    12. Sile Padraigin O'Dorchai, 2008. "Do women gain or lose from becoming mothers?," Brussels Economic Review, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles, vol. 51(2/3), pages 243-268.
    13. Dimant, Eugen, 2015. "On Peer Effects: Behavioral Contagion of (Un)Ethical Behavior and the Role of Social Identity," MPRA Paper 68732, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Stephanie Coontz, 2010. "Why American Families Need the Census," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 631(1), pages 141-149, September.
    15. Lincove, Jane Arnold, 2009. "Determinants of schooling for boys and girls in Nigeria under a policy of free primary education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 474-484, August.
    16. Dao, N.T. & Davila, J., 2015. "Gender inequality, technological progress, and the demographic transition," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2015038, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    17. Yassine Khoudja & Fenella Fleischmann, 2017. "Labor Force Participation of Immigrant Women in the Netherlands: Do Traditional Partners Hold Them Back?," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 506-541, June.
    18. Åström, Johanna, 2009. "The Effects of Assortative Mating on Earnings: Human Capital Spillover or Specialization?," HUI Working Papers 34, HUI Research.
    19. Philipp M. Lersch & Emanuela Struffolino & Agnese Vitali, 2022. "Wealth in Couples: Introduction to the Special Issue," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(4), pages 623-641, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eurpop:v:36:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10680-019-09518-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.