News from The University of Tulsa
Contact: Rolf Olsen, (918) 631-2653; E-mail: [email protected]
For Immediate Release
University of Tulsa Professor Finds That in Dual-Income Families Dads Are Helping, But It is Stressful, and Gender Gap Remains
Tulsa, Okla., July 7, 1997 -- Working fathers involved in the care of children tend to do more of the low-stress, pre-arranged activities and less of the unpredictable situations such as staying home when a child suddenly gets sick, according to research on dual-income families by a psychology professor at The University of Tulsa.
"Dads tend to do more of the things for which they can arrange their time," says professor Judy Berry. "But when it comes to day-care or staying home with a sick child, we still see a real gender gap."
Says Berry: "Fathers are clearly involved with their children in a variety of ways that have an impact on their work roles and that cause varying levels of stress."
Past studies of working fathers only broadly examined the relationship between parental and workplace stress, says Berry. She saw a need to define the kinds of parental responsibilities that fathers become involved in and which affect their work roles and to determine how stressful these experiences are.
For her research, Berry conducted three studies in which she surveyed a total of 447 fathers in dual-earner families. Results are reported in the July issue of the Journal of Family Issues.
Age of the fathers ranged from 24 to 53. Most were college educated and held managerial or professional jobs. Each family included one to five children and parents who worked full time.
Berry asked the participants to rate nine items in a workplace and family stress scale that she developed. Among her findings are the following:
* Events that created the most stress for a dad: disagreements with their wife concerning child care and sudden, unpredictable situations, such as when children get sick or forget their homework at home, or when the baby-sitter cancels.
* Events that produced the least stress for dads were those which they can preschedule around work hours, such as a doctor's appointment, a parent-teacher conference, and a child's school program.
Berry says that father involvement that intertwines with the workplace role is quite limited, and yet that limited involvement is perceived as stressful.
To increase and expand father involvement, empirical evidence of what fathers actually do -- and the stress involved -- is necessary, says Berry.
She adds that studying fathers' involvement with children must take into account the father as an individual and the support or lack of support he receives from the workplace, as well as the family as a system and the roles within the family.
Berry, who holds an Ed.D. in counseling psychology from The University of Tulsa, teaches and conducts research in the areas of child development, children with disabilities, and work and family. She is co-author (with Michael Hardman) of the book, "Lifespan Perspectives on the Family and Disability" to be published this fall by Allyn and Bacon. Her co-author on the article, Julie M. Rao, received her Ph.D. in psychology in May at The University of Tulsa.
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Note to editors and reporters: If you would like to interview Berry, please call her office at TU at (918) 631-2834. Also, the article in the Journal of Family Issues (9 letter-size pages) can be faxed to you by contacting Rolf Olsen at (918) 631-2653 or by e-mail at [email protected]
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