Predicting paternal involvement with a newborn by attitude toward women's roles

Significant change in the social roles played by American women has occurred during the past two decades. Recent research literature suggests, however, that attitudinal change may be lagging significantly behind the profound changes in behavior. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether expectant couples who hold more egalitarian views toward women's roles prior to the birth of a first child expect the new father to be more involved in the care of his own infant. A demographic questionnaire, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (Spence & Helmrich, 1972), and the Projected Paternal Behavior Scale (Alter, 1978) were administered to 103 prenatal couples between the sixth and eighth months of pregnancy. Findings confirmed a significant correlation between both expectant fathers' and expectant mothers' egalitarian views toward women's roles and their projections of the father's participation in the care of his infant. More liberal attitudes toward women's roles were also associated with increased age, higher combined family income, and increased levels of education.