Having it all – perceived coparenting quality and work-family balance in the context of parental leave

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to explore associations between division of parental leave and perceived quality of coparenting in parents of infants and to compare parents’ work-family balance in terms of satisfaction with time on parental leave and time spent at work. Using survey data from 280 Swedish parents at 18 months after childbirth, we compared parents who shared parental leave equally with those who did not share equally. The primary outcome was parents’ perceived quality of coparenting, operationalised as parenting alliance and satisfaction with their partner’s involvement in caregiving. Satisfaction with time on parental leave and time spent at work was also measured. Both mothers and fathers who shared parental leave equally reported higher coparenting quality than those who did not share leave equally. Mothers who shared parental leave equally reported higher satisfaction with their partner’s involvement in caregiving than those who did not share equally. Our findings suggest that equal division of parental leave is associated with higher perceived quality of coparenting for both mothers and fathers, and higher satisfaction with their work-family balance at 18 months after childbirth.

RÉSUMÉ

Cette étude a pour objectif d’explorer l’association entre le partage du congé parental et la qualité perçue par les parents de la collaboration parentale au sujet de petits enfants, ansi que de comparer l’équilibre travail-famille des parents en termes de satisfaction avec le temps passé en congé parental et au travail. Utilisant les données d’une enquête réalisée auprès de 280 parents suédois 18 mois après la naissance de leurs enfants, nous avons comparé les parents ayant partagé leur congé parental de manière égalitaire avec ceux qui ne l’ont pas fait. Le variable primaire a été la qualité perçue de collaboration parentale, opérationalisée comme alliance parentale et satisfaction quant à l’engagement de l’autre parent dans le soin de l’enfant. La satisfaction quant au temps passé en congé parental et au travail a aussi été examinée. Aussi bien les mères que les pères qui ont partagé leur congé parental de manière égalitaire ont rapporté une qualité de collaboration parentale meilleure de ceux qui ne l’ont pas partagé de manière égalitaire. Les mères qui ont partagé le congé parental de manière égalitaire ont rapporté une satisfaction meilleure quant à l’engagement du père de l’enfant dans le soin de l’enfant par rapport à ceux qui ne l’ont pas partagé de manière égalitaire. Notre résultat propose que le partage égalitaire du congé parental est associé avec une qualité de collaboration parentale meilleure pour les mères ainsi que pour les pères, et une satisfaction meilleure quant à l’équilibre travail-famille 18 mois après la naissance de l’enfant.

KEYWORDS:

• Coparenting
• equality
• fathers
• mothers
• parental leave
• work-family balance

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Alliance parentale
• égalité
• pères
• mères
• congé parental
• èquilibre travaille-famille

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank all the parents who took part in the study by completing the questionnaires. Sincere thanks are due to the participating nurses for their interest and generous contribution of their time and efforts. Thanks to Associate professor Birgitta Wickberg, for your guidance along the research project. Warmest gratitude to the late supervisor, professor Tomas Tjus, for sharing laughter and challenges.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Local Research and Development Board for Gothenburg and Södra Bohuslän, Primary Health Care, Region Västra Götaland, Sweden [grant number VGFOUGSB-106441].

Notes on contributors

Monica Lidbeck

Monica Lidbeck is a PhD student at Gothenburg University, Department of Psychology, Sweden, studying division of parental leave and family life. The current study is part of her thesis Share and Care – experiences of equally shared parental leave. Her licentiate dissertation Psychological perspectives on parents' division of parental leave was published in 2016. Ms. Lidbeck received her Master's degree in psychology in 1996, and currently holds a position as psychologist in multi-professional teams serving Maternal and Child Health Care in Gothenburg, Region Västra Götaland. The main responsibility is to provide support for health care professionals via training, development of guidelines, practice and methods, implementation of research, and education interventions. Ms. Lidbeck has been engaged in the development and implementation of methods for parental support targeting fathers of infants at a national level in Swedish child health care.

Susanne Bernhardsson

Susanne Bernhardsson is an associate professor at University of Gothenburg's department of health and rehabilitation at the Sahlgrenska Academy, and holds a PhD in medical science from Linköping University. Her research focuses on effectiveness and implementation studies in primary health care as well as systematic reviews, and she has substantial experience from both quantitative (mainly surveys) and qualitative research, with currently over 30 publications in various primary care contexts. She currently holds a position as Research & Development manager at the Research and Development Centre for Primary Care in Gothenburg, Sweden. Besides managing the centre she teaches research methodology and supervises PhD students, master's students and undergraduate students.