Attitudes about Paid Parental Leave in the United States

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive Statistics for all Variables Used in the Analysis

	Full Sample	Male	Female
	M(SD)/%	M(SD)/%	M(SD)/%
Paid parental leave attitudes
Support for paid parental leave	82%	77%	85%	***
Desired length of paid parental leave	4.38 (3.92)	4.23 (4.15)	4.51 (3.75)
Support for government pay	47%	49%	45%
Predictor variables
Female	55%
Dual-earner expectations	3.73 (0.92)	3.71 (0.92)	3.74 (0.92)
Separate spheres	2.48 (1.18)	2.60 (1.18)	2.39 (1.17)	**
Intensive mothering	2.53 (1.23)	2.66 (1.19)	2.41 (1.25)	***
Age	47.02 (17.75)	46.38 (18.04)	47.55 (17.53)
(White)	67%	69%	65%
Black	15%	11%	18%	**
Latinx	13%	14%	12%
Other race/ethnicity	5%	6%	4%
Education	13.59 (3.08)	13.58 (3.03)	13.60 (3.12)
(Works full-time)	35%	41%	31%
Works part-time	15%	13%	16%	**
Works overtime	11%	16%	7%	**
Not working	39%	30%	47%	***
Partner employed	31%	26%	35%	**
(Occupation: Professional)	23%	24%	22%
Occupation: Labor	10%	18%	4%	***
Occupation: Service	21%	21%	20%
Occupation: Other	46%	37%	53%	**
Household income	4.79 (4.68)	5.18 (4.80)	4.46 (4.57)	*
Weekly hours on housework	10.24 (13.39)	8.45 (10.24)	11.71 (15.05)	***
Weekly hours on family	18.21 (30.31)	12.01 (23.33)	23.32 (33.73)	***
Partner’s weekly hours on housework	6.48 (14.10)	9.70 (16.83)	3.82 (11.06)	***
Partner’s weekly hours on family	10.36 (26.44)	13.45 (28.47)	7.81 (24.65)	***
Experience work-family conflict	0.69 (1.00)	0.70 (0.98)	0.68 (1.02)
(Married)	45%	45%	44%
Cohabiting	9%	9%	10%
Single	46%	46%	46%
Number of children	1.83 (1.77)	1.67 (1.80)	1.96 (1.73)	**
Number of children in household	0.56 (1.03)	0.46 (0.88)	0.63 (1.12)	**
Having children is expensive	2.56 (1.13)	2.68 (1.15)	2.46 (1.08)	**
Religiosity	0.89 (0.97)	0.79 (0.88)	0.97 (1.01)	**
Political conservatism	4.07 (1.43)	4.13 (1.48)	4.02 (1.40)
N	1,189	537	652

Note. Reference categories in parentheses; gender difference at ***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05.

Table 2. Regression Results Predicting Support, Length, and Government Funding of Paid Parenta Leave

	(1)	(2)		(3)	(4)
	Support	Length		Funding	Funding
	OR	b	SE	OR	OR
Gender
Female	1.76**	0.29	0.25	0.83	1.98*
Dual-earner expectations	1.27**	0.12	0.13	1.13 ^+	1.14^+
Separate spheres	0.95	–0.25*	0.12	0.98	1.19^+
Intensive mothering	0.93	0.20^+	0.11	1.02	1.02
Background characteristics
Age	0.97***	–0.02*	0.01	0.99 *	0.99*
Black^c	2.36*	1.32***	0.34	1.19	1.20
Latinx^c	0.80	0.24	0.35	1.41 ^+	1.40^+
Other race/ethnicity^c	1.48	0.86 ^+	0.52	1.68 ^+	1.69^+
Education	0.97	0.02	0.05	1.02	1.02
Work
Works part-time^a	0.94	–0.14	0.36	0.97	0.94
Works overtime^a	0.85	–0.17	0.39	0.86	0.83
Not working^a	2.76**	1.10 *	0.49	1.37	1.37
Partner employed	1.09	–0.06	0.38	0.90	0.92
Occupation: labor^b	1.22	0.61	0.45	1.87 *	1.83*
Occupation: service^b	1.20	0.48	0.36	1.20	1.20
Occupation: other^b	0.60	–0.47	0.48	0.85	0.83
Household income	1.01	0.03	0.03	1.01	1.01
Weekly hours on housework	0.86	–0.02	0.14	1.14	1.17 ^+
Weekly hours on family	0.98	0.01	0.16	0.96	0.96
Partner weekly hours on housework	1.22	0.40 *	0.16	0.91	0.89
Partner weekly hours on family	0.96	–0.04	0.18	0.99	1.00
Family
Work-family conflict	1.15	0.19	0.13	1.20*	1.19 *
Cohabiting^d	1.75	0.28	0.45	1.05	1.03
Single^d	1.15	0.24	0.40	0.97	0.97
Number of children	1.09	0.11	0.08	0.95	0.94
Number of children in household	0.99	0.02	0.13	1.25**	1.25**
Perceiving raising children expensive	0.90	–0.06	0.10	0.09	1.00
Religiosity	1.09	–0.03	0.12	1.04	1.05
Political conservatism	0.76**	–0.48***	0.08	0.75***	0.75**
Interactions
Female × Separate spheres					0.70**

Notes. ***p < .001; **p < .01; *p < .05; +p < .10

^aReference category is work full time. ^bReference category is professional. ^cReference category is white. ^dReference category is married.

Figure 1. Predicated Probabilities of Support for Some Government Funding of Paid Parental Leave

Table A1. Distribution of Desired Length of Paid Leave (in Months)

0	18.42%
1	5.97%
2	13.54%
3	17.91%
4	4.12%
5	0.93%
6	22.12%
7 to 11	1.93%
12+	15.05%

N = 1,189

Table A2. Preferenceds for Source of Paid Leave

No leave	18.42%
Government	5.80%
Employer	30.19%
Government & employer	41.13%
Other sources	4.46%

N = 1,189