Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Most countries provide some form of parental leave after the birth of a child. These policies take a number of different forms including both paid and unpaid leave for mothers, fathers, or both. Although most countries (besides Papua New Guinea and the United States) offer paid maternity leave (Addati et al, 2014), paid paternity leave is somewhat less common and offered by about ¾’s of OECD countries (OECD, 2016). Interest in providing paternity leave has increased over the last few decades as research suggests it may promote gender equality (Patniak, 2015) and increase fathers’ time with children and in parenting (e.g. Nepomnyaschy & Waldfogel, 2007; Pragg & Knoester, 2015), which in turn is linked with positive outcomes for children (Tamis-LeMonda et al, 2004). Estimates suggest that about 90% of U.S. fathers take some time off after the birth of a child (DOL, 2016), but to date, no research has considered how paternal leave among non-resident fathers differs from resident fathers, or how leave might be differently linked with parenting for these two groups. This is a large oversight as today 40% of children are born to unmarried parents (Hamilton et al 2016). Understanding patterns of paternity leave among non-resident fathers, and whether it is linked with fathering behaviors, is key for policy makers and researchers interested in paternity leave policies and parenting among non-resident fathers.

To address these gaps in the literature we examine the following questions: 1) What do patterns of father’s leave taking look like (any leave, paid leave, weeks of leave, reasons for not taking leave) and whether they vary by coresidence and marital status? 2) What are the predictors of leave and do they vary by coresidence and marital status? And 3) is paternal leave associated with fathering (engagement, harsh parenting, coparenting) and does this vary by coresidence and marital status? We use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N~2650), a longitudinal birth cohort of children born between 1998 and 2000 and their parents. Fathers were interviewed at the birth of the child and again when children were ages 1, 3 and 5. The study included an oversample of non-marital births, making it ideal for examining non-resident fathers. Consistent with prior research, preliminary analyses find that fathers who took leave had higher parenting engagement at ages 1, 3, and 5 than fathers who did not take leave. Unlike earlier research, we find that this association is only significant for non-resident fathers. We find similar patterns when we examine weeks of leave, and when we examine economically disadvantaged fathers (less than high school degree). We find no evidence that the association is stronger for paid leave.

Policy makers have struggled to develop policies to encourage non-resident father involvement in parenting. Prior research has demonstrated that non-resident fathers’ parenting decreases dramatically after parents’ romantic relationships end (Edin, Tach, & Mincy, 2010). However, results from our work indicate that paternity leave may be an important policy lever for increasing parenting involvement among vulnerable non-resident fathers.