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Paternity leave may promote greater gender equality in domestic labour. Though numerous studies show that paternity leave promotes greater fathers’ involvement in childcare, less is known about whether paternity leave-taking may facilitate fathers’ involvement in other forms of domestic labour such as housework. Using repeated cross-sectional data on different-gender partnered US parents from the Study on Parents’ Divisions of Labor During COVID-19 (SPDLC), this study examines the extent to which paternity leave-taking and length of paternity leave are associated with US fathers’ shares of, and time spent on, housework. Findings suggest that paternity leave-taking is positively associated with fathers’ shares of, and time spent on, housework tasks. Longer paternity leaves are also associated with fathers performing greater shares of housework. Overall, this study indicates that the benefits of paternity leave likely extend to fathers’ greater participation in housework, providing additional support for the belief that increased use of paternity leave may help to promote gender equality in domestic labour. 

Remote and hybrid work have received much attention since the expansion of off-site work following the COVID-19 pandemic. Research on the effects of these arrangements on workers’ well-being, however, is mixed, likely because studies rarely account for workers’ workplace preferences. Using data from the 2023 wave of the Study on U.S. Parents’ Divisions of Labor During COVID-19 (SPDLC), we assess the association between work-place mismatch (misalignment between preferred and actual work locations) and both work-family conflict and psychological well-being (stress and depressive symptoms) among partnered working parents. Results suggest that most parents report some degree of work-place mismatch, with on-site workers reporting the highest work-place mismatch. We also find that work-place mismatch is positively associated with work-family conflict and negatively associated with parents’ psychological well-being. After accounting for work-place mismatch, parents who work on-site report lower work-family conflict and higher psychological well-being than remote and hybrid workers. Overall, results highlight the need to account for workers’ preferences in understanding the association between work conditions, work-family conflict, and psychological well-being. 

COVID-19 led to substantial increases in parents’ stress due partially to the challenges of home education. The highly politicized decision to reopen schools in person in fall 2020, nevertheless, was not associated with reductions in parents’ stress. Using a stress process perspective, we argue that the association of school modality with parents’ stress in fall 2020 likely depended on parents’ COVID concerns. Analysis of survey data from November 2020 shows that incompatibility between parents’ COVID concerns and children’s school modalities were associated with greater stress. Parents with no concerns reported the lowest stress when children learned in person and the highest stress when children were mandated to learn virtually. Among parents with COVID concerns, the opposite was true. Because few parents expressed no COVID concerns, in-person learning was more often associated with higher stress than lower stress, helping explain why school reopening did not markedly improve U.S. parents’ mental health. 

This study examines the association between the division of cognitive housework and parents' relationship satisfaction. Background. Equity theory suggests that factors which either objectively (i.e., equal sharing) or subjectively (i.e., feeling appreciated) enhance partners' feelings of mutual benefit lead to greater relationship satisfaction. From an equity perspective, cognitive labor may be especially consequential for relationship satisfaction not only because it is boundless, burdensome work but also because it is invisible and often unappreciated. Drawing on equity theory, we argue that relationship satisfaction is highest when cognitive labor is equally shared. Method. We use cross‐sectional data on different‐gender partnered US parents from Wave 5 of the Study on US Parents' Divisions of Labor During COVID‐19 (SPDLC) and OLS regression to estimate associations between the division of cognitive housework and relationship satisfaction separately for mothers and fathers. Results. Equal divisions of cognitive housework are associated with the highest levels of relationship satisfaction for both mothers and fathers. This association is consistent across various measures and dimensions of cognitive housework, with few exceptions.Conclusion. Relationship satisfaction is highest when partners equally share cognitive housework, as sharing this labor may reduce burdens on one parent as well as increase the visibility and value of this often hidden form of domestic labor. 

The COVID-19 pandemic had numerous consequences for work and family, but one of the most important was the substantial increase in remote work. Despite interest in changes to remote work and questions about whether the new environment of remote work will persist long-term, we know little about variation in workers’ experiences with remote work since the beginning of the pandemic. In this data visualization, we use longitudinal data on U.S. working parents from 2020–2023 and group-based trajectory models to illustrate varying patterns of remote work for partnered parents. The heterogeneity of parents’ experiences with remote work throughout the pandemic reveals important nuances not previously identified in tracking polls and highlights important gender differences that likely had implications for mothers’ and fathers’ well-being and gender equality. 

Background: Research on parents’ divisions of domestic labor during the COVID-19 pandemic has focused on average changes in housework and childcare during the pandemic’s first year, limiting our understanding of variation in parents’ experiences as well as the long-term consequences of the pandemic for gender inequality. Objective: This study identifies distinct patterns of change in U.S. parents’ divisions of housework and childcare from Spring 2020 to Fall 2023 and factors associated with changes in parents’ divisions of domestic labor. Methods: We use five waves of survey data (2020-2023) from partnered U.S. parents along with group-based trajectory and fixed effects models to identify longitudinal trajectories of parents’ divisions of housework and childcare and key factors that are associated with these trajectories. Results: Most U.S. parents (75-80%) maintained the same division of domestic labor throughout the pandemic. Nonetheless, one-quarter experienced long-term changes. Parents were equally as likely to transition to a nontraditional division of housework as a traditional one (10%), but were four times more likely to transition to a nontraditional division of childcare as a traditional division (21 vs. 5%). Parents were more likely to shift toward a nontraditional division of domestic labor when mothers worked full-time (and earned more income) and fathers worked from home at least sometimes during the pandemic. Contributions: Overall, results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic affected the long-term division of domestic labor in only a minority of families. Where change has occurred, however, it has been long-lasting, and in the case of childcare, it has tended to reduce gender inequalities rather than exacerbate them. 

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, remote work became the new reality for many fathers. Though time availability theory suggests that this newfound flexibility should lead to more domestic labor on the part of fathers, many were skeptical that fathers would step up to shoulder the load at home. Indeed, the findings are decidedly mixed on the association of fathers’ remote work with their performance of housework and childcare. Nonetheless, research has yet to consider how contextual factors, such as fathers’ gender ideologies and mothers’ employment, may condition these associations. Using data from Wave 1 of the Study on U.S. Parents’ Divisions of Labor During COVID-19 (SPDLC), we examine how gender ideology moderates the association between fathers’ remote work and their performance and share of childcare during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in both sole-earner and dual-earner families. The results show, for sole-earning fathers and dual-earner fathers with egalitarian gender attitudes, that the frequency of remote work was positively associated with fathers performing more, and a greater share of, childcare during the pandemic. Yet, only dual-earner fathers with egalitarian gender attitudes performed an equal share of childcare in their families. These findings suggest that the pandemic provided structural opportunities for fathers, particularly egalitarian-minded fathers, to be the equally engaged parents they desired. 

Rising domestic burdens for mothers fueled concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated gender inequalities in well-being. Yet, survey research has not considered whether and how cognitive labor—planning, organizing, and monitoring family needs—contributed to gendered health disparities during the pandemic. Using data from the Study on U.S. Parents’ Divisions of Labor during COVID-19 (SPDLC) and a stress process perspective, we examine the association between cognitive labor and parents’ psychological well-being, and whether this association (1) differs between mothers and fathers and (2) is moderated by employment status and telecommuting. Mothers performed more cognitive labor during the pandemic than fathers, and cognitive labor was negatively associated with mothers’ psychological well-being—particularly for mothers who never or exclusively telecommuted. Mothers’ psychological well-being was higher when fathers did more cognitive labor, especially among mothers who worked outside the home. Overall, cognitive labor appears to be another stressor that contributed to increased gender inequality. 

Shutdowns of in-person school and childcare in spring 2020 in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic were associated with substantial reductions in mothers’ labor force participation (LFP). By fall 2020, in-person school and daycare were more widely available, but mothers’ LFP remained as low as it was in spring. Coincidently, by fall 2020, daily COVID deaths had also began to peak. Using unique panel survey data from partnered U.S. mothers ( n = 263), the authors use structural equation modeling to analyze how mothers’ concerns over COVID shaped their LFP in fall 2020. Findings show that mothers’ COVID concerns were associated with reduced LFP via children’s time at home, perceived stress, and remote work. Concerned mothers were more likely to keep children home, but this resulted in less paid work likely vis-à-vis work-family conflicts. The findings illuminate one reason mothers’ LFP failed to rebound in fall 2020 despite increased access to in-person school and daycare.