Beliefs about mothers' and fathers' roles and the division of child care and household labor in Indo-Caribbean immigrants with young children

Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2009 Apr;15(2):173-82. doi: 10.1037/a0015322.

Abstract

Using a creolization conceptual framework, this study assessed beliefs about paternal and maternal roles, time spent in child care, and household labor among 60 Indo-Caribbean immigrant couples with young children. Analyses revealed belief systems about maternal and paternal roles that fell along traditional lines. Mothers invested significantly more time in major areas of child care and domestic labor than fathers did. Findings are discussed in terms of the lack of movement away from traditional gendered ideologies and the assumption of child care and household labor in Indo-Caribbean families in their new cultural community.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attitude to Health
  • Caribbean Region / ethnology
  • Child
  • Child Rearing / ethnology*
  • Emigrants and Immigrants / statistics & numerical data*
  • Family Relations / ethnology
  • Father-Child Relations / ethnology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Life Change Events
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mother-Child Relations / ethnology*
  • Parenting / ethnology*
  • Social Perception
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • United States / epidemiology