Men Between Provider Role and Involved Fatherhood

This study uses data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and Understanding Society (UKHLS) to analyse the effect of first fatherhood on men’s work hours at home as well as in the labour market. Past research indicates that British men work more when they have fathered a child, but this finding is primarily based on descriptive or cross-sectional analyses. The longitudinal design of this study provides the opportunity to analyse the dynamic interactions between diverse factors that pertain to fathers’ employment behaviours. The results show that fatherhood has a significant effect on men’s work hours. However, this effect is mainly limited to the fathers of children between one and five years of age. Children of this group have a positive effect and tend to increase a father’s work hours, but only if the female partner is not employed. A mother’s part-time and full-time employment has the opposite effect for this group, leading the male partner to reduce his work hours. In addition, men with children have higher housework hours than non-fathers, where this value decreases slightly with the age of the child. Analyses of men’s work hour preferences did not find significant links with the number and age of children.