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More stay-at-home dads -

More men than ever before are stay-at-home fathers due to a shift away from traditional gender roles in much of the Western world.

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A 3% increase -

The share of fathers who were stay-at-home dads was 4% in 1989, but was up to 7% in 2016.

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Seven million regular caregiving fathers -

Using U.S. Census data, the National At-Home Dad Network estimates seven million fathers are a regular source of care for children under 15 in the United States.

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Gender roles -

Nonetheless, stigma persists. According to traditional gender roles, a man should be a provider.

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Why do fathers stay at home? -

According to a report conducted by individuals across various colleges in the US and published by the American Psychological Association (APA), there are multiple reasons men choose to stay at home.

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Against childcare options -

Of the 207 stay-at-home fathers that took part in the survey, some 8% said that the choice was made due to “a strong belief against other childcare options.”

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Caring for the family -

According to a Pew Research survey from 2016, 24% of 4,573 stay-at-home dads said the reason for them staying at home was to take care of their families, whereas 78% of stay-at-home moms reported this was the main reason.

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Finances -

According to the study published by the APA, about 8% also said that the choice was due to their partner making more money. About another 8% said that the choice was made because their previous job didn’t allow them to earn enough money.

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A random assortment of factors -

Another 8% said that they were stay-at-home fathers because of a random assortment of factors.

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Reasons for staying at home -

The belief that a man should be as good at parenting as a woman (7.98%), the preference for one parent staying and minding the children (7.95%), and wanting to spend time with children during their formative years (7.81%) were some other reasons given.

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Reasons for staying at home -

Generally the reasons vary, from the stay-at-home father simply wanting to instill their values in their children, to having more flexibility in their work to be able to stay at home, or to feeling like they would be a better caregiver.

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Finances are the biggest factor -

Although the reasons for staying at home varied, the results suggest that the main reason men stayed at home was for economic factors. Another point in this regard was that what they earned wouldn’t pay for a third party to care for their children.

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"Better fit for being caregivers" -

Interestingly, the men who described themselves as a “better fit for being caregivers” as a reason for being stay-at-home dads showed higher life satisfaction levels than those who did it for economic reasons.

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The reasons for staying at home correlate with the experience -

This suggests that the men who entered this role because of economic reasons may not have been fit for the role, and, as a result, have struggled more with their responsibilities.

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Stigma -

Ninety-three of the 207 participants (44.9%) in this study felt like they had experienced some form of stigma for being a stay-at-home dad.

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Stigma from other stay-at-home dads -

However, most of the negative experiences (69.9%) perceived as stigma were conveyed to actually be caused by another stay-at-home dad's adverse reaction.

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Other origins of stigma -

About 24% of the men reporting stigma said it came from multiple individuals of various genders.

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Not playing fair -

Many of the men experienced adverse incidents on the playground, which left them feeling isolated.

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Reasons for negative reactions -

The most commonly cited reasons for experiencing adverse reactions for being stay-at-home dads were ignorance, religious/political beliefs, and opposing gender roles or belief systems.

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Possible factors to address -

The responses suggest we should be questioning others’ reactions towards stay-at-home dads, and supporting these fathers in coping with isolation and rejection.

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Less social support results in more perceived stigma -

A common thread from the study was that the men who reported having experienced stigma for embodying their role also reported the least amount of social support.

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Weak social support -

Weak social support has continuously been shown to affect stigmatized groups negatively. Examples of these groups would be single mothers, people with mental illnesses, and HIV-positive individuals.

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A qualitative perspective -

Dr. Bronwyn Harman, a senior lecturer in psychology at Edith Cowan University, conducted qualitative research on 10 men who chose to be stay-at-home fathers. The study showed that the men were experiencing much of the same problems as stay-at-home mothers do, like being “stuck at home with no one to talk to.”

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Systems were designed for mothers -

Dr. Harman says that many of the systems set up to help parents, like parenting classes, were initially designed for women, so the dialogue in these classes may still be aimed at women. This made the fathers feel left out.

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The nuclear family structure -

The survey of 4,573 respondents by Pew Research found that there was about a quarter (27%) of couples with children where only the man works. In 1970, this was the case for 47% of couples.

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"Women do a better job" -

According to Pew Research, over half of Americans (53%) think that women do a better job raising children. By comparison, 45% of respondents said that men and women do equally as well, and 1% said that men are better at raising children than women.

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Lack of research -

There are limitations to this field of research, presumably because it's a relatively new. Another reason could be that it's an issue that can, by nature, only affect middle to upper-class individuals and families.

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Issues with research -

One other issue is that there's not much existing material that looks comparatively at both stay-at-home mothers and stay-at-home fathers. Other issues are that research is often conducted primarily on middle to high socioeconomic status individuals, with most of the men also almost entirely being white and heterosexual.

Sources: (Pew Research Center 1 and 2) (Psychology of Men & Masculinity)

See also: Bizarre parenting tips from the 19th century

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