Fatherhood time rises in US, but gains split by class
Research cited by USC psychologist Darby Saxbe shows U.S. dads spend more time on child care, with college-educated fathers driving much of the increase.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
4 min read
American fathers are spending far more time caring for children than earlier generations did, according to research cited by USC psychology professor Darby Saxbe. The shift matters because the gains are uneven, with better-educated and higher-income fathers better able to take leave, work flexibly and spend extra time with their children.
Saxbe, writing in The Conversation, said estimates show the average daily time fathers spend caring for children has quadrupled over the past half-century. She also cited Pew Research Center findings that about 85% of fathers describe being a parent as one of the most important parts of who they are.
The increase reflects a broader change in fatherhood, Saxbe said. Research links fathers’ involvement with better outcomes for children and less pressure on mothers, she wrote. But she also said parents are being asked to do more as extended-family and community support for child rearing has weakened.
A comparison with hunter-gatherer fathers
Saxbe pointed to the Aka people of Central Africa, a hunter-gatherer society studied by anthropologist Barry Hewlett. Aka fathers have been described as unusually involved because they are often close to their infants and play a large role in raising children, Saxbe said.
Recent U.S. time-use data suggest American fathers of infants now report more child-care time than the Aka fathers Hewlett observed, though Saxbe cautioned that the two measures are not perfectly comparable. The 2024 American Time Use Survey found U.S. fathers of infants spent about 125 minutes a day on primary child care, meaning the child was their main focus, and another 394 minutes on secondary child care, meaning they were watching a child while doing another task.
Hewlett’s field research found Aka fathers of infants spent about 57 minutes a day on primary child care and 96 minutes on secondary child care, according to Saxbe. She said the comparison should be treated carefully because the U.S. figures rely on self-reported diaries, while the Aka figures came from direct observation.
Saxbe said Hewlett argues that fathers’ roles have become more significant in modern societies partly because mothers are more likely to work outside the home and partly because fewer other caregivers are available. In communal settings such as the Aka, many adults and children help care for the young.
She cited a 2021 study of the Agta, a hunter-gatherer group in the Philippines, that found fathers provided about 7% of child care and mothers about 25%. Siblings, grandparents, other relatives, peers and community members supplied the rest, according to the study.
Why the gains are unequal
In industrialized countries, Saxbe wrote, family life is often built around parents and children, with less daily help from relatives and neighbors. That leaves fathers and mothers to cover more of the work themselves.
The rise in fathers’ child-care time has not been shared evenly in the United States, according to analysis by journalists Derek Thompson and Aziz Sunderji cited by Saxbe. Using data from the Multinational Time Use Study, they found that college-educated fathers accounted for much of the increase over the past 60 years.
In the 1960s, fathers with college degrees spent only a few more minutes per day on child care than fathers without college degrees, according to that analysis. The gap has since grown fivefold, with college-educated fathers now spending 46 more minutes a day with their children than noncollege-educated fathers.
Saxbe said access to paid leave and stable, flexible jobs helps explain part of the divide. Census Bureau data cited by Saxbe show only about half of U.S. fathers take paid paternity leave after a child is born. The federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides unpaid leave for many workers, but Saxbe cited Labor Department figures showing about 44% of workers are not eligible because of limits affecting small businesses, part-time work and gig work.
Lower-wage fathers may also be unable to give up income even when leave is available, Saxbe said. She argued that hands-on fatherhood should not depend on income and said stronger community ties and broader family support would help parents as well as children.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.