An exploratory study of Korean fathering of adolescent children

The author examined variation in contemporary Korean fathering (e.g., warmth of fathering, frequency of father involvement, and task share of father involvement) in 129 2-parent families with 11- to 14-year-old children. Parents and children completed standardized survey questionnaires addressing their childrearing practices, parental role involvement, spousal support, and sex role orientations. Data were analyzed via multiple analyses of variance, t tests, correlational analyses, and multiple regression analyses. Socioeconomic status (SES), maternal support, fathers' femininity, parents' education, and maternal work status had predictive ability for the 3 dimensions of fathering. Overall, compared with lower SES fathers, middle-class fathers reported significantly more warmth (regardless of the sex of the child), less frequency of involvement in childrearing, and less task-sharing involvement in childrearing. Regardless of SES, fathers with working wives reported higher levels of task-sharing involvement relative to their spouses. These findings support the ecological view that fathering is a dynamic process predicted by personal characteristics as well as contextual factors.