The admiration of fathers: using factorial vignettes to explore differential assessments of parenting quality

Abstract

Informal evidence suggests the existence of a fatherhood premium in social rewards (e.g. compliments and praise). The goal of this study is to assess the existence of a social premium for fathers, and examine its relationship to tangible rewards. Original factorial vignettes were distributed to a sample of US adults, and linear and logistic regression were run to assess the relationship between gender of parent and social rewards, and between parent quality and tangible rewards. The inclusion of a gender essentialism measure (the belief in innate differences between men and women) and other respondent characteristics allows for the exploration of additional associations. Results from this analysis do not suggest a fatherhood premium in social rewards. However, the results do provide evidence for interesting relationships between respondent characteristics, such as respondent gender and gender essentialism, and the conferral of social and material rewards.