The relationship between parenting engagement and academic performance

Abstract

Gender differences in research productivity have been well documented. One frequent explanation of these differences is disproportionate child-related responsibilities for women. However, changing social dynamics around parenting has led to fathers taking an increasingly active role in parenting. This demands a more nuanced approach to understanding the relationship between parenting and productivity for both men and women. To gain insight into associations between parent roles, partner type, research productivity, and research impact, we conducted a global survey that targeted 1.5 million active scientists; we received viable responses from 10,445 parents (< 1% response rate), thus providing a basis for exploratory analyses that shed light on associations between parenting models and research outcomes, across men and women. Results suggest that the gendered effect observed in production may be related by differential engagement in parenting: men who serve in lead roles suffer similar penalties for parenting engagement, but women are more likely to serve in lead roles and to be more engaged across time and tasks, therefore suffering a higher penalty. Taking a period of parental leave is associated with higher levels of productivity; however, the productivity advantage dissipates after six months for the US-sample, and at 12-months for the non-US sample. These results suggest that parental engagement is a more powerful variable to explain gender differences in academic productivity than the mere existence of children, and that policies should factor these labor differentials into account.

Figure 1

(A) Parenting type by gender and household composition. (B) Respondents reporting themselves as the primary caregiver at different times of the day, by gender and parenting type. (C) Respondents reporting being a primary caregiver for the parenting-related activities, by gender and parenting type. Respondents are considered “primary caregiver” if they reported “Mostly me” or “Almost always me” in taking care of these activities. The asterisks denote the FDR-adjusted p-values from the two-sample tests of proportion between men and women: + p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

Figure 2

Respondents with an academic employment (n = 8,046) reporting being a primary caregiver for the parenting-related activities by parenting type, gender, and partner employment status (Academic vs. Non-academic). Respondents are considered “primary caregiver” if they reported “Mostly me” or “Almost always me” in taking care of these activities. The asterisks denote the FDR-adjusted p-values from the two-sample tests of proportion between those having an academic partner and their counterparts having a non-academic partner: + p < 0.1, * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

Figure 3

Predicted number of papers for men and women, by parenting engagement and partnership status. The dash line refers to the predicted productivity of our reference group: dual mothers with a non-academic partner. Results are averaged over the levels of number of children, academic employment status, doctoral degree, and domain. Intervals are back-transformed from the log scale.

Figure 4

Predicted number of papers by parental leave lengths and gender in the (A) US sample and (B) Non-US sample. The dash line refers to the predicted productivity of our reference group: dual mothers with a non-academic partner taking no parental leave. Results are averaged over the levels of parenting type, partnership status, number of children, academic employment status, doctoral degree, and domain. Intervals are back-transformed from the log scale.

Figure 5

Predicted productivity/impact based on parenting type, gender, and partnership status, faceted by (A) gender, (B) partnership status: (1) total number of papers, (2) total number of citations (TCS), (3) mean normalized citation scores (MNCS). The dash line refers to the predicted productivity/impact of our reference group: dual mothers with a non-academic partner. Results are averaged over the levels of number of children, academic employment status, doctoral degree, and domain (except for MNCS). Intervals are back-transformed from the log scale.