Policy as normative influence? On the relationship between parental leave policy and social norms in gender division of childcare across 48 countries

Simon Schindler¹, Carolin Schuster², Maria I T Olsson³, Laura Froehlich⁴, Ann-Kathrin Hübner², Katharina Block⁵, Colette Van Laar⁶, Toni Schmader⁷, Loes Meeussen^{6

8}, Sanne van Grootel⁶, Alyssa Croft⁹, Molly Shuyi Sun¹⁰, Mare Ainsaar¹¹, Lianne Aarntzen¹², Magdalena Adamus¹³, Joel Anderson^{14

15}, Ciara Atkinson⁹, Mohamad Avicenna¹⁶, Przemysław Bąbel¹⁷, Markus Barth¹⁸, Tessa Benson-Greenwald¹⁹, Edona Maloku²⁰, Jacques Berent²¹, Hilary B Bergsieker²², Monica Biernat²³, Andreea Birneanu²⁴, Blerta Bodinaku²⁵, Janine Bosak²⁶, Jennifer Bosson²⁷, Marija Branković²⁸, Julius Burkauskas²⁹, Vladimíra Čavojová¹³, Sapna Cheryan³⁰, Eunsoo Choi³¹, Incheol Choi³², Carlos C Contreras-Ibáñez³³, Andrew Coogan³⁴, Ivan Danyliuk³⁵, Ilan Dar-Nimrod³⁶, Nilanjana Dasgupta³⁷, Soledad de Lemus³⁸, Thierry Devos³⁹, Marwan Diab⁴⁰, Amanda B Diekman¹⁹, Maria Efremova⁴¹, Léïla Eisner⁴², Anja Eller⁴³, Rasa Erentaite⁴⁴, Denisa Fedáková¹³, Renata Franc⁴⁵, Leire Gartzia⁴⁶, Alin Gavreliuc²⁴, Dana Gavreliuc²⁴, Julija Gecaite-Stonciene²⁹, Adriana L Germano⁴⁷, Ilaria Giovannelli⁴⁸, Renzo Gismondi Diaz⁴⁹, Lyudmila Gitikhmayeva⁵⁰, Abiy Menkir Gizaw⁵¹, Biljana Gjoneska⁵², Omar Martínez González⁴³, Roberto González⁵³, Isaac David Grijalva⁵⁴, Derya Güngör⁶, Marie Gustafsson Sendén⁵⁵, William Hall⁵⁶, Charles Harb⁵⁷, Bushra Hassan⁵⁸, Tabea Hässler⁴², Diala R Hawi⁵⁹, Levke Henningsen⁶⁰, Annedore Hoppe⁶¹, Keiko Ishii⁶², Ivana Jakšić⁶³, Alba Jasini⁶, Jurgita Jurkevičienė⁴⁴, Kaltrina Kelmendi⁶⁴, Teri A Kirby⁶⁵, Yoko Kitakaji⁶⁶, Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka⁶⁷, Inna Kozytska³⁵, Clara Kulich²¹, Eva Kundtová-Klocová⁶⁸, Filiz Kunuroglu⁶⁹, Christina Lapytskaia Aidy⁷⁰, Albert Lee⁷¹, Anna Lindqvist⁷², Wilson López-López⁷³, Liany Luzvinda¹⁶, Fridanna Maricchiolo⁷⁴, Delphine Martinot⁷⁵, Rita Anne McNamara⁷⁶, Alyson Meister⁷⁷, Tizita Lemma Melka⁵¹, Narseta Mickuviene²⁹, María Isabel Miranda-Orrego⁵⁴, Thadeus Mkamwa⁷⁸, James Morandini³⁶, Thomas Morton⁷⁹, David Mrisho⁷⁸, Jana Nikitin⁸⁰, Sabine Otten⁸¹, Maria Giuseppina Pacilli⁸², Elizabeth Page-Gould¹⁰, Ana Perandrés-Gómez³⁸, Jon Pizarro⁴⁶, Nada Pop-Jordanova⁵², Joanna Pyrkosz-Pacyna⁸³, Sameir Quta⁸⁴, TamilSelvan Ramis⁸⁵, Nitya Rani⁸⁶, Sandrine Redersdorff⁷⁵, Isabelle Régner⁸⁷, Emma A Renström⁸⁸, Adrian Rivera-Rodriguez³⁷, Rocha-Sánchez Tania Esmeralda⁴³, Tatiana Ryabichenko⁴¹, Rim Saab^{57

89}, Kiriko Sakata⁶⁶, Adil Samekin⁹⁰, Tracy Sánchez-Pacheco⁹¹, Carolin Scheifele^{5

92

93}, Marion K Schulmeyer⁴⁹, Sabine Sczesny⁹⁴, David Sirlopú⁹⁵, Vanessa Smith-Castro⁹⁶, Kadri Soo¹¹, Federica Spaccatini⁸², Jennifer R Steele⁷⁰, Melanie C Steffens⁹³, Ines Sucic⁴⁵, Joseph Vandello²⁷, Laura Maria Velásquez-Díaz⁷³, Melissa Vink¹², Eva Vives⁸⁷, Turuwark Zalalam Warkineh⁵¹, Iris Žeželj⁶³, Xiaoxiao Zhang⁹⁷, Xian Zhao⁹⁸, Yasin Koc⁸¹, Ömer Erdem Kocak⁹⁹, Sarah E Martiny¹⁰⁰

Affiliations

¹ Federal University of Applied Adminstrative Sciences, Berlin, Germany.
² Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany.
³ Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Norway.
⁴ FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany.
⁵ University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁶ University of Leuven, Belgium.
⁷ The University of British Columbia, Canada.
⁸ Thomas More College of Applied Psychology, Antwerp, Belgium.
⁹ University of Arizona, USA.
¹⁰ University of Toronto, Canada.
¹¹ University of Tartu, Estonia.
¹² Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
¹³ Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
¹⁴ Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
¹⁵ La Trobe University, Australia.
¹⁶ State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatuillah Jakarta, Indonesia.
¹⁷ Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
¹⁸ Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Germany.
¹⁹ Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.
²⁰ Rochester Institute of Technology in Kosovo (RIT), Kosovo.
²¹ University of Geneva, Switzerland.
²² University of Waterloo, Canada.
²³ University of Kansas, USA.
²⁴ West University of Timisoara, Romania.
²⁵ University of Tirana, Albania.
²⁶ Dublin City University, Ireland.
²⁷ University of South Florida, USA.
²⁸ Singidunum University, Serbia.
²⁹ Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Palanga, Lithuania.
³⁰ University of Washington, USA.
³¹ Korea University, South Korea.
³² Seoul National University, South Korea.
³³ UAM - Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico.
³⁴ Maynooth University (National University of Ireland), Ireland.
³⁵ Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine.
³⁶ The University of Sydney, Australia.
³⁷ University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.
³⁸ Universidad de Granada, Spain.
³⁹ San Diego State University, USA.
⁴⁰ Stellenbosch University, South Africa, Stellenbosch, Palestine.
⁴¹ National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University), Moscow, Russia.
⁴² University of Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴³ UNAM - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.
⁴⁴ Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania.
⁴⁵ Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Croatia.
⁴⁶ Deusto Business School, Bilbao, Spain.
⁴⁷ Yale University, USA.
⁴⁸ University 'G. D'Annunzio' of Chieti-Pescara, Italy.
⁴⁹ Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
⁵⁰ L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan.
⁵¹ Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia.
⁵² Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje, North Macedonia.
⁵³ Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile.
⁵⁴ Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Ecuador.
⁵⁵ Stockholm University, Sweden.
⁵⁶ Brock University, Canada.
⁵⁷ American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
⁵⁸ International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan.
⁵⁹ Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar.
⁶⁰ University of Exeter, UK.
⁶¹ University of Leipzig, Germany.
⁶² Nagoya University, Japan.
⁶³ University of Belgrade, Serbia.
⁶⁴ University of Prishtina, Kosovo.
⁶⁵ Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA.
⁶⁶ Hiroshima University, Japan.
⁶⁷ University of Gdańsk, Poland.
⁶⁸ Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
⁶⁹ İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University, Turkey.
⁷⁰ York University, Canada.
⁷¹ Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
⁷² Lund University, Sweden.
⁷³ Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia.
⁷⁴ Roma Tre University, Italy.
⁷⁵ Université Clermont Auvergne (LAPSCO), France.
⁷⁶ Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
⁷⁷ IMD Business School, Switzerland.
⁷⁸ Saint Augustine University of Tanzania, Tanzania.
⁷⁹ University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁸⁰ University of Vienna, Austria.
⁸¹ University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁸² Università di Perugia, Italy.
⁸³ AGH University of Krakow, Poland.
⁸⁴ Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine.
⁸⁵ Sunway University, Malaysia.
⁸⁶ Independent Researcher, India.
⁸⁷ Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, LPC, France.
⁸⁸ University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
⁸⁹ University of Sussex, UK.
⁹⁰ M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University, Astana, Kazakhstan.
⁹¹ Osnabrück University, Germany.
⁹² Research Foundation of Flanders, Belgium.
⁹³ RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany.
⁹⁴ University of Bern, Switzerland.
⁹⁵ Universidad San Sebastián, Concepción, Chile.
⁹⁶ University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.
⁹⁷ Shenzhen University, China.
⁹⁸ Ohio University, USA.
⁹⁹ Instanbul Medipol University, Turkey.
¹⁰⁰ UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway.

PMID: 39439425
DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12806

Policy as normative influence? On the relationship between parental leave policy and social norms in gender division of childcare across 48 countries

Simon Schindler et al. Br J Soc Psychol. 2025 Apr.

. 2025 Apr;64(2):e12806.

doi: 10.1111/bjso.12806. Epub 2024 Oct 23.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Federal University of Applied Adminstrative Sciences, Berlin, Germany.
² Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany.
³ Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Lillehammer, Norway.
⁴ FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany.
⁵ University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁶ University of Leuven, Belgium.
⁷ The University of British Columbia, Canada.
⁸ Thomas More College of Applied Psychology, Antwerp, Belgium.
⁹ University of Arizona, USA.
¹⁰ University of Toronto, Canada.
¹¹ University of Tartu, Estonia.
¹² Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
¹³ Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia.
¹⁴ Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.
¹⁵ La Trobe University, Australia.
¹⁶ State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatuillah Jakarta, Indonesia.
¹⁷ Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
¹⁸ Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Germany.
¹⁹ Indiana University, Bloomington, USA.
²⁰ Rochester Institute of Technology in Kosovo (RIT), Kosovo.
²¹ University of Geneva, Switzerland.
²² University of Waterloo, Canada.
²³ University of Kansas, USA.
²⁴ West University of Timisoara, Romania.
²⁵ University of Tirana, Albania.
²⁶ Dublin City University, Ireland.
²⁷ University of South Florida, USA.
²⁸ Singidunum University, Serbia.
²⁹ Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Palanga, Lithuania.
³⁰ University of Washington, USA.
³¹ Korea University, South Korea.
³² Seoul National University, South Korea.
³³ UAM - Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico.
³⁴ Maynooth University (National University of Ireland), Ireland.
³⁵ Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine.
³⁶ The University of Sydney, Australia.
³⁷ University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.
³⁸ Universidad de Granada, Spain.
³⁹ San Diego State University, USA.
⁴⁰ Stellenbosch University, South Africa, Stellenbosch, Palestine.
⁴¹ National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE University), Moscow, Russia.
⁴² University of Zurich, Switzerland.
⁴³ UNAM - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.
⁴⁴ Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania.
⁴⁵ Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Croatia.
⁴⁶ Deusto Business School, Bilbao, Spain.
⁴⁷ Yale University, USA.
⁴⁸ University 'G. D'Annunzio' of Chieti-Pescara, Italy.
⁴⁹ Universidad Privada de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
⁵⁰ L. N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan.
⁵¹ Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia.
⁵² Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje, North Macedonia.
⁵³ Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Chile.
⁵⁴ Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Ecuador.
⁵⁵ Stockholm University, Sweden.
⁵⁶ Brock University, Canada.
⁵⁷ American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
⁵⁸ International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan.
⁵⁹ Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar.
⁶⁰ University of Exeter, UK.
⁶¹ University of Leipzig, Germany.
⁶² Nagoya University, Japan.
⁶³ University of Belgrade, Serbia.
⁶⁴ University of Prishtina, Kosovo.
⁶⁵ Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA.
⁶⁶ Hiroshima University, Japan.
⁶⁷ University of Gdańsk, Poland.
⁶⁸ Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
⁶⁹ İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University, Turkey.
⁷⁰ York University, Canada.
⁷¹ Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
⁷² Lund University, Sweden.
⁷³ Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia.
⁷⁴ Roma Tre University, Italy.
⁷⁵ Université Clermont Auvergne (LAPSCO), France.
⁷⁶ Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
⁷⁷ IMD Business School, Switzerland.
⁷⁸ Saint Augustine University of Tanzania, Tanzania.
⁷⁹ University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁸⁰ University of Vienna, Austria.
⁸¹ University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
⁸² Università di Perugia, Italy.
⁸³ AGH University of Krakow, Poland.
⁸⁴ Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine.
⁸⁵ Sunway University, Malaysia.
⁸⁶ Independent Researcher, India.
⁸⁷ Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, LPC, France.
⁸⁸ University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
⁸⁹ University of Sussex, UK.
⁹⁰ M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University, Astana, Kazakhstan.
⁹¹ Osnabrück University, Germany.
⁹² Research Foundation of Flanders, Belgium.
⁹³ RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany.
⁹⁴ University of Bern, Switzerland.
⁹⁵ Universidad San Sebastián, Concepción, Chile.
⁹⁶ University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.
⁹⁷ Shenzhen University, China.
⁹⁸ Ohio University, USA.
⁹⁹ Instanbul Medipol University, Turkey.
¹⁰⁰ UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway.

PMID: 39439425
DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12806

Abstract

In the present work, we addressed the relationship between parental leave policies and social norms. Using a pre-registered, cross-national approach, we examined the relationship between parental leave policies and the perception of social norms for the gender division of childcare. In this study, 19,259 students (11,924 women) from 48 countries indicated the degree to which they believe childcare is (descriptive norm) and should be (prescriptive norm) equally divided among mothers and fathers. Policies were primarily operationalized as the existence of parental leave options in the respective country. The descriptive and prescriptive norms of equal division of childcare were stronger when parental leave was available in a country - also when controlling for potential confounding variables. Moreover, analyses of time since policy change suggested that policy change may initially affect prescriptive norms and then descriptive norms at a later point. However, due to the cross-sectional nature of the data, drawing causal inferences is difficult.

Keywords: childcare; gender inequality; parental leave; policy; social norms.

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References

REFERENCES

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Policy as normative influence? On the relationship between parental leave policy and social norms in gender division of childcare across 48 countries

Affiliations

Policy as normative influence? On the relationship between parental leave policy and social norms in gender division of childcare across 48 countries

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

REFERENCES

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources