ABSTRACT
Professional literature has emphasized the new “culture of fatherhood” (LaRossa, 1988), highlighting caregiving and nurturant associations between fathers and their children (Robinson & Barret, 1986; Rotundo, 1985). Because work and family compete for a father’s time and attention (Christiansen & Palkovitz, 2001; Cohen, 1993; Hood, 1986; Lamb et al., 1987; Levine & Pittinsky, 1997), a father’s involvement in paid employment can be characterized as an excuse for “buy out,” or an avoidance from involvement at home (Hochschild, 1997). This perspective may hold validity in some families, but this view does not represent the complex interactions between the numerous roles that fathers perform as they care for the needs of their families or the conflicts men face in balancing occupational development and involvement as fathers (Hood, 1986).
