Collaborative Research: The influence of household labor distribution in families on children’s social development

In many families the division of household labor is unevenly distributed between parents, however little is known about how differential division of labor in a household may impact children’s development. This project investigates how family experiences relate to children’s thinking about fairness and their aspirations for future work and family life. The broader impacts of this project include research training in developmental science and behavioral methods for graduate and undergraduate students in STEM, and broad dissemination of the research findings to the public. There has been limited research into how children’s experiences with their immediate home environments – namely their family’s division of labor – impact their cognitive development. This project takes a socio-cognitive developmental approach by focusing on a relatively underexplored contributor to young children’s cognition: the experience of within family division of labor. In a series of studies, the project investigates (1) how family division of labor is associated with children’s own future expectations for both career and family life, (2) how naturally occurring distinct family structures (e.g., two-parent versus single-parent households) may influence young children’s understanding of how family labor can be divided, and (3) whether alternative examples can influence children’s beliefs about their future family lives and career aspirations. The project uses behavioral and observational data from parents and children, including experimental and survey approaches, to test possible causes of children’s career and family life aspirations. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.