Parenting in Cultural Perspective: A Systematic Review of Paternal Role Across Cultures

Abstract

The paternal role has become one of the most topic discussions in parenting and has drawn researchers' intention worldwide. This research aimed to explore the existing literature relating to paternal roles across cultures, which analyzed 1) how the paternal roles in cultural perspectives have been researched; 2) what the parental values based on cultures mentioned in the literature are, and 3) what the topic discussed about the paternal role across culture is. The focus of the research was to find out the current trends of paternal roles across cultures from 2012 to 2022 derived from the Scopus database. The method used was a systematic review and followed PRISMA guidelines (the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis). The study revealed that most of the literature highlighted the significance of the fathers’ involvement in child-rearing in every culture (Indian, Japanese, Latino, Chinese, Indonesian, Norwegian, and Finland) and the improvement of paternal practices due to the adaptation of new cultures and the emergence of fathers' awareness to take part in their children's lives. It can be concluded that the paternal role in a collectivist culture still holds firm to the culture in parenting practices but has begun to experience a shift from the original position of breadwinner, protector, even disciplinarian and authoritarian, becoming the more involved father in child-rearing. While most fathers from individualist cultures had previously been involved in child care because they were supported by policies in their country of origin.