Mothering and Fathering, or just Parenting: Measurement Invariance of Parental Beliefs by Gender

Abstract

In the ongoing discussion about the possible differences between mothering and fathering, tests of measurement invariance play an important role. However, there remains a need to investigate the measurement invariance of parental beliefs by gender. Mothers ( n = 2,236) and fathers ( n = 1,106) who attended parenting education courses reported on their beliefs using both original and validated measures. Using factor analytic techniques, we estimated a series of nested models that applied parameter constraints hierarchically to assess measurement invariance between mothers and fathers for these parenting beliefs. Results indicated strict invariance for some, but not all, constructs. Namely, beliefs regarding facilitating children’s independence and beliefs regarding structure were invariant, whereas beliefs regarding connection showed levels of systematic difference between genders. Testing invariance allows researchers to shed light on which aspects of parenting are the same and which are different, and to what extent mothering and fathering can be directly compared.