What Parents Say and What Parents Do: How Parental Attitudes and Behaviors Jointly Shape Youth Gender Role Attitudes in China

Shiwen Liu , Renmin University of China, University of Vienna
Lili Vargha, University of Vienna

Gender role attitudes influence individuals’ decisions in both the labor market and household domain, and their intergenerational transmission is crucial for understanding persistent gender inequality in China. Using longitudinal data from the 2014 and 2020 waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study examines how parental gender role attitudes and gendered behaviors, including maternal labor force participation and paternal involvement in housework, shape youths’ gender role attitudes in the Chinese context. The results show that both paternal and maternal attitudes have significant positive effects on youths’ gender role attitudes, with similar magnitudes. Maternal labor force participation also has an independent positive effect, while paternal involvement in housework does not. Interaction analyses reveal no significant gender heterogeneity between sons and daughters, nor complementary or cumulative effects between paternal and maternal attitudes. Maternal gender role attitudes and maternal labor force participation exhibit a clear cumulative effect, but no such interaction emerges between paternal attitudes and behaviors. These findings advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the intergenerational transmission of gender role attitudes in China.

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 Presented in Session P2. Families, Fertility, and the Life Course 2