The Phenomenon of Involved Fathering on the Materials of the Full-Scale Generation and Gender Survey in Russia (Parents and Children, Men and Women in Family and Society)

The present research is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of involved fathering on the materials of the full-scale Generation and Gender Survey in Russia (Parents and Children, Men and Women in Family and Society, 2011). GGS is the only large-scale representative data source, which provides information on the practices of the Russian fathers. The general purpose of this project is more likely exploratory, and it consists in identification of factors that may determine the phenomenon of involved fathering expressed in the father practices among modern Russian men. Firstly, it is anticipated to review the main theoretical approaches to the understanding of fatherhood and fathering, including the concept of "involved fathering" ("involved fatherhood", "father involvement", "paternal involvement" and so forth) and the factors that may determine it. It is also supposed to conduct a series of semi-formalized interviews with the modern Russian fathers. The results of this step allowed broadening the understandings of the phenomenon of involved fathering in the Russian context and illustrating the theoretical framework (Lamb’s model of father involvement) on the Russian materials. Then the main difficulty consists in the work with the available secondary GGS data in Russia (limited set of variables). The overcoming of this difficulty allowed to carry out path analysis on the available materials where the available variables that reflect the parental practices of child care became the dependent variables. As a result, we revealed that such factors as employment, higher level of education, living in more populated localities, having only sons and having more than one child, determine a higher level of father involvement in certain parental practices. Thus, the outcomes of this research could become a starting point for further study of Russian fatherhood and could help in the development of social measures aimed at supporting parenthood and fatherhood in our country.