2001 Volume 15 Issue 1 Pages 25-34
The nature of parents' involvement in a child's care while shopping was examined in relation to the child's developmental stage (0-1 yr, 2-3 yr, 4-5 yr) and the presence of younger siblings. Patterns of parent involvement in the care of older and younger children were also examined in two-children families. Three hundred twenty-six families (229 one-child families and 97 two-children families) were observed while passing through an open space in a large indoor shopping mall All of the 0-1 year-old children observed were directly controlled by either their mother or father : 59.0% were in a stroller and 39.1% were held in a parent's arms. On the other hand, 2-3 year-old children with younger siblings were less frequently directly controlled by their parents than those without younger siblings, while no such diffrences were found for 4-5 year-old children. Regardless of whether they had younger siblings, 2-3 year-old children were likely to be controlled by holding the hand of their mother or by being held by or holding the hand of their father, whereas most 4-5 year-old children held a parent's hand. An analysis of the patterns of parent involvement with older and younger children revealed that in two-children families in which the older siblings were 2-3 years old (and most of the younger siblings were 0-1 years old), the father and mother were most often caregivers for the older and younger children, respectively, while a similar pattern was not found in families in which the older sibling was 4-5 years old. These findings suggest that a father's disproportionate care of an older 2-3 year-old child when the younger sibling is an infant or young toddler may play an important role in family adaptaion to the birth of siblings.
