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Fathers' and Mothers' Reports of Involvement in Caring for Infants in Kadazan Families in Sabah, Malaysia
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To further examine culture-specific patterns of paternal involvement in childcare, assessments were made of fathers' and mothers' perceptions of their involvement in caring for and stimulating infants in 41 urban Kadazan families in Sabah, Malaysia. Mothers exceeded fathers in the amount of time they spent in cleaning, feeding, and playing with infants and in their levels of engagement in direct care of infants. With the exception of feeding and singing, fathers and mothers reported engaging in similar amounts of care and stimulation of infant boys and girls. The results are discussed in the context of cultural beliefs about gender role differentiation in early childcare in Kadazan families in a rapidly changing Malaysian society.
Keywords: Kadazan fathering, childcare, Malaysian culture, traditional beliefs
There is a small but growing body of work on fathers in different cultural communities in the technologically developing societies of the world. Not unlike the research focus on fathers in North America and Europe (see Lamb, 2004), the studies conducted in the developing societies of Asia, Africa, and Latin America have also attempted to establish what men do in families when they are present and the meaning of such involvement (e.g., Benetti & Roopnarine, 2006; Brown, Newland, Anderson, & Chevannes, 1997; Hewlett, 1987; Jankowiak, 1992; Munroe & Munroe, 1992; Tulananda & Roopnarine, 2001). Following suggestions made by cultural and indigenous psychologists to examine childrearing and socialization practices within cultural contexts (for a review see Greenfield, 2000), the present study examined early patterns of paternal involvement among the Kadazan of Malaysia, an indigenous group that has experienced tremendous economic and social changes over the last two decades.
Paternal Involvement in Early Childcare Across Cultures
It is well documented that fathers lag behind mothers in their levels of involvement in caring for children across most societies studied to date...