WORK, INCOME, THE ECONOMY, AND MARRIED FATHERS AS CHILD-CARE PROVIDERS

Previous research on fathers as child-care providers indicates a need to study the father's role in child care in the context of different e conomic cycles. Using data from the 1988, 1991, and 1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation, we examine whether father s' availability and the couple's economic resources are differentially related to child care by fathers over time. We focus on the differenc es between 1991-a recession year-and 1988 and 1993-two nonrecession ye ars. Increased availability of fathers is significantly related to hig her levels of fathers' participation in child care in all three years. Relative economic resources between husbands and wives help explain c are by fathers only during the recession year, whereas family income i s important only in the nonrecession years. These results suggest that in the future, researchers should acknowledge fluctuations in the eco nomy when studying husbands' participation in traditional female tasks , as macroeconomic shifts appear to impact the likelihood of married f athers caring for their preschoolers during mothers' working hours.