Paternity Leave-Taking in the United States.

Surprisingly few studies have focused on paternity leave-taking in the U.S. This study utilizes data from three national datasets to provide a comprehensive examination of paternity leavetaking in the U.S. Specifically, this study focuses on describing trends in paternity leave-taking in the U.S., examining whether economic capital, social capital, and father identities predict the likelihood of paternity leave-taking and length of leave, and whether there are differences in which factors predict paid and unpaid leave-taking. Results suggest that most U.S. fathers take paternity leave, but most a week of leave or less and rates of paid leave-taking are relatively low. Results also suggest that fathers with higher levels of economic and social capital and more salient and committed father identities are more likely to take paternity leave, and take longer periods of leave, than less advantaged fathers and fathers with less salient and committed father identities. Economic capital also appears to be more influential in predicting patterns of paid than unpaid leave-taking. Overall, results suggest that the current structure of U.S. paternity leave policies may contribute to larger patterns of inequality due to more advantaged fathers having greater access and ability to take paternity leave than less advantaged fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]