Do household and childcare task divisions prospectively predict engagement in time-costly continuing education among Dutch working mothers and fathers?

Abstract

Despite its importance for career development, previous cross-sectional studies have shown that individuals are reluctant to consider continuing education (CE) engagement because of family responsibilities. To prospectively test these associations, a longitudinal dataset consisting of, respectively, 548 and 809 working mothers and fathers (with one or more living-at-home children of 12 years or younger) was extracted from a Dutch population–based internet survey. Whether respondents were engaged in T2 CE was prospectively predicted by T1a (with an average 466-day time-lag) household labour, childcare division, and job–household focus, while controlling for several relevant T1b job and household characteristics. Using generalised linear mixed models, outcomes reveal that only mothers are less likely to engage in CE when they had less children. Division of household labour, childcare, and job–household focus were all not predictive of CE at T2. Future studies should examine moderators of the association between family responsibilities and CE engagement.