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Family Gender Role and Guilt in Spanish Dual-Earner Families

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DOI: 10.1007/s11199-011-0031-4

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Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
DOI 10.1007/s11199-011-0031-4
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Family Gender Role and Guilt in Spanish
Dual-Earner Families
Pilar Martínez & María José Carrasco & Gonzalo Aza &
Angeles Blanco & Isabel Espinar
Published online: 6 July 2011
# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011
Abstract In dual-earner families the balance between work
and family demands facilitates the development of guilt
feelings when parents perceive a non-fulfillment of their
responsibilities in childcare. Specifically, women who
aspire to personal and professional development on the
basis of more egalitarian gender role models must deal with
the traditional stereotypes that maintain an intensive
maternity mandate that prioritizes the family. On the other
hand, for men the role change is primarily in the family
setting with the development of a new father role more
involved in the care of their children, which is not easily
compatible with the more traditional breadwinner role. This
study explored the feelings of guilt about parenting in 251
employed Spanish parents with children between 3 and
6 years of age, through the Scale of Guilt Feelings about
Parenting, and its relationship with traditional stereotypes
of maternal and family role. The scale addresses diverse
situations pertaining to child rearing in which work
requirements do not allow parents full availability for the
care of their children. This availability is present in the model
of intensive maternity and in the new father role model.
Results indicate the presence of similar and high levels of
guilt in fathers and mothers, although in men guilt is related
to a non-traditional family role ideology, whereas in women
guilt is related to a more traditional maternal role stereotype.
P. Martínez (*) : M. J. Carrasco : G. Aza : I. Espinar
Departamento de Psicología,
Universidad Pontificia Comillas de Madrid,
C/Universidad Comillas 3,
28049 Madrid, Spain
e-mail: mapi@chs.upcomillas.es
A. Blanco
Departamento de Métodos de Investigación y Diagnóstico en
Educación, Universidad Complutense,
C/ Rector Royo Villanueva s/n,
Madrid 28040, Spain
Keywords Family gender role . Dual-earner families .
Parental guilt . Mothers . Fathers
Introduction
Spain is one of the European Union countries which has
experienced a more rapid increase in the percentage of
employed women and, therefore, of dual-earner families
(Instituto de la Mujer [Women’s Institute] 2010). According
to data from Eurostat (Franco and Winqvist 2002), between
1992 and 2000 dual-earner families with children under 15
went from 31% to 43.7%. However, due to the persistence
of the previous organization of the family, based on clear
differentiation of the roles assigned to both genders and to
the business policies found in family-oriented countries,
both work life and family life require intense dedication
(Moreno 2005; Tobío 2005). For women, this has meant the
simultaneous presence of two contradictory gender role
ideals. On one hand, the ideal of the autonomous woman
with a career and economic independence, and on the other,
the ideal of intensive maternity characterized by the ability
to provide care and the priority of the children’s needs
(Rodríguez and Rodríguez 2010; Torns 2008; Torns and
Moreno 2008). It would be expected that women with a
paid job and who lack alternative models of maternity than
that of intensive maternity would more likely experience
feelings of guilt when their behavior, in relation to their
children, differs from the standards that they and others
believe should be met (Tilghman-Osborne et al. 2010).
The difficulty coordinating the two ideals is intensified
in Spain owing to the limited participation of men in
domestic chores and childcare (Sánchez-Herrero et al.
2009), to the fact that Spain is a nation with family policies
in which a large portion of the childcare tasks are carried
out by the immediate family and not by the state (Esping-
814
Andersen 1999), and the maintenance of a maternity model
highly influenced by the traditional family models (Paterna
and Martínez 2003). Thus, in a study of attitudes about
married women’s employment conducted in several indus-
trialized countries, the participating Spaniards manifested
strong support for mother’s full time employment combined
with a strong preference that women with children should
stay home (Treas and Widmer 2000).
This process of change has also affected men roles, with
the replacement of the traditional male provider stereotype
by a new father role characterized by active involvement in
child rearing on an equal footing with the mother (Alberdi
and Escario 2007). Therefore, one might expect that these
men, who have incorporated a stereotype of the paternal
role as involved and sensitive to their children’s needs and
who struggle to respond to family and workplace demands,
experience distress for not conforming to the new father
role and the feelings of guilt that result from this.
Nonetheless, the studies that analyze the lives of the fathers
and mothers in Spanish dual-earner families have empha-
sized the mothers’ experiences in the process of change,
with few studies that address how fathers are dealing with
their new roles (Paterna et al. 2005; Rodríguez and
Rodríguez 2010; Yarnoz 2006). The purpose of this research
is to study the relationship between the stereotypical
traditional family roles of fathers and mothers and the guilt
feelings connected to child rearing, thereby revealing the role
change for fathers and mothers and the emotional impact it
can cause. For this purpose, we present a quantitative
instrument that measures the guilt feelings that can be caused
by certain child-rearing behaviors in dual-earner families.
Dual-Earner Families in Spain
In Spain the process of women entering the labor market
began later than in other countries in the European Union
(at the end of the 1970s) and it has evolved very rapidly.
There has been a spectacular increase in the number of
working women from 27.1% in 1980 to 51.70% in 2009
(Instituto de la Mujer [Women’s Institute] 2010). The largest
proportion of dual-earning families comes from the middle
social class, with a medium-high educational level, and
living in urban settings. Education plays a crucial role in
determining a woman’s chances of participating in the labor
market and of continuing in it once she has family
responsibilities. This has been documented in all the
European Union and especially in Spain where the number
of dual participation households as a proportion of all
couple households with at least one partner in work, was
over 40 percentage points higher for those where women
had university or equivalent education than for those where
they had not progressed beyond compulsory schooling
(Gonzalez 2006; Moreno 2005; Münch et al. 2009).
Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
The delay of Spanish women entering the labor
market was due to some particular social characteristics
such as the high number of members in the family, the
low number of publicly financed child-care centers, and
the Spanish traditional family models characterized by
the family organization of a male breadwinner and a
woman dedicated exclusively to the children and the
household (Jurado and Naldini 1996; Moreno 2005). This
family model is, in fact, the current reference in the most
recent employment and family support policies, in which
the woman’s work is considered optional and the recon-
ciliation of family life and job is considered her respon-
sibility (Alberdi 1999; Carrasquer 2003).
Women’s incorporation into the labor market has
involved important adjustment strategies in dual-earner
families, such as a drastic decrease in the number of
children, delayed childbearing, or withdrawal from the
labor market when the woman becomes a mother, as shown
in several studies in Europe, North America, Japan and
Oceania (Aliaga 2005; Castles 2003; Holloway et al. 2006;
Sabattini and Crosby 2009). This can be found particularly
in Spain where, despite being a country whose cultural
traditions and values revolve around the family, there is a
low birth rate, together with an employment rate for women
among the lowest in Europe (Moreno 2005). This drop in
the fertility rate can be explained by the change in family
models and in women’s values and preferences in the last
decades, especially in the educated middle class. Maternity
has ceased to be the priority goal for many women and,
moreover, it is perceived as coming into conflict with work.
It seems that the women of this generation, with higher
educational levels and who value paid jobs very much, are
willing to adjust their fertility in order to achieve their
professional goals (Castles 2003; Delgado et al. 2009;
Esping-Andersen 1999).
However, social values and beliefs about family roles
have not changed at the same pace as employment of
women has. Along this line, a social discourse takes place
that values the idea of women being gainfully employed,
developing professionally, and being active and economi-
cally independent; this image facilitates a devaluation of the
image of women who are only housewives (Blanco et al.
2000; Tobio 2005; Torns 2008). Women exclusively
dedicated to caring for the household and family are
perceived in Spanish society as being tied to the past,
dependent, and restricted by a stereotype that portrays them
as weak, insufficient, unrelated to current social times, and
hiding in a setting that isolates them and prevents them
from participating in a reality that is more interesting and
personally enriching (Torns 2008). At the same time, this
same society passes on the image of a traditional woman
focused on her maternal role, and it emphasizes that, for
women, family must come before work (Paterna and
Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
Martínez 2003; Torns and Moreno 2008). Thus, women
must make the necessary work adjustments to reconcile
both spheres and this message emphasizes the idea that
women’s dedication to work may be harmful for their
family and their children (Alberdi 1999; Hays 1996).
Therefore, women face a paradoxical situation that is hard
to manage, with roles that establish very demanding and
incompatible expectations. If such expectations are to be
dealt with, they must either be changed (lowering the level
of professional demands or changing the image of wife and
mother) or else some of them must be done away with
altogether (Torns and Moreno 2008).
For men, the current situation also presents the traditional
division of roles, primarily in the fulfillment of their roles as
providers, simultaneous with the fostering of a more
egalitarian family model in which both spouses are gainfully
employed and equally share the household chores and the care
of the children. The studies carried out in Spain on the
conciliation of family and work reflect the priority that men
place on work matters over family matters (Dema and Díaz
2004; Moreno 2010; Torns and Moreno 2008). While for
women, when they evaluate a job, salary is almost as
important as the opportunities the job offers for balancing
work and family, for men this consideration is irrelevant:
salary or work status are significantly more important
(Rivero 2005). Likewise, a larger percentage of men than
women admit that benefits that help balance family and work
create difficulties in the workplace and men take far less
advantage of the work-family balance benefits offered by
Spanish law, such as reduced work schedules, or paternity
leaves (Moreno 2010). Nonetheless, while the employment
area, in accordance with the traditional model, is still given
priority in the male role, men in dual-earner couples manifest
a greater desire to have a closer and more active role in child
rearing and are more involved in household chores and
childcare (Alberdi and Escario 2007; Paterna et al. 2005).
Among the variables associated with these changes, the most
relevant are the women’s age, income level, educational level
and work involvement (Moreno 2010).
Maternal and Paternal Role
Although the maternal and paternal roles have been
modified in recent decades, the changes have not been
equal for men and women. With regard to the working
mother, her role as a mother has undergone few changes,
with a predominance of behavioral patterns that match the
assumptions of a more traditional maternal role, to which is
added a new role, that of a paid worker with new obligations
and requirements. The traditional maternal role is usually
associated in western countries such as Spain with a model of
intensive maternity (Hays 1996) which establishes that
maternity is characterized by absolute selflessness, self-
815
denial and attention to the children (Fernández-Montraveta
2000). This ideology transmits a mandate of maternity as a
fundamental part of the female identity, implying that being a
mother means dedicating herself to caring for her children,
with an intense emotional and temporal involvement,
sacrificing or putting aside her own desires and interests
(Solé and Parella 2004; Arendell 2000).
Working mothers perceive censure from the social
attitudes rooted in this model because of their work
involvement and their absence from the home. They must
face criticism from others, as well as their own feelings of
ambivalence about achieving their personal goals, and their
distress because they do not match the models of intensive
maternity (Hays 1996; Torns and Moreno 2008). Women
face a dilemma that appears irresolvable: if they dedicate
themselves to their profession they are labeled as bad
mothers but if they don’t they are negatively affected both
personally and professionally. As Rivero (2005) states, “the
delegation of childcare, when required, or simply the
impossibility of satisfactorily attending work and family
duties, generates guilt, feelings of personal deterioration
triggered by the impossibility of fulfilling the socially
required role” (p.116).
In contemporary Spanish society, the paternal role has
also undergone significant changes, from its more tradi-
tional dimension in which the father’s responsibility was to
provide for the family economically, to more dedication and
involvement in parenting (Alberdi and Escario 2007; Lamb
2010). Opposed to a more traditional father role associated
primarily with matters of discipline, a new paternal role
more involved in the care of the children is being
established. Due to the lack of references and models, the
new father role is built upon the rejection of the prior model
of a father and adopts from the the model of maternal
involvement, the aspects of emotional support, tenderness,
and care-giving (Alberdi and Escario 2007; Paterna et al.
2005). In addition, the distancing of the paternal role from
the traditional model has given rise to a child-rearing style
that is more permissive. Fathers now reject the model of the
authoritarian father and avoid assuming the aspect of child-
rearing more associated with establishing limits and
exercising discipline (Martínez et al. 2006; Meil 2006).
This role change that is reflected in the higher participation
of men in family tasks is more observable in the father’s
playful interaction with his children, while the mother takes
on most of the other responsibilities for childcare and
household tasks (Gaunt 2006; Subirats 1993; Tobío 2002).
Several studies show that fathers in dual-earner families
in Spain and the United States, are more involved in
parenting, they spend more time with their children, and
they are more aware of their needs than fathers in families
where only the man works although a considerable load
still falls onto the woman’s shoulders (Garrido 2000; Pleck
816
2010; Tobío 2002). However, even though the paternal role
is currently in a process of change, it is less precisely
defined and is more subject to negotiation than the maternal
role. Among the factors that affect the type of behaviors
considered appropriate for fathers are their beliefs and
expectations about family roles. The men who have a less
traditional ideology, express a paternal role ideal in which
the affective relationship with their children gains impor-
tance and are more dedicated to the household tasks and the
care of the children (Paterna and Martínez 2006; Sanchez-
Herrero et al. 2009; Yarnoz 2006).
Although some studies confirm the emotional repercus-
sion on the man of not fulfilling his assigned role if he loses
his job—which affects his role stereotype as the breadwinner
—there are few works that assess the relation between not
fulfilling the new paternal role and psychological distress or
well-being (Poveda 2006; Sanchez-Herrero et al. 2009).
Within this context of role change, it can be expected
that women and men in dual-earning couples will hold less
traditional family and maternal role ideologies, although we
expect this change to be more pronounced in the women as
concerning family roles in general and to a lesser degree the
maternal role, because the situation of change is greater for
them given the fact that they are the ones who lead the
changes within the family context.
Feelings of guilt in dual-earner families
In reportage, as well as in some studies, great relevance is
granted to working mothers’ distress about parenting
(Chesley and Moen 2006; Davidson and Fielden 1999;
Tobío 2005). Among the diverse experiences of distress
studied, the feeling of guilt is predominant (Elvin-Nowak
1999; Guendouzi 2006; Korabik and McElwain 2005;
Rivero 2005).In the last decade, efforts have been made to
define and deepen the concept of guilt from an interper-
sonal perspective going beyond the Freudian concept of
guilt (Baumeister et al. 1994; Elvin-Nowak 1999; Etxe-
barría 1992, 2000). Attending to the different definitions
of guilt by several authors, the feeling of guilt could be
defined as a painful emotional state aroused by actions or
intentions that are perceived as erroneous or incorrect. This
appraisal of inadequacy or transgression is closely related to
one’s interest in the people that may be affected by such actions
or intentions (see review in Tilghman-Osborne et al. 2010).
From this point of view, the experience of the feeling of
guilt has been mainly linked to the presence of four factors:
responsibility, personal involvement, possibility of choice,
and goals. Thus, guilt can arise when one of the members in
an interpersonal relationship is suffering, and the other
person accepts the responsibility for that suffering because
they consider it the result of something they did or should
have done. Therefore, guilt is associated with the respon-
Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
sibility for an action that harmed another person, in contrast
to shame, which is more closely related to a negative
assessment of one’s self-image (Benetti-McQuoid and
Bursik 2005; Tangney 1996).
Feelings of guilt occur in close relationships, and the
higher one’s personal involvement in the relationship and
concern for the other’s well-being, the more intense such
feelings are likely to be (Baumeister et al. 1994). In the
research of Elvin-Nowak (1999) Swedish employed women
feel guilty about the following people: their children,
husbands, parents, friends, and coworkers. Moreover,
women who empathize more with others tend to feel more
guilt and to blame themselves for their suffering; all this is
more characteristic of women who were socialized accord-
ing to the ethics of caring for others (Torns 2008).
Feelings of guilt are also related to the perception of
one’s possibility to choose from among various courses of
action and, therefore, to control one’s actions concerning
others (Elvin-Nowak 1999). Lastly, according to this author,
a fourth aspect that is necessary to understanding the
experience of guilt is related to the behavioral goals
concerning one’s self and others. Guilt arises when the
woman cannot achieve her goals of caring and being
responsible for others because these goals are in conflict
with other external demands that she cannot control.
From these dimensions, which are identified in the
literature as relevant to understanding feelings of guilt in an
interpersonal relationship, we can analyze how their
presence and intensity differ for women and men depending
on the maternal and paternal role stereotypes. Working
mothers feel guilty when they think that their children are
suffering some harm and they blame this on the fact that
they are working. This attribution is facilitated by the
messages present in scientific literature and reportage about
the possible harm to children because of their mothers’
work (Belsky 2001), especially in the early years, although
recent studies of this topic do not provide conclusive results
(Brooks-Gunn et al. 2010). Because of the guilt-inducing
social messages and the intensive maternity ideology, the
mother finds it easier to blame any problems or distress the
children may undergo on the fact that she has kept her job,
whether it is actually related or not.
This attribution is reinforced in working mothers
because they are perceived as being responsible for the
fact that they have a paid job (Alberdi 1999; Rivero 2005).
There is a belief that a woman can choose between continuing
to work or quitting when she has children, and that she can
therefore choose between dedicating herself exclusively to
caring for her family or keeping her job. There is no such
assumption about man’s functioning because, due to the
demands of his role, the man’s priority is work and, thus, the
responsibilities and demands derived from his functioning in
the labor market play a central role (Poveda 2006).
Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
Lastly, the higher one’s own demands to satisfy others’
needs, the guiltier one feels. The traditional maternal role
ideology, marked by the ideal of intensive maternity, enters
into conflict with other roles, and it is very difficult to
harmonize and reconcile the goals that are forced upon
mothers from a traditional perspective and the goals that,
from a more modern and socially desirable view, drive
women to work. This role conflict is less pronounced in
men because their role as a father is less defined and, due to
this very lack of definition, less demanding. This leads to a
better adjustment to his work role.
When analyzing the role of guilt feelings in interpersonal
relations, some authors emphasize it as an inhibitor of
behaviors so as to neutralize the other’s distress and a
generator of alternative behaviors to repair the damage caused
(Baumeister et al. 1994; Etxebarria 2000). On the basis of
these two functions, we can identify some of the strategies
that may be used by working mothers to deal with guilt:
& With regard to inhibiting behaviors to repair the distress
or harm caused, some women reduce their workday to
spend more time with their children or they resort to
more drastic measures and quit work altogether, at least
while their children are small (INE 2009).
& According to some authors, in order to generate
alternative repairing behaviors in dual-earner families,
permissive parenting styles are more frequent so as to
prevent frustration and conflicts with the children
(Nomaguchi and Milkie 2006; Sabattini and Leaper
2004). Other studies also point out the working
mother’s over-involvement in household responsibilities
in order to prevent her work from becoming a burden
for her husband and children (Bosch et al. 1996;
Hochschild 1989; Tobío 2005).
& A third strategy may involve changing behavioral
expectations and demands and, therefore, the type of
maternal role that guides behavior. As a coping strategy,
new beliefs and expectations about the maternal role
that imply the abandonment of traditional roles could be
put in place (Harris and Firestones 1998; Johnston and
Swanson 2006, 2007).
Therefore, working women can be expected to build
their lives on a less traditional ideology about the ideal
roles of men and women in the family setting, conforming
less to the model of intensive maternity that blames and
criminalizes them by portraying them -from a misleading
and mystifying exaltation—as being exclusively responsi-
ble for their children’s socio-emotional adaptation.
As for men, although there is little study of the feelings
of guilt and distress derived from the unfulfillment of the
paternal role, it would be expected that men’s incorporation
of a less traditional paternal role ideology—more involved
817
with the family life and responsible for parenting—can lead
to conflict with their more traditional role of high demands at
the work setting. This can result in guilt feelings if he
perceives himself as neglecting the new goals he has assumed,
although this is not confirmed by the work of Rodríguez and
Rodríguez (2010). In this study, the men, even if they are
involved in the rearing of their children, do not feel guilt
when their work obligations interfere in their functioning.
However, although there has been a certain change in the
ideal maternal role of women, their experience of being
responsible for their children’s well-being makes us expect
more intense feelings of guilt in women than in men when
they perceive that their actions do not fit the intensive
maternity role.
Research on feelings of guilt in dual-earner families
has been scarce, mostly with an exclusive women
sample, and is generally carried out from a qualitative
perspective (Korabik and McElwain 2005). In these
studies, the most common method of data collection is
the semi-structured interview in which the interviewee is
either explicitly asked about experiences that provoke
feelings of guilt or else their daily experiences and the
associated feelings are reflected in the narrative (Elvin-
Nowak 1999; Rotkirch 2009; Seagram and Daniluck
2002). The studies carried out in Spain which discuss the
presence of guilt feelings in dual-earner families mention
this feeling, either gathered or extracted from the working
mothers’ conversation while being interviewed, without it
being the direct object of evaluation (Poveda 2006; Rivero
2005; Solé and Parella 2004; Tobío 2005). No studies that
quantitatively evaluate the presence of this feeling in
parents have been done in Spain or other countries.
It is therefore particularly important to create an
objective assessment instrument to analyze the presence of
guilty feelings in both parents of dual-earner families in
order to contrast the social beliefs about the presence of
guilt about parenting in these families.
Present Study
The purpose of the present study is to analyze the relation
between the presence of guilt in child rearing and the
traditional attitudes about family and parenting in dual-
earner families, analyzing differences in these variables
related to gender. Therefore, in this work, we design a Scale
of Feelings of Guilt about Parenting with an adequate internal
consistency and a unidimensional factor structure, as the
content of the items refers to a single topic: child rearing.
The work also has the goal of contrasting the following
hypotheses:
H1. As the stereotype of intensive maternity prescribes
the desirable behavior of involvement and sacrifice in
818 Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826

the mothers, we expect that women have more and 6 years of age, and who are employed. Mean age of the
feelings of guilt about child rearing than men. men is 39.3 (SD=4.61), and of the women, 37.7 years (SD=
H2. In women with paid jobs, we expect a lower level of 4.80). With regard to the number of children per family, the
traditional family role stereotypes than in men with total mean of the sample is 1.9 children (SD=.81), which is
paid jobs, because the women have undergone greater very similar to that of the general Spanish population. There
changes in the behaviors prescribed by the traditional is a predominance of parents with two children (53.8%) or
family role. only one child (29.5%). Regarding their educational level,
H3. We expect working mothers to express lower agree- 69.4% have university studies, and with regard to their labor
ment with the traditional maternal role stereotype than situation, most of them have a fixed contract (83.5%) and
fathers, because performing a paid job has prevented work full-time. As to their work schedule, a higher
them from fulfilling that role. proportion of women have a reduced work week of 20 or
H4. We expect a relation between family role stereotypes 30 h. Social class was identified by means of the subject’s
and feelings of guilt differentiated by gender. profession, using a Spanish adaptation of the British
classification system (Artacoz et al. 2004). Group I includes
H4.1. We expect a positive correlation between
managers, high-degree liberal professionals and techni-
traditional family role stereotypes and feelings
cians; Group II includes workers in intermediate posts and
of guilt about child rearing in women because,
business directors; Group III includes specialized non-
from the viewpoint of these beliefs, work is
manual workers; Group IV includes specialized or semi-
considered a secondary activity, with dedication
specialized manual workers; Group V includes unspecial-
to family being the priority role.
ized manual workers; Group VI includes other professions
H4.2. For the men, we hypothesize a negative correla-
not classified in the former sections. Demographic infor-
tion between the guilt scales and traditional
mation is provided in Table 1.
family role stereotypes because, as long as men
accept the family ideal of the man in charge of the
family’s economic support with secondary in-
Table 1 Descriptive characteristics of the sample, in percentages
volvement with the children, they are less likely
to feel guilty about not carrying out parenting Fathers Mothers Total
tasks because of their work involvement. N=120 N=131 N=251
H5. We expect a relation between the traditional maternal
Age:
stereotype role and feelings of guilt differentiated by
Mean 39.3 37.7 38.5
gender:
SD 4.61 4.80 4.71
H5.1 For women, we hypothesize a positive correlation No. of Children:
between guilt about parenting and the traditional Mean 1.91 1.90 1.9
maternal role, given that women who believe in an Educational Level
ideal of their behavior as mothers that is defined Primary 9.9 2.8 6.2
by their exclusive dedication to their children are Secondary 28.1 21.8 24.3
expected to feel guilty if they disobey this mandate University 61.9 75.4 69.4
by holding a paid job. Social Class:
H5.2 In the men, we hypothesize a negative correla- I 24.7 21.5 23.1
tion between traditional maternal role and guilt II 31.4 34.7 33.0
feelings about child rearing because, from the III 19.9 31.9 25.9
viewpoint of this stereotype role, child rearing is IV 21.6 9.8 15.7
the main responsibility of the mother and the V 1.6 - .8
father plays a secondary role. VI .8 2.1 1.5
Contract type
Permanent 84.4 82.6 83.5
Temporary 15.6 17.4 16.5
Method Work schedule (h/week)
Mean 42.5 31.9 36.8
Participants <20 1.7 13.3 7.5
20–30 5.0 27.5 16.3
The sample of the study comprises 131 mothers (52.2%)
>30 93.3 59.2 76.2
and 120 fathers (47.8%) with at least one child between 3
Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
Instruments
Scale of Feelings of Guilt about Parenting (Martínez et al.
2006)
The scale of Feelings of Guilt about Parenting measures the
experience of guilt that a parent could experience when
facing situations that dual-earner families must frequently
deal with. According to the intensive maternity mandate (a
good mother puts housework and parenting before her
personal and professional aspirations), working mothers do
not behave like good mothers and they could therefore
experience guilt. Likewise, men who behave in accordance
with the more involved father role could also experience
feelings of guilt due to role conflict. To create the
instrument, we interviewed working fathers and mothers
and we reviewed prior research that analyzed the discourse
about parenting-related guilt experienced by working
mothers (Elvin-Nowak 1999; Rivero 2005; Seagram and
Daniluck 2002; Solé and Parella 2004; Tobío 2005). From
this work, we drafted 14 items that describe the main
parenting-related situations faced by working mothers and
fathers that potentially generate guilt. One of the areas
describes situations in which one delegates certain tasks to
others that are considered to be part of the paternal/maternal
role (for example “Delegate to others the task of taking my
child to the doctor”). Another group of items refers to
situations in which one does not respond to the possible
demands for attention or care that are considered significant
for the child’s well-being (for example “Not being able to
spend time with my child when we are at home because I
must perform tasks that do not concern the family”). Lastly,
situations are described where issues that have nothing to
do with the children take priority (i.e., “Frequently missing
school activities programmed for parents in which my child
participates”). Items are rated on a four-point Likert-type
format, ranging from 1 (not at all guilty) to 4 (very guilty).
The total score of the scale ranges between a minimum
score of 14 and a maximum score of 56, with high scores
indicating greater feelings of guilt.
The objective of this questionnaire is not to identify the
actual behavior and the associated feelings but to capture the
psychology of the guilt phenomenon by assessing the harm
the evaluated individual feels with respect to certain behaviors
that do not adapt to the traditional parenting standards for the
care and attention given to the children. This approach is
recommended for the evaluation of guilt from a quantitative
perspective, presenting specific behaviors in concrete contexts
and assessing the degree of guilt the person would feel if that
individual were to act in that manner (Korabik and McElwain
2005; Tangney 1996; Tilghman-Osborne et al. 2010).
The scale can be seen in the Appendix, in Spanish and in
the English version.
819
With regard to the scale’s psychometric properties, the
participants’ mean rating is higher than the theoretical
central point (2.5) of the graduated guilt scale on 10 of the
14 items; in fact, on 5 items (3, 4, 6, 8, and 13), the mean is
higher than 3 (see Table 2). The content of these five items
refers to situations that can be experienced as being
negligent or lacking attention towards the children. The
mean of the original 14-item scale, obtained from the entire
sample is 38.86 (SD=8.09). With regard to the distribution
of the scores in guilt, the sample tends to score moderately
high in feelings of guilt. As a mean of 42 corresponds to a
response of “fairly guilty” in all the items, their feelings of
being inadequate as parents and causing some harm to their
children is moderately high. Significant differences have
been found between men and women in two of the 14
items. The male participants scored significantly higher
than the women on item 12 (“Not earning enough income
to satisfy the demands of my child…”) and the women
scored significantly higher than the men on item 14 (“Not
being able to spend time with my child when we are at
home because I must perform tasks that do not concern the
family”) which indicates topics that inspire feelings of guilt
differentially in men and women.
Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the total scale is .903.
The item-total correlations are high and the significance for
all the items, and internal consistency does not improve by
eliminating any items (see Table 2). Also we tested the scale
dimensionality to verify the validity of the unifactorial
structure defined a priori. For this purpose, confirmatory
factor analysis was carried out. We used the maximum
likelihood method to estimate the parameters, taking into
account the lack of multivariate normality detected in the
previous analyses (Bentler 2004). Data analysis was
performed with EQS 6.1. The model specified the relations
between each of the 14 items of the scale and the single
factor hypothesized (Guilt about Parenting), with the
regression coefficient of the first item fixed at 1 to eliminate
the arbitrariness of the scale and with no correlations
between the error terms of each observed variable. To
assess the global fit of the model, we used a series of
indexes selected from the guidelines provided by
Schermelleh-Engel et al. (2003), and we also took into
account the results of their review of the cut-off points most
extensively accepted in the literature. The value of chi-
square for the measurement model assessed is statistically
significant (χ(77)2 =149.09, p<.0005). However, the conjoint
results obtained in the remaining indexes allow us to
consider acceptable the global fit of the model to the data.
In effect, χ2/df has a value below 2, suggesting a good fit
(χ2/df=1.94), the same as the value of SRMR, which does
not exceed .05 (SRMR=.048). We obtained a GFI value
higher than .90 (GFI=.905) and an RMSEA value lower than
.08 (RMSEA=.061; IC90% =.046–.076), both indicating an
820 Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826

Table 2 Feelings of guilt scale items statistics

Women Men Full sample

Item M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) rit α if the item is deleted Factor loading Error

01 2.62 (.97) 2.36 (.94) 2.49 (.96) .469 .902 .50 .87
02 3.02 (.97) 2.75 (1.06) 2.89 (1.02) .619 .895 .66 .75
03 3.20 (.89) 2.99 (.92) 3.10 (.91) .578 .897 .60 .79
04 3.33 (.80) 3.00 (.88) 3.17(.85) .661 .893 .69 .72
05 2.69 (.90) 2.48 (.87) 2.59 (.89) .567 .897 .59 .80
06 3.04 (.73) 2.99 (.75) 3.02 (.74) .630 .895 .67 .74
07 2.82 (.85) 2.68 (.82) 2.75(.84) .643 .894 .68 .73
08 3.36 (.71) 3.24 (.79) 3.30 (.75) .685 .893 .72 .69
09 2.28 (.79) 2.26 (.794) 2.27 (.79) .539 .898 .57 .82
10 2.44 (.93) 2.44 (.91) 2.44 (.92) .572 .897 .60 .80
11 2.67 (.99) 2.71 (1.01) 2.69 (.99) .569 .897 .60 .80
12 2.16a (.85) 2.28a (1.01) 2.22(.93) .507 .900 .54 .84
13 3.06 (.75) 2.97 (.77) 3.02(.76) .740 .891 .79 .62
14 3.02b (.72) 2.78b (.75) 2.90(.74) .710 .892 .76 .66

n=120 for men, n=131 for women. M mean, SD standard deviation, rit item-total correlation. Factor loadings and errors are taken from
standardized solution for the confirmatory one-factor model. Pairs of means with equal super index are statistically different for women and men
as found by MANOVA (p<.05)

acceptable fit. Only the CFI value (.934) is slightly lower
than the suggested limit (.95). In Table 2 are shown the
estimated parameters. All the factor loadings are significant,
with values between .50 (Item 1) and .79 (Item 13).
Family Role Stereotypes
To assess traditional family role stereotypes, we use the 12-
item Marital Role Orientation subscale from the Spanish
translation of the Marital Satisfaction Inventory-Revised
(Reig-Ferrer et al. 2004; Snyder 1997). This subscale
assesses the degree to which people agree with beliefs
about traditional family models, in which the man is
responsible for maintaining the family economically, and
the woman’s tasks are mainly childcare and housework.
The response format of these items is a four-point Likert-
type scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly
agree (4).
In the present work, items 6, 7, and 12 were deleted
because they had a low item-total correlation (“If a mother
of young children works, it should be only while the family
needs the money,” “The most important thing for a woman
is to be a good wife and mother,” “There should be more
daycare centers and nursery schools so that more mothers
of young children could work”). Total scores in the family
role stereotypes subscale range from a minimum of 9 to a
maximum of 36, with higher scores indicating a traditional
family role orientation. Cronbach’s alpha for the short
version of the subscale is satisfactory (α=.842).
Traditional Maternal Role (Martínez et al. 2006)
This 6-item scale assesses the degree of agreement with the
idea of the maternal role characterized by the qualities
associated with a good mother in an intensive maternity
model. For example, the scale taps the level of agreement
with a set of statements that propose that the children’s
needs come before the mother’s needs, and women are
considered more qualified to be mothers just because they
are women. The questionnaire is rated on a 4-point Likert-
type scale that ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4
(strongly agree). High scores in the total scale reflect a
higher degree of agreement with the intensive maternity
model. The reliability coefficient of the scale is modest but
considered acceptable for our goals (α=.72).
Procedure
The guilt questionnaire was initially administered to a pilot
sample of working mothers and fathers to estimate the time
needed to complete it, possible trouble comprehending the
items, as well as to analyze possible difficulties that could
arise in answering the scale. The results obtained indicated
the need of some small changes, and we subsequently
administered the questionnaire to a larger sample.
Access to the sample of fathers and mothers was
achieved through contact with public and private schools
of the Region of Madrid that provide education for
children between 3 and 6 years of age, and 900 sets of
Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
questionnaires were handed out. The parents were
contacted mainly by means of two strategies. In some
cases, on occasion of a school meeting, we explained the
goal of the research to the group of parents, and the
material was handed out to those who were willing to
collaborate. In other cases, the teachers gave the parents
a letter in which the investigation was explained. The
parents who were interested in participating requested the
questionnaires from their children’s teacher.
Each family was given an envelope that included a
presentation letter, copies of the questionnaires, and a
stamped envelope to return the questionnaires by post.
Response rate was 27.89% which is within the expected
levels of single mailing surveys.
Results
Gender Differences
To test Hypotheses 1, 2, and 3 related to the expected
differences between mothers and fathers on guilt, traditional
family role and maternal role stereotype (higher scores for
women in guilt and for men in both traditional family role
and maternal role stereotypes) we conducted a one-way
MANOVA. The total scores in guilty feelings, family role
stereotypes, and traditional maternal role are the dependent
variables, and gender is the independent variable. Overall
MANOVA results suggest no gender differences. Further
analyses involving the univariate test for each dependent
variable show no significant effects (see Table 3). There-
fore, Hypothesis 1, 2, and 3 are not supported by the
findings.
Relationship of the Scale of Feelings of Guilt
about Parenting with Family and Maternal Roles
In Table 4 are shown the Pearson correlation coefficients
obtained to contrast Hypotheses 4 and 5. In Hypothesis 4.1.
we expected, for women, a positive correlation between
Table 3 Comparisons of women and men in guilt feelings, family role stereotypes and traditional maternal role. MANOVA results
Women
M (SD)
Overall MANOVA results
Guilty feelings about parenting 39.713 (8.175)
Family role stereotypes 13.122 (3.952)
Traditional maternal role 10.872 (2.457)
n=120 for men, n=131 for women. M mean, SD standard deviation, df = degrees of freedom, η2 = partial eta squared. The ranges of each scale as
follows: guilty feelings (14–56), family role stereotypes (9–36), and traditional maternal role (6–24)
821
guilt and traditional family role stereotype. The near-zero
correlation obtained for women between guilt and tradi-
tional role stereotypes does not support this hypothesis.
However, the negative and statistically significant correla-
tion found between these two variables for the men does
allow us to maintain Hypothesis 4.2 since, for the men we
expected a negative correlation between guilt and tradition-
al family role. The opposite pattern was found in the
relation between guilt and the maternal role stereotype. In
Hypothesis 5.1 we expected a positive correlation between
guilt and traditional maternal role for women and the results
provide support for this hypothesis, whereas, in the
subsample of men, the correlation is not statistically
different from zero, and therefore, does not support
Hypothesis 5.2. because we expected a negative correlation
for men between guilt and traditional maternal role
Discussion
Within the framework of the importance given by research
literature and reportage to working mothers’ feelings of
guilt and their possible incidence on their health, in this
investigation we developed an instrument to objectively
assess feelings of guilt about parenting. In view of the
scarcity of objective instruments that assess this variable,
both in Spain and elsewhere, this is a starting point to
broaden the study of this aspect of the relation between the
family and the working world. The questionnaire taps the
contents that qualitative research has shown to be relevant
for working mothers and fathers. It confirms the importance
of guilt from an interpersonal perspective, as has been seen
through the reviewed literature (Baumeister et al. 1994;
Benetti-McQuoid and Bursik 2005). Thus, the items
measure feelings of guilt concerning one’s responsibility for
possible parental negligence by not paying due attention to the
children, the belief that one can sometimes choose between
incompatible demands to give priority to the children but one
does not comply with this and, lastly, the feeling of not
fulfilling one’s role of father/mother (Elvin-Nowak 1999).
Men
M (SD) F (df) η2 p value
2.294 (3, 247) .027 .078
37.920 (7.941) 3.103 (1, 249) .012 .079
13.999 (4.274) 2.851 (1, 249) .011 .093
10.629 (2.914) .514 (1, 249) .002 .474
822
Table 4 Correlations of the scale of feelings of guilt about parenting
with family and maternal roles
Feelings of Guilt Family role Traditional
about parenting stereotypes maternal role
Feelings of Guilt – −.266** .051
about parenting
Family role .018 – .511***
stereotypes
Traditional .201* .305*** – Our results show the emotional impact on fathers given
maternal role
n=120 for men, n=131 for women. Correlations above the diagonal
are for men, and those below the diagonal are for women. * p<.05. **
p<.01. *** p<.001
It must be emphasized that no differences exist
between men and women in the majority of the situations
that cause feelings of guilt, with the exception of two
items that are closely related to the more traditional
gender roles. Men feel guilty if they don’t carry out well
their role as providers, while women experience this
feeling when they perceive that they are not available to
their children because they are dealing with other
matters. It is worthwhile to point out that the differences
in the first item are not very great, which indicates that
women have assumed as their own the role of providers
and expect their work to provide income that will allow
the family a higher quality of life.
Taken as a whole, the results provide initial support for
the psychometric properties of this new instrument. The
scale’s internal consistency is high, and factorial analyses
suggest a one-factor structure for the measure, as expected.
The availability of an instrument that allows valid and
reliable measurement of the possible guilt feelings present
in the daily dynamics of fathers and mothers who are
earning wages will allow studies to be completed that are
directing at analyzing the possible mediating role that these
feelings can have in parenting and child rearing patterns,
their effect on health and well-being, as well as identifying
the strategies that enable a more gratifying and healthier
paternal and maternal experience.
With regard to our sample, the participants tend to reject
the more traditional role stereotypes, both in the family
sphere and in their appraisal of the maternal role. These
appraisals may be modulated by the educational and
sociological profile of the participants of this study, as their
educational level is high. Despite the fact that in these
characteristics they are above the mean of the Spanish
population, they are also representative of dual-earner
European families in which both partners work full-time
(Delgado et al. 2009; Münch et al. 2009). Our results are
comparable to those obtained in previous research in Spain,
which reflect the presence of relationship models in which
Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
both members of the couple distance themselves from the
traditional roles at the same time that they consider more
egalitarian gender roles as more desirable (Alberdi and
Escario 2007; Poveda 2006; Torns and Moreno 2008).
In this sample, both men and women have clear feelings
of guilt because they cannot pay more intense and personal
attention to their children and because they delegate some
parenting tasks to other people due to their work demands.
their increasing involvement in child care. For both, the
models of parental behavior are very possibly shaped by
unreachable social expectations for a dual-earner couple
and, moreover, they are based on a discourse about the
suffering and harm caused to the children, of which there is
no clear empirical proof (Brooks-Gunn et al. 2010).
Although in another study with Spanish sample (Rodríguez
and Rodríguez 2010), men did not experience guilt as a
result of being less available for the care of their children,
their analysis of these feelings in a more general manner
and without specifying that unavailability in specific
dynamics of everyday life can facilitate a more rational
and distant approach. In our study, the evaluation of
interference of work in the care of the children in concrete
actions intensifies the feeling of responsibility, which
facilitates the experience of guilt. Men feel guilty when
their behavior does not match the new expectations of
paternity that require more attention to and involvement
with the children. The extent of the experience of guilt is
related to a person’s preferred type of family roles. In this
research, we analyzed the relations between guilt about
parenting and family and maternal roles differentiated by
gender because, depending on the different role expect-
ations taken by men and women, these relations were
expected to follow different patterns.
Our results do not allow us to identify differences in
feelings of guilt about parenting, family role stereotypes, or
traditional maternal role between the mothers and fathers.
Both men and women are far from the more traditional
family models that typecast them in separate spheres with
different functions. As observed in previous studies of
working mothers, the mothers of our sample reject the
models that promote a view of women focused on home
and children, so typical of other times, models that hinder
and penalize actions and interests that are foreign to the
family sphere (Johnston and Swanson 2006, 2007).
The changes undergone by society in the new assign-
ment of roles to men are particularly reflected in our study.
Fathers who have a non-traditional role stereotype and who
are therefore more involved in the family and more
responsible for parenting, tend to feel guiltier because they
are not always available for their children. Men with a non-
traditional paternal role believe that caring for, being
available for their children, and other parenting tasks are
Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
also their responsibilities, so when they neglect these tasks,
they feel guiltier than more traditional fathers who do not
consider such responsibilities to be a part of their duties.
Both in Europe and North America this higher involvement
of the fathers in child care is one of the most significant
changes experienced in more egalitarian families in contrast
to the manifest inequality in the distribution of other
household tasks (Aliaga 2005; Bianchi and Raley 2005;
Bonney et al. 1999).
However, the data from the fathers in our study do not
confirm the hypothesis of the negative relation between the
traditional maternal role and feelings of guilt about
parenting. The fathers of this study do not relate an ideal
model of maternity -that regulates the mothers’ child-care
functions and experiences- with their own behaviors and
responsibilities. This may be due to the absence of
alternative normative models for fathers that may function
as a guide for their behavior, and the alternative model of
intensive maternity is not valid for them due to its
connection to aspects of a biological nature.
For women, the characteristics of the maternal role and
the image of a “good mother” are more relevant. This
maternal role is typified by the idea that the mother is the
central figure, the person who can better understand and
meet the child’s needs and who should be willing to set her
desires and needs aside in order to attend the child. Mothers
who hold this ideal maternal role will feel guiltier when
they delegate tasks to others or when they cannot be
completely available, either physically or emotionally, for
their children. These mothers, even when they disagree
with the ideal of intensive maternity as a general normative
pattern, somehow still appraise their actions with a view to
an idealized standard of motherhood (Deutsch 1999;
Mannino and Deutsch 2007). The persistence of this image
of maternity perhaps is due to the rapid evolution
experienced by Spanish families, from the traditional
models to the current driving presence of the dual-earner
model of families, which has not permitted a change in
maternal roles to ones that are more adapted to the new
realities due to the absence of significant reference models.
To this can be added the maintenance of policies typical of
family-oriented countries that continue to delegate the care
of children as well as of the elderly to the family, which
reinforces and consolidates the role of women as the main
responsible parties for the welfare of the family members
(Esping-Andersen 1999; Moreno 2005).
However, for these women, there is no relation between
the experience of guilt and the type of roles assigned to
men and women in a family relationship. As the partic-
ipants of this study are working mothers, most of them full-
time employees, whose family structure does not fit within
the traditional models, parenting and child-care issues form
an independent and isolated context. For them, establishing
823
more egalitarian family models does not involve changes or
alterations in the tasks and responsibilities they must
perform as mothers, as it has been shown in other research
in Europe and U.S. (Elvin-Nowak 1999; Goldberg and
Perry-Jenkins 2004; Poortman and Van der Lippe 2009).
Therefore, this research offers a novel view of the
experience of guilt in dual-earning families. We find that
when women adopt non-traditional maternal roles, they
experience less distress, whereas for men, the change
towards more egalitarian family roles is associated with
higher distress. However, this difference does not mean that
men and women experience guilt differently if they think
that their child-care behaviors could affect their children
negatively. Now, both parents share similar feelings of
responsibility and involvement in parenting. One limitation
of this research concerns the generalization of the results
obtained to different populations since the selection of the
sample used non-random procedures and the response rate
was moderately low. However future research should be
conducted to examine the extent to which these findings
generalized to broader samples of dual-earner families.
It is also necessary to continue analyzing other alterna-
tive models of motherhood and fatherhood which are better
adjusted to the characteristics of dual-earner families. The
behavior prescribed by these more egalitarian models
should refer to the actions and interactions of the parents
that really have an influence in the development of their
children. The target is the progressive establishment of
egalitarian parental and family models which should be
adapted to reality and, hence, less associated with guilt.
Acknowledgements This research was supported by the Spanish
Ministry of Work and Social Issues, Women’s Institute (I+D+I Exp.
75/05).
Appendix
Scale of Feelings of Guilt about Parenting
Assess the degree of guilt that the following situations
could generate in you, whether or not they occur currently
in your life:
Not at all guilty A little guilty Fairly guilty Very guilty
1 2 3 4
1. Resorting frequently to fast food.
2. Delegating to others the task of taking my child to the
doctor.
3. Sending my child to school when he/she does not feel
very well (a very slight fever, some discomfort…).
824
4. Frequently missing school activities programmed for
parents in which my child participates.
5. Not participating in school activities promoted by the
parents during school hours (telling stories, autumn
activities, workshops…).
6. Not paying all the attention my child demands
because I have other tasks to do.
7. Spending a significant part of the evening on affairs
that are unrelated to family.
8. Losing my temper with my child easily because I am
affected by issues unrelated to family.
9. Not inviting other children home more frequently
because of the extra work involved.
10. Delegating to others the task of taking my child to and
from school.
11. Having to send my child to summer camp because I
cannot attend to him/her.
12. Not earning enough income to satisfy the demands of
my child (extra-academic activities, clothes, games…).
13. Playing with my child for less time than I would like.
14. Not being able to spend time with my child when we
are at home because I must perform tasks that do not
concern the family
Spanish Version
Escala de Sentimientos de Culpa en la Crianza
Evalúe el grado de culpabilidad que le podrían generar las
siguientes situaciones, tanto si se dan actualmente en su
vida como si no llegan a darse:
Nada culpable Poco culpable Bastante culpable Muy culpable
1 2 3 4
1. Recurrir con frecuencia a comida precocinada
2. Delegar en otros el llevar a mi hijo/a al médico
3. Enviar a mi hijo/a al colegio cuando no se encuentra
bien del todo (décimas de fiebre, ligeras molestias…)
4. Faltar con frecuencia a las funciones escolares progra-
madas para los padres en las que participa tu hijo/a
5. No participar en actividades escolares promovidas por
los padres en horario escolar (cuentacuentos, activi-
dades de otoño, talleres…)
6. No darle toda la atención que demanda de mí porque
tengo que hacer otras tareas
7. Tener ocupada una parte significativa de la tarde por
cuestiones no familiares
8. Perder más fácilmente con mi hijo/a los nervios al
estar afectado/a por cuestiones ajenas a la familia
Sex Roles (2011) 65:813–826
9. No invitar con más frecuencia a otros niños/as a casa
por el trabajo extra que implica
10. Delegar en otros el llevar/traer a mi hijo/a del colegio
11. Tener que llevar a mi hijo/a a campamentos durante el
verano por no poder atenderle
12. No ganar los suficientes ingresos para satisfacer
demandas de mi hijo/a (actividades extraescolares,
ropa, juegos…)
13. Jugar con mi hijo/a menos tiempo del que me gustaría
14. No poder pasar tiempo con mi hijo/a cuando estamos
en casa por tener que realizar tareas ajenas a la familia
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