Did Descriptive and Prescriptive Norms About Gender Equality at Home Change During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Cross-National Investigation.
| Title: | Did Descriptive and Prescriptive Norms About Gender Equality at Home Change During the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Cross-National Investigation. |
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| Authors: | Saxler FM; University of Bern, Switzerland.; Dorrough AR; University of Cologne, Germany.; Froehlich L; FernUniversität in Hagen, Germany.; Block K; University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.; Croft A; The University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.; Meeussen L; University of Leuven, Belgium.; Olsson MIT; Inland Norway University of Applied Science, Innlandet, Norway.; Schmader T; The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.; Schuster C; Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany.; van Grootel S; University of Leuven, Belgium.; Van Laar C; University of Leuven, Belgium.; Atkinson C; The University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.; Benson-Greenwald T; Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA.; Birneanu A; West University of Timisoara, Romania.; Cavojova V; Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences SAS, Bratislava, Slovakia.; Cheryan S; University of Washington, Seattle, USA.; Lee Kai Chung A; Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.; Danyliuk I; Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine.; Dar-Nimrod I; The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.; de Lemus S; University of Granada, Spain.; Diekman A; Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA.; Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.; Eisner L; University of Zurich, Switzerland.; Estevan-Reina L; University of Granada, Spain.; Fedáková D; Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences SAS, Bratislava, Slovakia.; Gavreliuc A; West University of Timisoara, Romania.; Gavreliuc D; West University of Timisoara, Romania.; Germano AL; University of Zurich, Switzerland.; Hässler T; University of Zurich, Switzerland.; Henningsen L; University of Zurich, Switzerland.; Ishii K; Nagoya University, Japan.; Kundtová Klocová E; Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.; Kozytska I; Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine.; Kulich C; University of Geneva, Switzerland.; Lapytskaia Aidy C; York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.; López López W; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.; Morandini J; The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.; Ramis T; Sunway University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.; Scheifele C; University of Leuven, Belgium.; Research Foundation Flanders, Brussels, Belgium.; University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany.; Steele J; York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.; Steffens MC; University of Kaiserslautern-Landau, Landau, Germany.; Velásquez Díaz LM; Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia.; Venegas M; University of Granada, Spain.; Martiny SE; UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway. |
| Source: | Personality & social psychology bulletin [Pers Soc Psychol Bull] 2025 Sep; Vol. 51 (9), pp. 1745-1759. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jan 29. |
| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Journal Info: | Publisher: Sage Publications for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 7809042 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1552-7433 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 01461672 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Pers Soc Psychol Bull Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications for the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc; Original Publication: Columbus, Ohio [etc.] Behavioral Sciences Laboratory [etc.] |
| MeSH Terms: | COVID-19* ; Gender Equity* ; Child Care* ; Household Work* ; Social Norms*; Mothers/psychology ; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Adult ; Young Adult ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Cross-Cultural Comparison ; Pandemics ; Child |
| Abstract: | Using data from 15 countries, this article investigates whether descriptive and prescriptive gender norms concerning housework and child care (domestic work) changed after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results of a total of 8,343 participants (M = 19.95, SD = 1.68) from two comparable student samples suggest that descriptive norms about unpaid domestic work have been affected by the pandemic, with individuals seeing mothers' relative to fathers' share of housework and child care as even larger. Moderation analyses revealed that the effect of the pandemic on descriptive norms about child care decreased with countries' increasing levels of gender equality; countries with stronger gender inequality showed a larger difference between pre- and post-pandemic. This study documents a shift in descriptive norms and discusses implications for gender equality-emphasizing the importance of addressing the additional challenges that mothers face during health-related crises. |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: COVID-19; cross-national comparison; descriptive gender norms; domestic work; gender stereotypes; prescriptive gender norms; work-family division |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20240129 Date Completed: 20250721 Latest Revision: 20250721 |
| Update Code: | 20260130 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/01461672231219719 |
| PMID: | 38284645 |
| Database: | MEDLINE |
Journal Article