Fatherhood in Urban Mexico

This paper analyzes the practice of fatherhood in urban Mexico today. Our objective is to identify the socio-demographic factors which can be associated with the participation of men in children’s care and recreation. Data come from a probabilistic survey of 1644 men residing in Mexico City and Monterrey in 1998-1999. Our results indicate that more participation of men in childcare is associated with higher schooling, urban childhood residence, children’s age and holding egalitarian views on care, but not with income or a younger father’s age. It is middle-age men the ones that stand out from the rest (younger or older men) in their fatherhood practice. On the whole, our study helps to identify the nature of fatherhood changes in Mexico, the characteristics of those who are at the forefront of these transformations, as well as the stage of the lifecycle in which they are taking place.