Abstract

After a brief review of recent studies on fatherhood and its changing nature, the article illustrates the findings of a sample survey concerning parents' attitudes toward fathers' involvement in the care of young children. More precisely, the study explores working fathers' and mothers' opinions vis-à-vis selected issues on the Italian political agenda, namely the possibility, for fathers, of taking parental leave or working part-time when their children are very young. The findings show that most interviewed parents state they are in favour of using such measures. For both fathers and mothers the variable which best correlates with these attitudes is social class (as operationalised by occupational category).