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A friend group formed by parents is said to have merits for members to obtain advisers and support of child care each other. And the group seems to function as a basis of exchange and circulation of information which matches the residence area.
Previous studies about the formulation and the activities of parental friendships have focused on mothers. In reality, however, it is expected that there are influences such as social attributes, kin relationships, and geographical ties that are not necessarily directly related to the mother role （or the father role）. In addition, in view of the fact that the number of double-income families is increasing, it seems necessary to establish a common viewpoint for both men and women considering the effects of employment patterns and economic power. In this paper, we propose a quantitative analysis of married men and women with children based on the knowledge of support networks and social capital, and clarify the determinants of the participation of parents in a friend group. In particular, we focus on the influence of socio-economic status and support networks such as family and relatives.
From the analysis, while we found gender-different tendencies in the effects of detailed educational background, household income, types of support sources and satisfaction for sharing housework and childcare, as a whole we clarified the common regulatory structure in fathers and mothers. There was a situation that parents who already have a good living environment are acquiring a new relationship, rather than a situation that parents with insufficient status and support supplement each other by participating in a friend group.
Research papers (academic journals)
