The dichotomous idea that fathers should take a role of a breadwinner and mothers should take principal responsibility for child-rearing has traditionally dominated in the Korean society. At the approach of the industrial society, however, there was an increasing demand for fathers’ participating jointly in child-rearing with the changed family structure, the smaller number of children, more dual-income families, and the rise of the idea of feminism (Kim, 2005). In such a rapidly changing modern society, a shift into sharing and division of duties within family rather than the traditional gender role division based on patriarchal ideology. In other words, fathers are expected to take a developed and changed role in the position of co-parenting, instead of being a helper, as their children make growth and development (Cabrera et al., 2000).

In this context, the demand for the new gender system of child-rearing emphasizes fathers’ role as an important variable to solve such problems as inequality for women and the vacuum of care and leads to discussion concerning the definition and role of fathers’ child-rearing (Yee et al., 1999). Besides, research on fathers’ image or on development of a child-rearing scale (Cho and Choi, 2004) and analysis of relations between fathers’ parenting participation and child development (Moon and Seol, 2006) have been underway.

Such a paradigm shift caused this society to prefer a kind and friendly father to the one standing on his patriarchal authority and giving a sense of distance. Man’s positive fathering not only exerts positive effects on many types of developments of his children and induces his spouse to be more satisfied with family life but also has positive significance on his own development in adulthood (Hwang, 2005). In particular, the fact that fathers are offered an opportunity to reduce negative feelings from their work by family life reconfirms that in addition to work life, family life is indeed important and meaningful to them. Indeed, Cho and Han (2001) who conducted a research in fathers reported that the greater degree of role performance induced fathers to have a greater sense of psychological welfare.

It is well known that fathers’ personal parenting participation facilitates young children’s emotional and social development and allows their children to improve their cognitive skills and get less sexually-fixed attitude (Radin, 1981). In fact, fathers’ participation in child-rearing also contributes to their sense of competence: fathers participating more actively in child-rearing showed good relationship with their children and tended to perceive themselves to be able parents with increasing confidence and satisfaction (Lee, 2003).

In this situation, one of the most important and fundamental factors in becoming ‘parenting father’ as demanded by the times is awareness of the role felt about child-rearing by fathers themselves. That is, fathers who first become aware of the role of child-rearing become more active in participatory actions. As a different concept from a simple sense, ‘awareness’ can mean the ‘subjective world where elements of external environment reflected by senses are reconstructed according to one’s own values in the personal mindset. Therefore it could be said that ‘role awareness’ in child-rearing by fathers is the very important element of child-rearing since fathers can make participatory actions more specifically in terms of parenting attitude after they become aware of the role of child-rearing (Parke and Sawin, 1980). Awareness of parenting pattern by father is one of father’s psychological properties, which is principal variable affecting father’s parenting participation. Fathers who become aware of the importance of the role of child-rearing can participate with more specific actions in terms of parenting attitude and practically perform parenting as perceived by them in terms of parenting participation. Fathers’ awareness of their fathering role enables successful performance of fathering in child-rearing. In other words, since the subjective factor of ‘awareness’ serves to drive forward specific actions, fathers’ awareness of the role of child-rearing directly affects their participatory actions.

However, the existing studies on fathers mainly deal with the effects of actual parenting time and parenting pattern of fathers on development of their children, with researchers reporting contradictory results (Hwang, 2004; Kim et al., 2009). These studies contributed to valuing the importance of fathers’ role but made less consideration of such internal factors as personal awareness, perception, and belief, which motivate actions necessary to perform duties.

Several Western studies showed that father’s psychological properties significantly affect their parenting practice (Dudson, 1975; Parke, 1996; Parke and Sawin, 1980; 1998). Other studies supporting this view suggest motivation to participate in parenting, practical parenting skills, social support and network including mother’s employment properties and marital dynamics, institutional factors, and customs as variables affecting father’s parenting participation (Lamb, 1987; Pleck, 1997; Yee, 2008).

To sum up, factors of role awareness and role action are mutually complementary as a whole, and father’s role awareness is regarded as an important variable of parenting participation (Son and Yoon, 2011). However, while emphasis is put on the importance of father’s role awareness, few discussions have been made about how the content of role awareness determines parenting participation behavior.

Therefore, this study aims to examine how father’s role awareness affects parenting participation among fathers of young children with the greatest need for care. The results of this study will suggest the desirable fathering role in child-rearing and provide basic data for devising a way to induce positive parenting participation.

This study aims to analyze how father’s role awareness affects parenting participation, obtaining the following results: First of all, fathers were most actively involved in living guidance for their children, whereas they were relatively less involved in learning guidance. They were more aware of the role of educating than that of meeting needs, and the effects on parenting participation depended on the content of father’s role awareness. In agreement with the result that fathers perceiving their role participate in child-rearing with more specific actions (Parke and Sawin, 1980), father’s role awareness is a very important variable in parenting participation. In particular, intervention to help fathers become aware of the role of teaching for cognitive development, social skills, and physical health and get role awareness for health protection, meeting emotional needs, and offering food, clothing, and shelter, which were found to have statistically significant effects on parenting participation, is expected to allow them to perform their parenting role more effectively. To do this, it is necessary to increase the number of father’s role education programs and provide practical contents.

Secondly, father’s parenting participation is now becoming an important issue, along with discussions about the reconciliation between work and family life, in the Korean society. Therefore great efforts are being made to refine and use the system of supporting performance of parenting role within workplace; in particular, there are reports on discussions about reduction of working hours to support father’s parenting participation (Kwon and Lee, 2009; Son and Yoon, 2011), introduction of paid maternity leave for male spouse, and use of paternity leave. Such an institutional approach can be a very encouraging attempt in that it promotes father’s parenting participation; however, discussion about what role fathers should perform in practice and what should precede participation in child-rearing is still at standstill. The result that father’s perception of his role of offering food, clothing, and shelter negatively affects his parenting participation can exemplify the need for father to get a new perception of his role, instead of the traditional role of a breadwinner. Thus, it is necessary to distribute more education programs about father’s role along with the existing institutional approach and increase their accessibility so that fathers in workplace or in the community can participate in them. In short, parental education is a way to help fathers look at their role from various views. Also, national campaigns can be planned for such changes to come, at the same time, community work is also essential to bring changes at local level. These efforts are necessary to help and support fathers in finding their role in child rearing and could be helpful to change social attitudes towards gender stereotyping.

In particular, on the basis of the results, it is necessary to diversify those education programs so that they can perform the role of teaching for cognitive development, social skills, and physical health and provide long-term, systematic education about father’s role so that they can become aware of their role of offering health protection and meeting emotional needs. The enlargement of these programs will serve as an important element in allowing fathers to become aware of their role and, furthermore, become a mechanism that can induce fathers to participate more actively in parenting in daily life.