Stay-at-home dads have increased so sharply in recent years that the number of fathers who do not work outside the home has doubled since 1989, according to a Pew Research findings based on US Census Bureau data.
Although high unemployment during the 2007-2009 Great Recession also contributed to the trend, Pew found that fathers were choosing to care for family at home in 21 percent of the 2 million cases of fathers who did not work in 2012. In 1989, the number was 5 percent.
Dads also accounted for 16 percent of all stay-at-home parents in 2012, up six percent since 1989. Of 
these stay-at-home dads, 23 reported that they could not find a job. For mothers, 73 percent reported that they were home in order to care for their family.
The trend is at odds with cultural values. Pew found that only 8 percent of survey respondents thought that children were better off if their father did not work, but 51 percent said children are better off if their mother did not work.
Pew’s research included analysis of US census data from a nationally representative sample from 1989 through to 2012. It included all stay-at-home dads with kids ages 17 and younger. Stay-at-home dads were defined as men who did not have jobs during the prior year.
By Day Blakely Donaldson