Object structure
Title:

Parental roles in child transport: Examining gender and municipality size in a post-socialist context

Subtitle:

Geographia Polonica Vol. 99 No. 2 (2026)

Creator:

Rišová, Katarína : Autor Affiliation ORCID ; Chorvát, Ivan : Autor Affiliation ORCID

Publisher:

IGiPZ PAN

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2026

Description:

24 cm

Subject and Keywords:

post-socialist environment ; preschool ; transport behaviour ; parental roles ; urban–rural differences

Abstract:

Large cities are generally considered more liberal than small settlements regarding parental gender division of childcare. We questioned this paradigm in a post-socialist environment where working mothers of preschoolers are perceived as the norm. The study aims to examine the gender differences among parents when transporting children to preschool, car-sharing within a household, and whether they vary across municipality size categories in Slovakia. The data were collected during the nationally representative survey via face-to-face personal enquiries in households of heterosexual cohabiting parents (n = 844). Results showed that car-sharing within households did not depend on the municipality size category; however, it depended on the number of cars in a household. In families with only one car, the car was mostly used by the father. In all municipality size categories, mothers were primarily responsible for bringing children in and picking them up from kindergarten. Yet, the proportion of responsible persons varied significantly across municipality size categories. The fathers’ involvement in accompanying children was the lowest in the smallest municipalities. On one hand, mothers in medium-sized municipalities (10,000–19,999 inhabitants) faced the least burden due to the combination of fathers’ involvement and help from other relatives. On the other hand, help from other relatives was absent in the largest cities, where mothers accompanied their children to a similar extent as in the smallest settlements. The progressive values of parents in the largest cities are not sufficient to relieve mothers of parental responsibilities.

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Relation:

Geographia Polonica

Volume:

99

Issue:

2

Start page:

237

End page:

254

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article

Resource Identifier:

0016-7282 (print) ; 2300-7362 (online) ; 10.7163/GPol.0325

Source:

CBGiOS. IGiPZ PAN, call nos.: Cz.2085, Cz.2173, Cz.2406 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng

Language of abstract:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Central Library of Geography and Environmental Protection. Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization PAS

Projects co-financed by:

European Union. European Regional Development Fund ; Programme Innovative Economy, 2010-2014, Priority Axis 2. R&D infrastructure

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