r/science • u/calliope_kekule Professor | Social Science | Science Comm • 1d ago

Social Science A new study shows working from home helped some dads share care duties – but mums still did most. 60% of parents want to return to the office, with women citing overload and men missing structure.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-025-04773-4
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u/tanto_le_magnificent 1d ago

I’m curious what percentage of that 60% would also say that their marriage is happy, I noticed a lot of people who were the loudest pushing RTO around the pandemic tended to be people who “needed to get away” from home, and conversely their partner.

I seem to remember a huge number of divorces and breakups happening around that timeframe of COVID, with most citing that they had never spent that much time together prior.

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u/made-of-questions 1d ago

My wife got a colleague that is a massive supporter of RTO. She never misses an outing at the pub and travels 2 days early (nobody asks her to) for every trip to see the offshore team. At the same time she's complaining her kids are getting distant.

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u/Minute_Chair_2582 1d ago

As well as an increase in domestic violence iirc

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u/babige 1d ago

"Data was collected from 231 parents through an online survey responding to COVID-19 restrictions."

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u/Leading_Confidence71 1d ago

Buried the lead here, didnt they? This is hardly research.

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u/seridos 1d ago

Self reported online survey. Pass.

They really need to stop pretending surveys are evidence. They tell you enough to get you focused into actually getting evidence on a topic.

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u/shakamaboom 1d ago

I will not believe this propaganda

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u/brainiac2482 1d ago

It's just trying to normalize the topic, so later they jave something to cite when they make the push to force us all back into the offices.

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u/Valiantay 1d ago

And who funded this study? Smells like crap.

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u/LongShotTheory 1d ago

I don’t believe it for a second. Lots of corps are financing RTO media campaigns, wouldn’t be shocked if they were ordering doctored research too.

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u/Marshmallow16 1d ago

Online self reporting again? This is so massively disappointing. Can we have one good study for this instead of 10 bad ones? This is terrible science. 

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u/yogalalala 1d ago

Ιn addition to the other criticisms, the Covid pandemic was not a normal WFH situation. People may have been under stress because they or loved ones were at high risk of Covid complications or they had to organise food deliveries, etc. Children may have been kept home from school so there were additional childcare responsibilities. People couldn't pop out to chat with neighbours or visit local shops during lunch breaks.

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u/brainiac2482 1d ago

Any study they can commission that shows we should return to office. Can't keep missing out on those government office space subsidies. Try again. We're not going back.