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Post-World War II, the vocational parent system was established in Japan in 1951―based on the Child Welfare Law―to provide aftercare for older dependent children. The vocational parents lived with the children and provided the guidance necessary for them to live independently. The evolution of the vocational parent system is divided into three periods for this study: the 1950s, the end of the 1950s to the mid-1960s, and the mid-1960s to the 1970s. Vocational parents were primarily from small- and medium-sized business establishments who could provide personal guidance. This prevented the children from becoming skilled workers and seeking employment in large companies. Vocational parents were expected to provide "parental love" to the children without compensation, despite having to bear the childcare costs and blunders at work. The more the government, welfare personnel, and newspapers sought the welfare ideal of parent-like assistance, the more detached they became from the realities of the working environment and the needs of the children. Consequently, the disparity may have contributed to the decline in aftercare in post-war Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the recent increase in the number of working mothers, Japanese cities face a shortage of childcare services. In response to this problem, Japan's central government has attempted to expand childcare facilities by implementing a comprehensive support system for children and child-rearing. However, a geographical approach is needed to evaluate the impact of the new system from the viewpoint of territorial justice in order to reconcile efficiency and equity in public service provision. Therefore, this study examines the spatial aspects of the supply–demand gap in childcare services following the implementation of the new system. The area studied was Naha City in Okinawa Prefecture, where the number of children awaiting enrollment in licensed childcare centers is exceptionally large. Since 2015, the city authorities have provided financial assistance to transform unlicensed childcare facilities into licensed ones to increase the provision of childcare services. As a result, the number of children awaiting enrollment in licensed childcare centers has reduced. Nevertheless, a spatial analysis of the supply–demand gap in childcare services using a geographic information system proves that a regional imbalance in childcare provision still exists in Naha City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some studies conducted in the United Kingdom have shown long-term associations between paternal involvement in childcare and adolescents' mental health issues. However, findings were inconsistent, and similar epidemiologic studies have not been conducted in other countries in Europe or Asia. Thus, we aimed to examine this association using Japanese population-based cohort study data. The Japanese Longitudinal Survey of Newborns in the 21st Century commenced in 2001. Data from 18,568 16-year-olds enrolled in the survey were analyzed. Poor psychological well-being was assessed using the WHO-5 Well-being Index. Paternal involvement in childcare—in tasks such as changing diapers—was assessed at the children's 6 months of age. We created four groups from least involvement to most active involvement based on the frequency of fathers' performing the tasks. The risk of poor psychological well-being was lower among more active involvement groups compared with the least involvement group, after adjusting for potential confounders (risk ratios = 0.90 [95 % confidence intervals: 0.85, 0.95] for the most active group). Due to 16 years of follow-up, loss to follow-up may have caused a selection bias. Our study is the first in Asian countries to show that fathers' active involvement in childcare is associated with poor psychological well-being in adolescence. Encouraging fathers' involvement in childcare may ameliorate prevalent issues of school refusals and withdrawals in the long term in Japan. • Fathers' childcare involvement is associated with adolescents' mental well-being. • Active childcare involvement is protective against poor psychological well-being. • Active childcare involvement may ameliorate children's mental health issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Father's closeness and playful behavior influence a child's emotional and cognitive development. In this study, we aimed to assess the long‐term association of paternal involvement in childcare at 1–3 years of life on subsequent behavioral outcomes at 8 years of age. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2010 cohort of the Longitudinal Survey of Newborns in the 21st century in Japan. We used group‐based trajectory modeling to predict the trajectory of total childcare scores in surveys 1, 2 and 3 to determine the overall involvement of fathers in childcare during early childhood. The level of fathers' involvement in childcare was categorized as "low", "medium" and "high". Responses from the eighth survey were used to assess child behavioral outcomes using five indicators when the child was 8 years old. Crude and adjusted logistic regression analysis was conducted to estimate the odds ratio (OR) separately for each of the behavioral outcomes of the child. Results: Among the 17,027 father‐child dyads included in this study, two‐thirds of the fathers were of the age group 30–39 years. Compared to low involvement, children of fathers with high involvement in childcare during the early childhood years were less likely to not want to go to school even after adjusting for covariates (adjusted OR, 0.46; 95% CI: 0.32–0.66). Conclusions: Children benefit from their fathers' involvement in early childcare activities. To improve a child's well‐being, fathers should be encouraged by providing them with a suitable working environment with flexible arrangements and the opportunity to involve in childcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to develop a Childcare Literacy Scale for Mothers with Infants and Children (CLMIC) and verify its reliability and validity. Using a 28-item childcare literacy measurement scale proposed after a preliminary survey, an anonymous self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted. Participants were mothers who came to the city’s infant health checkups ; 211 people were included in the analysis. Cronbach’s α was used to verify reliability. To verify the validity, exploratory factor analysis was performed as construct validity. Following factor analysis of 28 items on the childcare literacy measurement scale, 4 factors and 24 items were adopted. For all factors, Cronbach’s α were greater than or equal to .80. CLMIC and Communicative and Critical Health Literacy, Health Literacy Scale for Women of Reproductive Age, and Japanese Short-Form-8-Item Health Survey showed significant positive correlations. CLMIC and Japanese Parenting Stress Index Short Form indicated a significant negative correlation. The reliability and validity of the developed CLMIC were confirmed. It was shown to be a useful scale that can contribute to health behaviors that protect against child-rearing stress and promote child safety and security, valuing the unique perspective of child-rearing that is appropriate for Japanese mothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Female physicians with children often work fewer hours and take fewer shifts due to additional family responsibilities. This can contribute to a gender pay gap in the medical profession. However, limited research in Japan has quantitatively examined the factors contributing to this gap. This study aims to address this gap in the literature., Methods: We analyzed the alumni data from a medical school in Hokkaido, Japan, for 260 physicians (198 males and 62 females). We used multivariable regression models to identify factors influencing earnings from medical practice, with a focus on gender, work schedules, parenthood, and any career interruptions related to childcare., Results: Our analysis revealed a 25.0% earnings gap between male and female physicians. Nearly all female physicians with children experienced career interruptions due to childcare, while this was uncommon for male physicians. When these childcare-related interruptions were factored in, the gender pay gap narrowed by 9.7%. After adjusting for work schedules and specialty choices, female physicians with children still earned 37.2% less than male physicians, while those without children earned only 4.4% less. This suggests that motherhood is a significant driver of the gender pay gap among physicians., Conclusions: These findings highlight the negative impact of motherhood on female physicians' earnings. This emphasizes the need for policy measures to mitigate the disadvantages faced by mothers in the medical profession., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

• Socio-emotional abilities develop as a result of early childhood influences. • Teaching attitudes at child care centers impact children's problem behaviors. • Long hours in Japanese child care do not adversely affect socio-emotional abilities. This study investigated the relationship between the development of the socio-emotional abilities of Japanese children between the ages of one and 2 years, and the quality of care they receive at their childcare centers. The participants were 872 pairs of parents (M = 34.13 years old) and their children (M = 25.65 months old) who attended one of 57 public childcare centers in urban Japan, as well as 373 childcare teachers (M = 37.26 years old) who conducted classes. Parents rated their children's social competence and problem behaviors, and the child-centered teaching attitudes in classrooms were rated by the teachers. The results revealed that the child-centered teaching attitudes in classrooms contributed significantly to low problem behavior among 1- to 2-year-old children, even when child variables (age, sex) and family variables (family income, parent's education, and parent's responsibility) were controlled. Child-centered teaching attitude had a particularly pronounced effect when the family variable of parent responsibility was low. This is the first empirical evidence of this relationship in a non-Western country. Our results suggest the importance of child-centered teaching attitudes for children who experience long hours of childcare outside the home, along with teachers' beliefs and attitudes regarding the quality of early childhood education and care, and related professional training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the association between the amount of time spent at childcare and diet quality in 668 Japanese children aged 1·5–6 years. Design: A cross-sectional design was used. Dietary information was collected using dietary records (1 d for children aged 1·5–2 years and 2 d for children aged 3–6 years). Diet quality was assessed by counting the number of nutrients not meeting the Japanese Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI). Each child's guardian reported the average amount of time spent at childcare per d for the previous 1 month. Setting: In total, 315 childcare centres located in twenty-four areas in Japan. Participants: In total, 753 children aged 1·5–6 years who attend childcare facilities. Results: After adjustment for potential confounders, OR for the low diet quality (≥ 5 of twenty nutrients not meeting DRI) in long (≥10 h/d) v. medium (8–10 h/d) childcare hours was 4·81 (95 % CI 1·96, 11·8) among children aged 5–6 years. There was no significant association in children aged 1·5–2 and 3–4 years. Conclusion: This study showed that long time spent at childcare was strongly associated with low diet quality among children aged 5–6 years, but not those aged 1·5–2 and 3–4 years. More research is needed to clarify different associations in each age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Although gender stereotypes regarding paid work and unpaid work are changing, most wives are responsible for taking care of the family and home in Japan. It is unclear how time spent on housework and childcare has changed between working men and women during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Japan. The purpose of this study is to investigate how working men and women's responsibilities for housework and childcare changed during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Japan depending on work hours, job type, the number of employees in the workplace, and frequency of telecommuting. Methods: A cross‐sectional analysis (N = 14,454) was conducted using data from an Internet monitoring study (CORoNa Work Project), which was conducted in December 2020. A multilevel logistic model with nested prefectures of residence was conducted to estimate the odds ratio (OR) for change in time devoted to housework and childcare among men and women adjusting for age, household income, presence of spouse who work, work hours, job type, the number of employees in the workplace, frequency of telecommuting, and the incidence rate of COVID‐19 by prefecture. Results: More women tended to perceive that their time of housework and/or childcare had been changed (increased housework: OR 1.92, 95% CI [1.71–2.16], P <.001; decreased workhours: 1.66 (1.25–2.19), P <.001: increased childcare: OR 1.58, 95% CI [1.29–1.92], P <.001; decreased childcare: 1.11 (0.62–2.00), P =.719). Conclusions: The time spent by women on housework and childcare changed significantly compared to men during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: A feeling of isolation childcare mothers' face is a serious social problem in Japan because the relationships with mothers and local communities have grown sparser. The purpose of this study was to clarify the feelings of isolation of mothers during childcare and the factors related to it. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey in Yao City, Osaka. We mailed out a questionnaire survey of 1293 mothers with infants who had either a 4‐month or 42‐month routine health checkup during the period from September to December of 2018. Results: There was no association between "feeling lonely while raising my child" and the absence of "people who helped raise my children." On the other hand, it was found that the mothers' inner feelings, such as "I wasn't satisfied with my childcare environment" (OR: 2.55, 95% CI: 1.32–4.91, p = 0.0052) or "I lacked confidence in my own childcare abilities" (OR: 6.21, 95% CI: 4.31–8.95, p < 0.0001), were associated with their sense of loneliness. Conclusions: Mothers' "sense of loneliness" was shown to be best correlated with their dissatisfaction with the environment of their childcare and with their lack of confidence in raising their own children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether a mother's early return to work after her first birth improves her employment status in the short term and the long term (3 and 10/12 years after the child's birth). Specifically, this research investigates whether a mother is more likely to be in full‐time employment if she returns to work within 1 year of childbirth (i.e. without using her allowable parental leave to the full). We estimate recursive bivariate probit models for a mother's early return to work and her subsequent employment status using July births as an instrument. Our approach is unique in that we shed light on the relationship between the timing of a birth (birth month) and the timing of a mother's return to work after childbirth. The birth month affects the cut‐off dates for admission into a licensed childcare facility in Japan, which, in turn, affects the timing of a mother's return to work. Our empirical evidence reveals that a mother's early return to work after her first birth has a positive causal effect on the likelihood of her being in full‐time employment in the long term (10 and 12 years after childbirth). We do not find any causal effect of an early return to work on working full time in the short term (3 years after childbirth). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between the incidence of early childhood caries (ECC) and factors of the daytime childcare environment among toddlers in a rural area of Japan.Material and Methods: This was a prospective cohort study. Data collected from 2011 to 2015 were obtained for initially caries-free, 18-month-old toddlers (N = 640). Dentists recorded the numbers of decayed, missing and filled teeth (caries incidence) of toddlers at baseline (age 18 months) and follow-up (age 3 years). In addition, a questionnaire survey was conducted on guardians at baseline to record data on lifestyle.Results: In total, 159 (24.8%) toddlers had newly identified ECC at follow-up. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the incidence of ECC was significantly associated with receiving daytime care at a nursery school (odds ratio [OR], 1.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-2.30; p = .029), prolonged breastfeeding (OR, 1.71; 95%CI, 1.15-2.55; p = .008), and snacking ≥3 times a day (OR, 2.39; 95%CI, 1.53-3.74; p < .001).Conclusion: These findings suggest that receiving daytime care at a nursery school, prolonged breastfeeding, and frequent snacking are associated with an increased risk of ECC among Japanese toddlers in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It remains unclear how the various environmental factors are combined in practice to influence vegetable preferences in school-aged children. This study aimed to clarify the environmental factors during infancy and their association with vegetable preference in school-aged children. To find clusters of early childhood environmental factors, we conducted a factor analysis on 58 items related to early childhood environmental factors and a k-means cluster analysis using the factors obtained. The association of the extracted factors and clusters with vegetable preferences was assessed by multiple regression analysis. Twelve factors relating to vegetable eating, cooking and harvesting experience, and parental attitudes were extracted by factor analysis. Three clusters, "low awareness of experiences", "high awareness" and "low positive encouragement", were then extracted. In the multiple regression analysis, all 12 factors were found to be associated with vegetable preferences. Furthermore, it was found that the "high awareness" group had a significantly higher score for vegetable preference than the "low awareness of experiences" group (β = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.37-0.74). Thus, the study found that environmental factors during infancy, in isolation and combination, influenced vegetable preferences in school-aged children. Assessing the combination of various environmental factors during infancy may contribute to a better understanding of future vegetable preferences.

This study investigates how paid parental leave (PPL) can supplement functional social support and affect maternal stress in a context of undersupplied childcare support. A Japanese PPL reform implemented in 2017 improves functional social support by entitling an additional 6-month extendable PPL period to parents with childcare arrangement difficulties, making the maximum length of the postpartum job-protected leave period increased from 18 months to 24 months. We explore the stress-relief effect of being eligible for the new entitlement using an observational dataset originally collected before and after the policy intervention. We construct a policy-relevant sample and a policy-irrelevant sample of mothers with regular employment based on the eligibility conditions of the new entitlement and balance the pre- and postintervention cohorts using coarsened exact matching. The policy effect is identified by comparing the pre- and postintervention maternal stress of balanced policy-relevant observations; the unconfoundedness assumption, which validates the identification strategy, is tested by analyzing the policy-irrelevant sample. The results indicate that being eligible for the additional PPL period has a relief effect on maternal low-level stress, and the effect is more pronounced for married mothers from medium–high household income families; the eligibility is found to have a null effect on maternal high-level stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, the notion has persisted in developed countries that exclusive care by the mothers is best for the development of children up to 3 years of age. To examine the veracity of this "myth of the first three years" in Japan, we examined the effects of childcare facility use for children younger than 3 years on their development using the cohorts of the Longitudinal Survey of Newborns in the 21st Century conducted in Japan. Of the 47,015 respondents to the survey, we studied the children of 5,508 mothers with university/professional education to evaluate the relationships between primary early (< 2.5 years) childcare providers during weekday daytime hours and specific development indices for the ages of 2.5, 5.5, and 8 years. At the age of 2.5 and 5.5 years, children attending childcare facilities were judged as having more advanced developmental behaviors by their parents, such as being able to compose a two-word sentence (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 0.22) or to express emotions (aOR: 0.81), compared with those cared for by mothers. However, at the age of 8 years, children who attended childcare facilities as infants < 2.5 years showed more aggressive behavior in interrupting people (aOR: 1.20) and causing disturbances in public (aOR: 1.26) than those cared for by mothers (after adjustment for numerous child and parental factors). Although these results are generally consistent with previous studies, issues potentially involved with problem behavior such as quality of childcare require further investigation, as does the case of children of mothers with more modest educational attainment., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

This article investigates the politics of ‘defamilialization of care’ in four familialist countries – Italy, Japan, Korea and Spain – during the past 15 years. By ‘defamilialization of care’, we refer to those public policies, which aim at reducing the care responsibility of the family – both for the young and the old. We build upon the existing literature on new social risks by highlighting the role of those macro-political institutions such as electoral systems and government types in order to demonstrate that there are two very different types of politics of defamilialization: (1) election-oriented and (2) problem-oriented. We attribute different policy outcomes in the four familialist countries to their specific institutional configurations rather than to partisan government composition or different cultural orientations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares state policies to support childcare in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, using fuzzy set ideal type analysis to determine the nature of institutional arrangements with respect to labour, money and time provisions. We then note their implications for familialization and defamilialization in the three countries. Our analysis suggests a common pattern towards the increased use of financial support amongst the three countries over time; however, this commonality does not mean their childcare policies are converging, as the financial supports differ in focus, with Japan concentrating on familialization by valuing family care, and Korea exclusively employing policy to facilitate the use of market-based care services. For its part, Taiwan has been strengthening familialization by increasing the leave compensation to value time off to provide care. The different labour, money and time dimensions vis-à-vis the familialization/defamilialization matrix suggest varying implications of institutional arrangements for gender. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan and South Korea have been known as 'familialistic' welfare states, where the family was the main caregiver. Both countries are in the process of transformation. Today, their welfare states provide more care services than never before. Korea has expanded care services much more rapidly than Japan. Korea today outperforms Japan and many other countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in enrolment rates of children up to the age of three in childcare. We develop an institutional model to explain why Korea responded to childcare needs much more drastically than Japan. We also apply the same model to explain why Korea prioritized childcare over elderly care, while Japan has done just the opposite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in the perceptions of childcare among early childhood teachers in Japan and the USA. Participants consisted of 278 Japanese early childhood teachers (10 males and 268 females) on the Japanese mainland and 78 American early childhood teachers (5 males and 73 females) in the southeastern and northeastern states of the USA. The results of quantitative analysis revealed that there was a significant difference in these perceptions, with American teachers demonstrating a stronger belief than Japanese teachers that mothers should take care of young children. Both groups of teachers, however, had similar views that group care offers positive development to children. The implications for early childhood teacher education will be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With increasing numbers of women joining the workforce, there is a need for quality childcare. This project, conducted in Japan and using a large number of participants, sought to standardize an evaluation scale to measure the development of children. The development of children under six years of age (N = 22,819) who are enrolled in childcare programs was evaluated by childcare professionals. Percentiles were calculated (10th, 50th, and 90th percentile points) for each item (total 192) of six developmental subscales (gross motor, fine motor, social competence, communication, vocabulary, and intelligence development). The results supported the validity of this scale in measuring child development in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives. The purpose of this paper is to explore the determinants of work–family conflict among Japanese nurses by using microdata describing nurses’ characteristics working at health facilities in Japan. We focus in particular on the impacts of shift work and workplace child care support on the conflict between work and child care with preschool children. Background. With a declining fertility trend, it is not easy to recruit sufficient number of nurses from the pool of graduate nurses. Therefore, support for reemployment of inactive nurses and prevention of turnover and enhancement of retention for active nurses have become the important strategies, along with the recruitment of new graduates. Design and method. We focus on the impacts of (i) flexibility in shift work and (ii) child care support at work, on the conflict between work and child care through performing multivariate regression analysis. The data used in this study come from a survey conducted on members of the Japanese Nursing Association as of the end of July 2001. Concerning shift work and child care support, we limited the sample to the full-time female employees. The sample is limited to 378 respondents who were mothers of preschool children. Result. The results can be summarised as follows: (i) working night shifts does not have a significant effect on the conflict in balancing work and child care. Also findings show that three-shift duty is more likely to increase the conflict. (ii) When supportiveness about child care responsibilities with small children is absent at work, the conflict is likely to increase. (iii) For mothers working night shifts, the reduction of the duties are likely to reduce the conflict. Conclusion. These results highlight the importance of establishing a system in which nurses can select the work hours flexibly and to promote awareness at work regarding the importance of child care support to strike balance between the nursing work and child-raising. Relevance to clinical practice. The difficulty in balancing work and child care is one of the main factors that prevent inactive nurses from returning to work. Also, enrichment of child care support is important to reemploying inactive nurses. Therefore, revealing the difficulty that nurses experience in balancing work and child care, and the effectiveness of child care support for securing nursing labour, is highly relevant to clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Results from empirical research to date consistently indicate that the temporal constraints of work (total work hours and commute time) increase work-family conflict. Telework attributes such as less commuting time and greater scheduling flexibility are considered likely to reduce work-family conflict (WFC), especially for workers with very young children. This paper examines empirically whether work-family conflict is reduced in the case of home-based telework using March 2005 data from 357 employed and self-employed fathers and mothers with preschool children in Tokyo. The major results indicate that there is a lower trend for WFC for home-based workers as opposed to those who work outside the home as far as a comparison of averages shows, but the structural equation model analysis verified that the presence/absence of home-based work does not have a direct impact on WFC. The most dominant feature of the home-based workers was their shorter work hours. These results suggest that other causes may trigger WFC in home-based work settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple global trends are putting pressure on governments to develop policies and programmes that meet the needs of families with children aged 0–3. This cross-national analysis focuses on policies and programmes of parental leave and childcare in the United States, Sweden and Japan. Cross-national studies of early childhood education and care are reviewed. National profiles are provided of demographic, economic, political and socio-cultural characteristics and of parental leave and childcare policies and programmes. Policies and programmes are compared in relation to equity of coverage and support of basic parental childrearing and child-protection responsibilities. Issues raised highlight the need for unified programmes and policies, and continuing global dialogue regarding the needs of this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The number of people providing informal caregiving, including dual care, which is the combination of child and nursing care, is increasing. Due to the burden of multiple responsibility, dual care could negatively affect the health of informal caregivers. Previous research has not studied the effects of combining different types of informal caregiving. Therefore, we examined, among Japanese women, 1) the association between types of informal caregiving and self-rated health (SRH), and 2) difference in this association according to caregivers' socio-economic conditions., Methods: We analyzed the nationally representative 2013 Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions data of 104,171 women aged 20-59 years. The odds ratios (ORs) for poor SRH by type of informal caregiving (no care, childcare, nursing care, and dual care) were estimated using logistic regression. We also conducted sub-group analyses by socio-economic conditions (equivalent monthly household expenditure and educational attainment)., Results: Compared to the no care group, the adjusted ORs for poor SRH of the childcare, nursing-care, and dual care groups were 0.92 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88-0.97), 1.33 (95% CI, 1.21-1.47), and 1.42 (95% CI, 1.23-1.64), respectively. There was no extra risk arisen from combining childcare and nursing care. The sub-group analyses indicated that neither household expenditure nor educational attainment affected the association between caregiving type and poor SRH., Conclusion: Our study found that informal nursing care and dual care impose a health burden on female caregivers, regardless of their socio-economic conditions. This highlights the importance of addressing the effects of informal caregiving on the health of women.

Although the number of fathers taking childcare leave is increasing, the impact of paternity leave on father-infant bonding remains to be fully investigated. This study aimed to assess the association between paternity leave and father-infant bonding among fathers with children under two years old. A cross-sectional study was performed using data from the Japan COVID-19 and Society Internet Survey study, a nationwide online survey conducted between July and August 2021 (N = 1194). Father-infant bonding was assessed by the Japanese version of the Mother-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS-J), which comprised two subscales (lack of affection (LA), and anger and rejection (AR)), with a higher score denoting poor bonding. Four hundred (33.5%) fathers self-reported taking childcare leave. Paternity leave was associated with higher total MIBS-J score and AR score after adjusting for covariates (coefficient 0.51; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.06-0.96, coefficient 0.26; 95% CI 0.03-0.49, respectively), but not with LA score (coefficient 0.10; 95% CI -0.13-0.34). There was no trend in the association between paternity leave and total MIBS-J score by children's age group ( p for trend = 0.98). Paternity leave was associated with impaired bonding, especially with increased anger and rejection, among fathers with children under two years of age.