Father with newborn When men take longer leave, two things happen: women return to work sooner, and men become more attuned to, and less tolerant of, those opportunity costs. (Photo: Shutterstock)

A lot of dads say they support paid leave for fathers to care for newborn children — but maybe they mean other fathers. The vast majority of men don’t take more than a week off, and they’re less likely to take time for a second child, according to new research from Ball State University.

Only 14 percent of fathers who take leave use more than two weeks, said Richard Petts, a father of two and a sociology professor at Ball State. He analyzed several sets of data on who uses parental leave and how. In one study, first-time dads were 77 percent more likely to take leave than a dad who had two or more children; another study found the newbies were 44 percent more likely to use time off.

“If you’re doing it for the first time, you’re extra excited, you don’t necessarily have the ‘This is going to be much harder than I thought’ idea,” said Petts, who became interested in the topic after he learned he had few options for paid leave after the birth of his son, 5, and daughter, 4.

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