卡洛·坎帕纳（Karlo Campana）这些天通常处于“以少对多”的劣势。他有三个4岁以下的年幼孩子。
Karlo Campana is usually outnumbered these days. He has three young kids under age 4.
在不久前的一个周六，他在南加州的家中和两个较大的孩子玩了一场迷你篮球赛，把球投向门上的篮框，而他的小儿子则坐在婴儿弹椅里看着。
On a recent Saturday, he played a mini-game of basketball with his two older kids in their Southern California home, shooting a ball into a hoop on the door, while his baby boy watched from his bouncy chair.
坎帕纳在今年5月儿子出生后申请了带薪休假——就像他当年为两个女儿休假一样。
Campana took paid time off in May after the birth of his son — just as he did for his daughters.
这有时被称为“亲子假”或“家庭假”，以区别于母亲为从分娩中身体恢复而可以休的带薪假（“产假”或“病假”）。
It's sometimes called "bonding" or "family" leave, to distinguish it from the paid leave ("maternity" or "disability" leave) that mothers can take to physically recover from childbirth.
“你需要那个适应期，”他说。在一家广告公司工作的坎帕纳表示，有时间不用去想工作，也不用担心在这期间失去收入，这对他和家人在睡眠不足的时期至关重要。
"You need that adjustment period," he said. Campana, who works at an ad agency, said having the time off not to think about work — or worry about losing income during that time — was crucial for him and his family during a sleep-deprived period.
“我妻子不是独自在做这件事，”他说。“她不会觉得自己在这一旅程中是孤单的。她觉得她有支持。”他半开玩笑地说，到了第三个孩子时，他以为自己已经完全掌握了换尿布的技巧、不会弄得太乱——但他猜错了。
"My wife isn't doing it on her own," he said. "She doesn't feel like she's alone on this journey. She feels like she has support." He jokes that by kid No. 3, he thought he had nailed diaper changes without too much mess — but he was wrong.
“好处是我能在他们各自处于婴儿阶段时陪伴他们，我可以抱着他们，你知道的，给他们换沾了便便的尿布，”他说。“这就像当父母的那些有趣时刻，比如，‘就是这样，你正身处其中。’”坎帕纳是越来越多在提供带薪家庭假项目的州休假陪伴新生儿的父亲之一，也是这一更广泛文化转变的一部分，在这种转变中，父亲们承担了更多的照料职责。
"The benefits are I get to spend time with each of them when they were in the infant stage, the baby stage, and I get to hold them and, you know, change the poopy diapers," he said. " It's like the funny moments of, like, being a parent, like, 'This is it right here, you're in the thick of it.'" Campana is among a growing number of fathers who take leave to bond with a new child in the states that offer paid family leave programs — and are part of a larger cultural shift that has seen dads handle more caregiving duties.
在加利福尼亚州——和几个其他州一样——男性约占亲子假申请总数的一半。去年，男性的申请比例甚至首次超过了女性——就像科罗拉多州和华盛顿州的情况一样，这在该州历史上尚属首次。这一趋势出现之际，联邦政府表示希望美国人多生孩子，而家庭则表示负担能力是养育孩子的障碍。
In California — as in several other states — men make up about half of bonding claim applications. Last year, men even surpassed women — as in Colorado and Washington — for the first time in the state's history. This trend comes at a time when the federal government has said it wants Americans to have more babies, and families report affordability is an obstacle in raising them.
美国没有联邦法律保障带薪育儿假，但加利福尼亚州是已通过立法实施带薪家庭假计划的14个州（外加华盛顿特区）之一——在许多这类地方，选择休假的父亲越来越多。
There's no federal law guaranteeing paid parental leave, but California is one of 14 states, plus Washington, D.C., that have passed legislation to enact paid family leave programs — and in many of those places, more dads are opting in.
“在性别角色、陪产假、父亲角色的认知上，我们现在所处的位置与20多年前已截然不同，”倡导带薪家庭假政策的组织“全民带薪假”（Paid Leave for All）政策总监莫莉·韦斯顿·威廉姆森（Molly Weston Williamson）说。
"We're in a very different place in terms of our understanding of gender roles, of paternity leave, of dads' roles than we were 20-plus years ago," said Molly Weston Williamson, policy director at Paid Leave for All, an organization that advocates for paid family leave policies.
加利福尼亚州的计划规定，在一年内，父母在孩子出生、领养或寄养安置后，最多可享受八周带薪亲子假。这还不包括母亲产后恢复可享受的六至八周带薪残疾假。
California's program offers, within a year, up to eight weeks of paid bonding leave for parents after a birth, adoption, or foster care placement. That's on top of six to eight weeks of paid disability leave that moms get to recover after birth.
坎帕纳（Campana）表示，他起初不确定是否该休陪产假，因为根深蒂固的性别刻板印象依然存在。
Campana said he initially wasn't sure if he should take paternity leave because of lingering gender stereotypes.
“我确实感到愧疚，”坎帕纳说。“我觉得父亲可能会认为自己必须是养家糊口的人，只能通过赚钱或工作来帮衬家庭。”
" I felt guilty, for sure," Campana said. " I think dads maybe feel they need to be the provider. They need to be the ones that are only helping their family by bringing money or working."
坎帕纳说，他小时候父亲要打三份工。“他很难陪伴在侧，我觉得现在最重要的一点就是——不，要陪伴在侧。要在孩子身边。”研究表明，陪产假带来的益处不仅限于让父亲多出时间与新生儿建立亲子关系：它对整个家庭都有积极影响，包括改善父母双方的健康状况。带薪育儿假还与产后抑郁风险降低、婴儿死亡率下降有关。
Campana said that when he was growing up, his father worked three jobs. "It was hard for him to be present, and I think that's the one thing now — it's like, 'No, be present. Be there for your kids.'" Research has shown that paternity leave confers benefits beyond allowing a father extra time to bond with a new child: It has positive effects on the whole family, including better health outcomes for both parents. Paid parental leave has also been linked to lower odds of postpartum depression and a decrease in infant mortality rates.
在加利福尼亚州，2025年提交亲子假申请的男性占比达51%。与该州计划2004年启动时男性仅占申请人约18%相比，这是巨大的转变。
In California, men accounted for 51% of bonding claims filed in 2025. It's a massive shift from when the state program started in 2004, and men made up about 18% of claim applications.
各州通过雇主和雇员缴费的不同组合为其带薪家庭和医疗假计划提供资金；加利福尼亚州是六个完全由雇员工资扣除资助家庭假的州之一。
States fund their paid family and medical leave programs with different combinations of employer and employee contributions; California is among six states where family leave is entirely funded by employee payroll deductions.
威廉姆森表示，除了性别规范的变化外，其他因素也可能导致该州男性申请人数的增加：对该计划的认知度提高，以及福利待遇的近期调整。
In addition to changing gender norms, Williamson said other factors are likely contributing to the increase in claims by men in the state: greater awareness about the program, and recent changes to the benefit.
2025年，该州提高了工人休家庭假期间可挽回的收入比例。现在，在加利福尼亚州和其他州，休假福利最高可达其正常工资的90%。
In 2025, the state boosted the amount of income a worker can recoup while on family leave. Now, in California and in other states, the leave benefit can be as high as 90% of their regular salary.
威廉姆森说：“这使得休假成为更多家庭切实可行的选择，我认为我们正看到父亲和母亲对这一变化做出回应。”不过她表示，关于父亲们的新数据仍有许多未能说明的地方。
"That makes it a realistic option for a lot more families, and I think we're seeing dads and moms responding to that change," Williamson said. Still, she said, there's a lot the new data about dads isn't telling us.
威廉姆森说：“我们从一个特定视角切入这些数据，这很有用且很有价值，但它只讲出了故事的一部分，我们需要其他类信息才能更好地了解全貌。”
"We're getting one particular vantage point into this data, which is useful and valuable, but it's only telling us sort of part of the story, and we'd need other kinds of information to better understand the full picture," Williamson said.
“是因为更多父亲在职从而可能有资格享受这些福利？还是因为女性决定不休假？”虽然私营雇主可以自行提供带薪假福利，但这些数据也仅反映通过加利福尼亚州带薪家庭假计划休假的人员情况。
"Is it that more dads are working and therefore are potentially eligible for these benefits? Is it that women are deciding not to take leave?" While private employers can offer their own paid leave as a benefit, this data also reflects only people who took leave through California's paid family leave program.
负责管理该州家庭假计划的加利福尼亚州就业发展部的一位发言人表示，该部门无法为男性陪护假申请的增加提供确切原因。
A spokesperson for the California Employment Development Department, which administers the state's family leave program, said the department couldn't provide definitive reasons for the increase in male bonding claims.
有一点是明确的：这些州的增长发生在更多父母感到经济压力之际。
One thing is clear: The growth in these states comes as more parents are feeling strained economically.
特朗普总统曾表示：“我们想要更多婴儿”，并推动了扩大体外受精服务准入、为新生儿提供投资账户等政策举措。
President Trump has said, "We want more babies," and has promoted policy initiatives like expanding access to in vitro fertilization and offering investment accounts for newborns.
“人们确实非常担心养育孩子的可承受能力，”杨百翰大学政治学教授兼《美国家庭调查》首席研究员杰里米·波佩（Jeremy Pope）说。
"People really are very worried about the affordability of kids," said Jeremy Pope, a professor of political science at Brigham Young University, and a principal investigator of the American Family Survey.
根据该调查显示，在2025年的最新调查中，十分之七的美国人表示养育孩子已变得无法承担。这是该调查开展十多年来单年增幅最大的一次。
According to the latest survey in 2025, 7 in 10 Americans said raising children had become unaffordable, according to the survey. It was the biggest single-year jump since the survey started more than a decade ago.
“我认为他们不希望政府介入是否要孩子的决定，”波佩说。“但他们非常担心花费会有多高，并且希望看到减少这些成本或获得这些成本帮助的途径。”皮尤研究中心在近期一项针对非自雇全职工作父母的调查中发现，84%的人表示带薪产假、育儿假或病假对他们将“极其或非常有帮助”，但只有一半的人表示他们能够获得这种假期。
"I don't think they want government involved in the decision to have kids," Pope said. "But they worry a lot about how much it costs and they would like to see ways of making those costs smaller or getting help with those costs." The Pew Research Center found in a recent survey of full-time working parents who are not self-employed, 84% said paid parental, family, or medical leave would be "extremely or very helpful" to them, but only half said it was available to them.
这篇报道来自美国全国公共广播电台（NPR）与洛杉矶本地新闻网LAist及凯泽健康新闻网（KFF Health News）的健康报道合作项目。
This story comes from NPR's health reporting partnership with LAist and KFF Health News.