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Working mothers multitask more than working fathers and like it less, according to a recent study in the American Sociological Review.

“Gender differences in multitasking are not only a matter of quantity but, more importantly, quality,” said Shira Offer, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Bar-llan University in Israel. “Our findings provide support for the popular notion that women are the ultimate multitaskers and suggest that the emotional experience of multitasking is very different for mothers and fathers.”

The study found that working mothers spend about 10 more hours per week multitasking than working fathers do — 48 hours per week for moms compared to 39 for dads.

But the authors of the study said that there is also a significant difference in the way multitasking makes working mothers and fathers feel.

“For mothers, multitasking is — on the whole — a negative experience, whereas it is not for fathers,” Offer said. “Only mothers report negative emotions and feeling stressed and conflicted when they multitask at home and in public settings. By contrast, multitasking in these contexts is a positive experience for fathers.”

The study, also authored by Barbara Schneider, from the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University, relies on data from the 500 Family Study, an investigation of how middle-class families balance family and work experiences. Data was collected from 1999-2000 on families living in eight urban and suburban communities across the United States. Most parents in the study are highly educated, employed in professional occupations and work, on average, longer hours and report higher earnings than middle class families in other nationally represented samples. The study reflects the most time-pressured segments of the population. The Offer-Schneider study used a subsample of 368 mothers and 241 fathers from the 500 Family Study.

According to Offer and Schneider, the study shows that at least some of the difference in the way multitasking makes working mothers and fathers feel is related to the types of activities they perform. Mothers are more likely than fathers to engage in housework or childcare activities “which are usually labor intensive efforts” while fathers tend to engage in activities such as talking to a third person or engaging in self care, Offer said. “These are less burdensome experiences,” she said of the typical multitasking performed by men.

The authors concluded that, in order to fix the problem, fathers need to “step up.”

“I think that in order to reduce mothers’ likelihood of multitasking and to make their experience of multitasking less negative, fathers’ share of housework and childcare has to further increase,” Offer said. The authors also concluded that policymakers and employers can facilitate this by changing workplace cultures that are obstacles to men being more involved at home.