Gendered Differences in Time Parents Spend with Children: Does Education Play a Role?

Abstract

My project utilizes data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to study the relationship between parents’ characteristics and their time spent with children currently living in the household. I examine whether time spent differs based on which spouse has a higher educational level. Historically, mothers spent the most time with children, but this could largely be attributed to fathers’ higher education levels. Given increases in women’s educational attainment, do mothers still spend as much time with their children or do we find increases in the time fathers spend? I draw on literature related to sociology of the family and educational homogamy, which is defined by both spouses having the same level of educational attainment. There is a significant gap in the existing literature regarding both educational homogamy and time parents spend with their children. My study examines spousal differences in time spent with children using data from the ATUS. The dataset allows me to make comparisons between data from 2003-2005 and data from 2017- 2019 and provides a variety of demographic, economic, and social characteristics of the parents. One advantage of the data is that it does not only include spousal characteristics but also characteristics of cohabiting partners. My hypothesis is that while mothers may still spend more time with their children than fathers, the difference in time spent has shrunk.

Details

Session 2

3:00pm – 4:30pm

Grand Salon