Trends in Mothers' Parenting Time by Education and Work From 2003 to 2017

Abstract

Scholars have been increasingly concerned about the rise in “intensive mothering” and its implications for the well-being of children and women and for inequality more broadly. These concerns, however, reflect a key assumption: that socioeconomic disparities in mothers' parenting time observed in earlier eras have continued to grow. Using the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) from 2003–2005 and 2015–2017 (n = 13,755), we test this assumption by examining whether maternal education gaps in active time spent with children have persisted across the 2000s. We pay particular attention to the continued socioeconomic bifurcation in women's access to full-time stable work, assessing whether changes in the education-related time gap are due to changes in who works and how much. We find that the gap in active childcare time between mothers with a college degree and those without has closed dramatically. Although some of this narrowing was driven by declines in time among college-educated mothers, most was driven by increases among mothers with less education. These trends, however, are observed only among mothers who were not employed full-time. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analyses further reveal that although most of the increase in active care time among nonworking mothers with less education was attributable to behavioral change, 58% of the decline among nonworking, college-educated mothers was a result of sociodemographic compositional changes. These findings illuminate population-level trends in mothers' active parenting time, provide insights into the driving factors, and help update theories, qualitative findings, and policy considerations related to mothers' and children's well-being.

Self-Reported Parental Interactions through Play with Young Children in Thailand: An Analysis of the 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS)

“…The results corroborate the findings from 2006, 2012, and 2016 MICS, which found that Thai children under the age of five whose parents had higher education levels engaged in more parental interactions (81%, 96%, and 97%, respectively) [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Higher parental education likely creates parental awareness and responsiveness to the children’s natural needs and demand for plays [ 21 , 22 ]. Moreover, educated parents seem to have the ability to obtain specific information about their children’s health requirements [ 21 , 22 ].…”

“…Higher parental education likely creates parental awareness and responsiveness to the children’s natural needs and demand for plays [ 21 , 22 ]. Moreover, educated parents seem to have the ability to obtain specific information about their children’s health requirements [ 21 , 22 ]. Higher education levels of parents also help increase parental involvement in child-rearing practice, and the time used with children is likely to be involved with a more developmentally appropriate academic-related activity [ 21 , 22 ].…”

“…Moreover, educated parents seem to have the ability to obtain specific information about their children’s health requirements [ 21 , 22 ]. Higher education levels of parents also help increase parental involvement in child-rearing practice, and the time used with children is likely to be involved with a more developmentally appropriate academic-related activity [ 21 , 22 ]. Parents with higher education tended to discourage their children from engaging in sedentary activities, such as watching television for too long [ 23 ].…”

“…Parents with higher education tended to discourage their children from engaging in sedentary activities, such as watching television for too long [ 23 ]. Furthermore, parents with lower education levels may undervalue their involvement in the demonstration, full engagement, and family practices [ 9 , 11 , 21 , 22 ] in intellectual activities, such as book reading, storytelling, and singing. In addition, emerging parental responsibilities, specifically an increased female labour force participation, reduced time spent playing with children, particularly among low-education and low-income families [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

The Earned Income Tax Credit and Short-Term Changes in Parents’ Time Investments in Children

“…The literature shows wide socioeconomic (SES) gaps in both the quality and quantity of time parents spend interacting with children, with much of this literature focusing on gaps by parent education rather than household income (Caucutt et al, 2020 ; England & Srivastava, 2013 ; Gershenson, 2013 ; Kalil et al, 2012 ; Vinopal & Gershenson, 2017 ). Over the last few decades, mother–child and father-child time has increased, and SES gaps in developmental or enriching activities have narrowed, but some gaps in young children’s experiences, including parental engagement with children, persist (Bassok et al, 2016 ; Prickett & Augustine, 2021 ). Evidence suggests that while some gaps by parental education in parent-young child activities such as visiting libraries have narrowed over the past quarter-century, others, such as reading to children or teaching them numbers, have increased (Kalil et al, 2016 ).…”