Gender Differences in Time in Child Care During Unemployment

• In Event: 3523 - Family Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 17: Time Use in Families

Abstract

Objectives
There is great interest in the relationship between paid and unpaid labor time. Yet, in the United States most studies have focused on the housework component of unpaid labor. Limited research has examined how parental employment status relates to child care time. This study examines how unemployment is related to time in multiple types of child care and how this relationship varies by gender.

Methods
I use data from the 2003-2013 American Time Use Surveys to study cohabiting and married parents ages 18-65 (N=44,198). I predict time spent in total child care, routine child care, and educational/recreational child care by parental unemployment status using ordinary least squares and seemingly unrelated regression models, and examine differences between weekday and weekend time use.

Results
Consistent with time-based theories, I find unemployed parents spend more time in child care than employed parents, but patterns vary by gender: unemployed mothers and fathers spend more time in child care on weekdays, but unemployed fathers spent less time in child care on weekends.

Conclusions
Results suggest similarities and differences between the unemployment-child care time relationship and the relationship of unemployment with other types of unpaid labor such as housework.

Author

• Margaret Michele Gough Courtney, University of La Verne