From Family Networks to Temporal Sequences: Understanding Working Parents' with whom Time Quality and Subjective Well-being

• In Event: 20206 - Sociology of Time Use

Abstract

Due to the shifting of family structures over decades, time with whom quality within household and its mental consequences through gender lens have been subjects of ongoing debate in sociology of time and family. Using UK Time Use Survey, this study employees a combination of Social Networking Analysis, Sequence Analysis and Ordinary Least Square regression to empirically investigate the nuanced mental consequences of British dual-earner parents’ time with whom quality across genders on both weekdays and weekends. We find that working mothers tend to take more family responsibilities, but experience mitigation effects against mental costs from family work, compared to fathers who have similar time with whom quality. From the social network perspective, mothers are more likely to occupy the center position in the family networks with stronger connections to their children. Both working parents tend to feel rush more frequently on weekdays and weekends, while this effect is more pronounced among fathers during weekends, suggesting the potential mental cost to be in the family center. Regarding the with whom patterns perspectives, on weekdays, four main clusters emerge: (a) Standard interaction, (b) Standard interaction with more child involvement, (c) All-day mixed interaction, (d) All-day parenting. On weekends, five clusters are identified: (a) Standard interaction, (b) All-day mixed interaction, (c) All-day parenting, (d) All-day co-parenting, (e) All-day spouse interaction. Compared to the standard interaction cluster, working parents belong to All-day parenting cluster show lower rush feelings, and such mental buffer brought by childcaring are more pronounced among mothers both on weekdays and weekends. Taken together, these findings underscore the mental health consequences of gendered family roles, viewed through the lens of role switching, role overlap, and gender norms. This study also calls for more gender-sensitive policies in family support to better address the unique challenges faced by working parents.

Authors

• Yucheng He, Hong Kong Univ of Science and Tech

• JyuGaai Hau, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)

• Muzhi Zhou, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou)