Parent-Child Time During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey

• In Event: Parent and Child Shared Time and Interactions

Abstract

How, where, and with whom children and their parents spent time changed dramatically in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public health guidelines and restrictions, and school, childcare program, and business closures (Agostinelli et al., 2020; Settersten et al., 2020). Many parents shifted to remote work (BLS, 2021) and balanced employment, caregiving, and virtual schooling responsibilities, while others arranged back-up childcare or left the workforce (Hertz et al., 2021; Malik & Morrissey, 2020). Understanding where and how children’s time with their parents changed is important to understanding the mechanisms via which the pandemic affected children’s health and learning, and how these effects vary by child age and parent gender, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity.

This study examined parent-child time using nationally representative time-diary data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to compare parents’ time spent in and location of primary childcare (activities such as playing with, attending events or activities with children, physically caring for children, helping children with homework, and other forms of direct engagement) and secondary childcare (supervisory activities, e.g., folding laundry with a child at home) from May through December 2020 to the same months in 2019. To identify differences in these measures of time use pre- and during the pandemic, we conducted unadjusted t-test comparisons and then ran a series of Ordinary Least Squares and linear probability regression models that controlled for respondent characteristics, state-level COVID-19 case and death rates, and state and month fixed effects. We also added interactions to test whether parent gender, educational attainment, or race/ethnicity moderated associations between the pandemic and their childcare time.

Results indicate that for parents with children under 13, average time in primary and secondary childcare at home was 12.2 and 94.8 minutes/day greater, or 19.2% and 43.5% higher, respectively, during the first 9 months of the pandemic relative to the year prior (Table 1). By contrast, parents’ time spent in primary and secondary childcare not at home was 4.4 minutes/day and 35.3 minutes/day lower (35.6% and 34.2% less), respectively, during the pandemic. The likelihood that parents of children under 13 spent any time in secondary childcare at home increased (by 4.0 percentage points [pp], 4.6%), whereas the likelihood of performing any primary and secondary childcare not at home decreased (13.0 pp and 8.0 pp, 41.8% and 15.7%). Additionally, less-educated parents showed a larger increase in their likelihood of spending any time in secondary childcare at home than more-educated parents. In contrast to parents with younger children, parents whose youngest child was between 13 and 17 years showed no differences in primary childcare time pre- and during the pandemic (Table 2).

Findings suggest that parents’ time in supervisory childcare increased substantially, particularly among less-educated parents, whereas time spent directly engaging with children remained relatively stable. With the reductions in time at school, it is likely that the time children spent engaged with adults dramatically decreased. Results shed light on the pandemic’s effects and can provide insight on how best to support children and families during the recovery.

Authors

• Taryn W Morrissey, American University
  Presenting Author

• Katherine Engel, American University