Time With Children: The Impact of Couples' Work-Time Commitments

Using detailed time diaries of a 1981 national sample of 226 married couples with children, we analyze the extent of the trade-off between their time commitments to work and time with their children. Parents in single-earner families spend substantially more time with children than their dual-earner...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social forces 1988-09, Vol.67 (1), p.59-85
Main Authors: Nock, Steven L., Kingston, Paul William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Autobiographical literature
Child care
Childrearing Practices
Children
Children & youth
Couples
Dual Career Family
Dual-career families
Employment
Family
Family Work Relationship
Fathers
Husbands
Labor time
Mothers
Parent Child Relations
Parents
Parents & parenting
School age children
Social research
Sociological research
Spouses
Time
Wives
Work and family
Working parents
Working Women
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Summary:Using detailed time diaries of a 1981 national sample of 226 married couples with children, we analyze the extent of the trade-off between their time commitments to work and time with their children. Parents in single-earner families spend substantially more time with children than their dual-earner counterparts; the overall difference is largely accounted for by the lesser time of employed mothers in activities that involve children only peripherally, not in directly child-oriented activities. Dual-earner couples have lesser parental time with children for the simple fact that they work more as a unit than single-earner couples. Although the widespread employment of women has not led to a more directly participative male parental role, work time affects fathers' time with children more than mothers'.
ISSN:0037-7732
1534-7605
DOI:10.1093/sf/67.1.59