IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/anname/v654y2014i1p150-168.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Time Investments in Children across Family Structures

Author

Listed:
  • Ariel Kalil
  • Rebecca Ryan
  • Elise Chor

Abstract

This article compares time invested in children across family structures as a means to understand differences in children’s development. Using data from the 1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics’ Child Development Supplement, we measure time investments from multiple caregivers and distinguish time children spend with a caregiver alone versus shared with another caregiver. We examine six family structures—married biological parents, cohabiting biological parents, mother and stepfather, mother and cohabiting boyfriend, single mother only, and multigenerational households. The total care-giving time that children receive in married biological parent families and cohabiting biological parent families is comparable to that for children living in stepfather families and multigenerational families. This is because children in stepfather families and multigenerational households receive substantial time investments from nonresident biological fathers and grandparents, respectively. In contrast, children receive little time investment from resident nonbiological father figures; and children in single mother, cohabiting boyfriend, and multigenerational households receive little time investment from their nonresident biological fathers. Finally, children who live with married biological parents receive the greatest share of caregiving time in the form of shared caregiving compared with children in all other family structures. Our findings suggest that having two resident biological caregivers predicts greater time investments in children and that shared parenting may be an important dimension of family structure.

Suggested Citation

  • Ariel Kalil & Rebecca Ryan & Elise Chor, 2014. "Time Investments in Children across Family Structures," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 654(1), pages 150-168, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:654:y:2014:i:1:p:150-168
    DOI: 10.1177/0002716214528276
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716214528276
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0002716214528276?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liana Fox & Wen-Jui Han & Christopher Ruhm & Jane Waldfogel, 2013. "Time for Children: Trends in the Employment Patterns of Parents, 1967–2009," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(1), pages 25-49, February.
    2. repec:cai:poeine:pope_203_0509 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Thomas Deleire & Ariel Kalil, 2002. "Good things come in threes: Single-parent multigenerational family structure and adolescent adjustment," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 39(2), pages 393-413, May.
    4. Wendy Sigle-Rushton & Sara McLanahan, 2002. "For Richer or Poorer?," JCPR Working Papers 264, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
    5. Cynthia Osborne & Sara McLanahan, 2007. "Partnership Instability and Child Well-being," Working Papers 946, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    6. Sandra Hofferth, 2006. "Residential father family type and child well-being: Investment versus selection," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 53-77, February.
    7. repec:pri:crcwel:wp04-16-ff-osborne is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Nancy Folbre & Jayoung Yoon & Kade Finnoff & Allison Fuligni, 2005. "By what measure? family time devoted to children in the united states," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(2), pages 373-390, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hélène Le Forner, 2023. "Parents' Separation: What is the Effect on Parents' and Children's Time Investments?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 85(4), pages 718-754, August.
    2. Andrew J. Cherlin & Judith A. Seltzer, 2014. "Family Complexity, the Family Safety Net, and Public Policy," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 654(1), pages 231-239, July.
    3. Muñoz, Katherine, 2023. "El nivel de disfrute durante las actividades de cuidado de hijos: Un análisis utilizando datos de la UKTUS 2014-15 [The level of enjoyment during childcare activities: An analysis using data from U," MPRA Paper 117799, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Taryn W. Morrissey, 2023. "The minimum wage and parent time use," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1043-1062, September.
    5. Timothy M. Smeeding, 2018. "The PSID in Research and Policy," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 680(1), pages 29-47, November.
    6. Sandra L. Hofferth & David S. Bickham & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn & Pamela E. Davis-Kean & Wei-Jun Jean Yeung, 2018. "Contributions of Research Based on the PSID Child Development Supplement," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 680(1), pages 97-131, November.
    7. Alejandra Ros Pilarz & Leah Awkward-Rich, 2024. "Mothers’ Work Schedules and Children’s Time with Parents," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 117-136, March.
    8. Taryn W. Morrissey, 2023. "The Earned Income Tax Credit and Short-Term Changes in Parents’ Time Investments in Children," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 412-433, June.
    9. Tomás Cano & Pablo Gracia, 2022. "The Gendered Effects of Divorce on Mothers’ and Fathers’ Time with Children and Children’s Developmental Activities: A Longitudinal Study," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(5), pages 1277-1313, December.
    10. Gracia, Pablo, 2023. "Child and Adolescent Time Use and Well-Being: A Study of Current Debates and Empirical Evidence," OSF Preprints 9qmrk, Center for Open Science.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. DAVID M. BLAU & WILBERT van der KLAAUW, 2013. "What Determines Family Structure?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 579-604, January.
    2. Lawrence M. Berger & Sara S. McLanahan, 2011. "Child Wellbeing in Two-Parent Families: How Do Characteristics and Relationships Matter?," Working Papers 1322, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    3. Chan, Kwok Ho & Fung, Ka Wai Terence, 2013. "The Effect of Social Fathers on the Cognitive Skills of Out-of-Wedlock Children," MPRA Paper 52875, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Sarah See, 2016. "Parental supervision and adolescent risky behaviors," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 185-206, March.
    5. Andrew J. Bibler, 2020. "Household Composition and Gender Differences in Parental Time Investments," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(4), pages 1415-1435, August.
    6. Kwok Chan & Ka Fung & Ender Demir, 2015. "The health and behavioral outcomes of out-of-wedlock children from families of social fathers," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 385-411, June.
    7. Julia Alamillo, "undated". "Family Structure and Reproduction of Inequality: A Decomposition Approach," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 848d4b9e0bd14c8191ed1277b, Mathematica Policy Research.
    8. Sharon H. Bzostek & Lawrence M. Berger, 2017. "Family Structure Experiences and Child Socioemotional Development During the First Nine Years of Life: Examining Heterogeneity by Family Structure at Birth," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(2), pages 513-540, April.
    9. Sharon H. Bzostek & Marcia J. Carlson & Sara S. McLanahan, 2006. "Does Mother Know Best?: A Comparison Of Biological And Social Fathers After A Nonmarital Birth," Working Papers 919, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    10. Chan, Kwok Ho & Fung, Ka Wai Terence, 2018. "The effect of social fathers on the cognitive skills of out-of-wedlock children in the U.S," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 146-159.
    11. Lawrence M. Berger & Marcia J. Carlson & Sharon H. Bzostek & Cynthia Osborne, 2007. "Parenting Practices of Resident Fathers: The Role of Marital and Biological Ties," Working Papers 901, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    12. Dimitrios Nikolaou, 2017. "Maternal Life Satisfaction, Marital Status, and Child Skill Formation," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 43(4), pages 621-648, September.
    13. Natasha V. Pilkauskas, 2012. "Instability in Three-Generation Family Households and Child Wellbeing," Working Papers 1429, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    14. Scharadin, Benjamin, 2022. "The efficacy of the dependent care deduction at maintaining diet quality," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    15. repec:pri:crcwel:wp12-19-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Sarah Reynolds & Lia Fernald & Julianna Deardorff & Jere Behrman, 2018. "Family structure and child development in Chile: A longitudinal analysis of household transitions involving fathers and grandparents," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(58), pages 1777-1814.
    17. Benjamin Scharadin & Edward C. Jaenicke, 2020. "Time spent on childcare and the household Healthy Eating Index," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 357-386, June.
    18. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, 2017. "Teenagers’ risky health behaviors and time use during the great recession," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 945-964, September.
    19. Morales, Marina, 2018. "Can the composition of the family during adolescence influence their future unemployment situation? Evidence for Spain," MPRA Paper 86770, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Terry-Ann Craigie, 2008. "Effects of Paternal Presence and Family Stability on Child Cognitive Performance," Working Papers 1015, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    21. Laura Tach, 2012. "Family Complexity, Childbearing, and Parenting Stress: A Comparison of Mothers' and Fathers' Experiences," Working Papers 1425, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:anname:v:654:y:2014:i:1:p:150-168. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.