IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v55y2018i1d10.1007_s13524-018-0647-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Marital Status and Mothers’ Time Use: Childcare, Housework, Leisure, and Sleep

Author

Listed:
  • Joanna R. Pepin

    (University of Maryland)

  • Liana C. Sayer

    (University of Maryland)

  • Lynne M. Casper

    (University of Southern California)

Abstract

Assumptions that single mothers are “time poor” compared with married mothers are ubiquitous. We tested theorized associations derived from the time poverty thesis and the gender perspective using the 2003–2012 American Time Use Surveys (ATUS). We found marital status differentiated housework, leisure, and sleep time, but did not influence the amount of time that mothers provided childcare. Net of the number of employment hours, married mothers did more housework and slept less than never-married and divorced mothers, counter to expectations of the time poverty thesis. Never-married and cohabiting mothers reported more total and more sedentary leisure time than married mothers. We assessed the influence of demographic differences among mothers to account for variation in their time use by marital status. Compositional differences explained more than two-thirds of the variance in sedentary leisure time between married and never-married mothers, but only one-third of the variance between married and cohabiting mothers. The larger unexplained gap in leisure quality between cohabiting and married mothers is consistent with the gender perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Joanna R. Pepin & Liana C. Sayer & Lynne M. Casper, 2018. "Marital Status and Mothers’ Time Use: Childcare, Housework, Leisure, and Sleep," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(1), pages 107-133, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:55:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s13524-018-0647-x
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-018-0647-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13524-018-0647-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-018-0647-x?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1.
    2. Daniel Hallberg & Anders Klevmarken, 2003. "Time for children: A study of parent's time allocation," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 16(2), pages 205-226, May.
    3. Doris Weichselbaumer & Rudolf Winter‐Ebmer, 2005. "A Meta‐Analysis of the International Gender Wage Gap," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 479-511, July.
    4. Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2007. "Marriage and Divorce: Changes and their Driving Forces," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(2), pages 27-52, Spring.
    5. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer & Adam Wagstaff & Magnus Lindelow, 2008. "Analyzing Health Equity Using Household Survey Data : A Guide to Techniques and Their Implementation," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6896.
    6. Ben Jann, 2008. "The Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition for linear regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 8(4), pages 453-479, December.
    7. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
    8. Stewart, Jay, 2013. "Tobit or not Tobit?," Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, IOS Press, issue 3, pages 263-290.
    9. Liana Sayer & Leigh Fine, 2011. "Racial-Ethnic Differences in U.S. Married Women’s and Men’s Housework," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 101(2), pages 259-265, April.
    10. Sara Mclanahan, 2004. "Diverging destinies: How children are faring under the second demographic transition," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 41(4), pages 607-627, November.
    11. Frey, Bruno S. & Benesch, Christine & Stutzer, Alois, 2007. "Does watching TV make us happy?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 283-313, June.
    12. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    13. Clair Vickery, 1977. "The Time-Poor: A New Look at Poverty," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(1), pages 27-48.
    14. Jean Kimmel & Rachel Connelly, 2007. "Mothers’ Time Choices: Caregiving, Leisure, Home Production, and Paid Work," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(3).
    15. Victoria Vernon, 2010. "Marriage: for love, for money…and for time?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 433-457, December.
    16. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger & David Schkade & Norbert Schwarz & Arthur Stone, 2004. "Toward National Well-Being Accounts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 429-434, May.
    17. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger, 2006. "Developments in the Measurement of Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 3-24, Winter.
    18. John Sandberg & Sandra Hofferth, 2001. "Changes in children’s time with parents: United States, 1981–1997," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(3), pages 423-436, August.
    19. Ferber, Marianne A. & Nelson, Julie A. (ed.), 1993. "Beyond Economic Man," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226242019, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Katie R. Genadek & Sarah M. Flood & Joan Garcia Roman, 2016. "Trends in Spouses’ Shared Time in the United States, 1965–2012," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(6), pages 1801-1820, December.
    2. Fabrice Etilé & Marie Plessz, 2018. "Women’s employment and the decline of home cooking: Evidence from France, 1985–2010," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 939-970, December.
    3. Zachary Van Winkle, 2020. "Early Family Life Course Standardization in Sweden: The Role of Compositional Change," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(4), pages 765-798, September.
    4. Ben Jann, 2008. "A Stata implementation of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition," ETH Zurich Sociology Working Papers 5, ETH Zurich, Chair of Sociology, revised 14 May 2008.
    5. Ina GANGULI & Ricardo HAUSMANN & Martina VIARENGO, 2014. "Closing the gender gap in education: What is the state of gaps in labour force participation for women, wives and mothers?," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 153(2), pages 173-207, June.
    6. Bookwalter, Jeffrey & Fitch-Fleischmann, Benjamin & Dalenberg, Douglas, 2011. "Understanding life-satisfaction changes in post-apartheid South Africa," MPRA Paper 34579, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Arceo-Gómez, Eva O. & Campos-Vázquez, Raymundo M., 2014. "Evolución de la brecha salarial de género en México," El Trimestre Económico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, vol. 0(323), pages .619-653, julio-sep.
    8. Owen O’Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer & Adam Wagstaff, 2012. "Decomposition of Inequalities in Health and Health Care," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition, chapter 17, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. J. Gimenez-Nadal & Jose Molina, 2013. "Parents’ education as a determinant of educational childcare time," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 719-749, April.
    10. Tindara Addabbo & Maddalena Davoli & Marina Murat, 2018. "Is there an immigrant-gender gap in education? An empirical investigation based on PISA data from Italy," Department of Economics 0124, University of Modena and Reggio E., Faculty of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    11. Sandeep Mohapatra & Bruno Wichmann & Philippe Marcoul, 2018. "Removing The “Veil Of Ignorance”: Nonlinearities In Education Effects On Gender Wage Inequalities," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 36(4), pages 644-666, October.
    12. Anna Giraldo & Gianpiero Dalla-Zuanna & Enrico Rettore, 2015. "Childcare and participation at work in North-East Italy: Why do Italian and foreign mothers behave differently?," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 24(2), pages 339-358, July.
    13. Inga Laß & Mark Wooden, 2020. "Temporary Employment Contracts and Household Income," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 111-132, January.
    14. Kobus, Martyna & Kapera, Marek & Maasoumi, Esfandiar, 2024. "Gap in many dimensions: Application to gender," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    15. Senik, Claudia, 2014. "The French unhappiness puzzle: The cultural dimension of happiness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 379-401.
    16. Meghaan R. Lurtz & Derek T. Tharp & Katherine S. Mielitz & Michael Kitces & D. Allen Ammerman, 2020. "Decomposing the Gender Divorce Gap Among Personal Financial Planners," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(1), pages 19-36, March.
    17. Tarja Viitanen, 2014. "The motherhood wage gap in the UK over the life cycle," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 259-276, June.
    18. Sloczynski, Tymon, 2015. "Average Wage Gaps and Oaxaca–Blinder Decompositions," IZA Discussion Papers 9036, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Lilian Korir & Marian Rizov & Eric Ruto & Patrick Paul Walsh, 2021. "Household Vulnerability to Food Insecurity and the Regional Food Insecurity Gap in Kenya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-18, August.
    20. Ransmayr Juliane & Weichselbaumer Doris, 2024. "The Role of Sex Segregation in the Gender Wage Gap Among University Graduates in Germany," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 244(1-2), pages 37-81, February.

    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:spr:demogr:v:55:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s13524-018-0647-x. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.