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If You're Happy and You Know It: How Do Mothers and Fathers in the US Really Feel about Caring for Their Children?

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  • Rachel Connelly
  • Jean Kimmel

Abstract

This paper considers the question posed by popular media: Do women like doing childcare more than men? Using contemporaneous subjective well-being data paired with 24-hour time diaries from the 2010 American Time Use Survey, the paper explores gender differences in how mothers and fathers feel when engaged in a set of common daily activities. We find that both mothers and fathers engaged in child caregiving enjoy their time spent in child caregiving; fathers as much, or even more so, than mothers as evidenced by their average values for happiness, meaningfulness, tiredness, and stress and an aggregated statistic, the unpleasantness index. Simulations provide evidence that the difference between mothers and fathers comes almost completely from differences in their subjective well-being rather than from differences in how they use their time.

Suggested Citation

  • Rachel Connelly & Jean Kimmel, 2015. "If You're Happy and You Know It: How Do Mothers and Fathers in the US Really Feel about Caring for Their Children?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 1-34, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:21:y:2015:i:1:p:1-34
    DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2014.970210
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    Cited by:

    1. Gigi Foster & Leslie S. Stratton, 2018. "Do significant labor market events change who does the chores? Paid work, housework, and power in mixed-gender Australian households," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 483-519, April.
    2. 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.
    3. Sinha, Aashima & Kumar Sedai, Ashish & Bahadur Rahut, Dil & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2024. "Well-being costs of unpaid care: Gendered evidence from a contextualized time-use survey in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    4. Ann Meier & Kelly Musick & Sarah Flood & Rachel Dunifon, 2016. "Mothering Experiences: How Single Parenthood and Employment Structure the Emotional Valence of Parenting," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 649-674, June.
    5. Daniela V. Negraia & Jennifer M. Augustine, 2019. "SES and the emotional 'benefits' and 'costs' of parenting," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2019-012, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    6. Gigi Foster & Leslie S. Stratton, 2019. "What women want (their men to do): Housework and Satisfaction in Australian Households," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 23-47, July.
    7. Amaia Altuzarra & Catalina Gálvez-Gálvez & Ana González-Flores, 2020. "Do Spanish Dual-Earner Couples Share Unpaid Work Equally?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 731-763, August.
    8. Constantin Aurelian Ionescu & Melinda Timea Fülöp & Dan Ioan Topor & Mircea Constantin Duică & Sorina Geanina Stanescu & Nicoleta Valentina Florea & Mariana Zamfir & Mihaela Denisa Coman, 2022. "Sustainability Analysis, Implications, and Effects of the Teleworking System in Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    9. Giménez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2020. "Should we cheer together? Gender differences in instantaneous well-being during joint and solo activities: An application to COVID-19 lockdowns," GLO Discussion Paper Series 736, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    10. Edsel Beja, 2015. "Direct and indirect impacts of parenthood on happiness," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 62(4), pages 307-318, December.
    11. Hamermesh, Daniel S., 2020. "Lockdowns, Loneliness and Life Satisfaction," IZA Discussion Papers 13140, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Ariel Kalil & Susan E. Meyer & William Delgado & Lisa A. Gennetian, 2020. "The Education Gradient in Maternal Enjoyment of Time in Childcare," Working Papers 2020-131, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
    13. Daniela V. Negraia & Jennifer M. Augustine, 2019. "Unpacking the parenting wellbeing gap: the role of dynamic features of daily life across broader social structures," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2019-011, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    14. Gahramanov Emin & Gaibulloev Khusrav & Younas Javed, 2019. "Parental Transfers, Intra-household Bargaining and Fertility Decision," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(1), pages 1-17, January.
    15. Hamermesh, Daniel S., 2020. "Moms' Time - Married or Not," IZA Discussion Papers 13997, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Molina, José Alberto & Velilla, Jorge, 2020. "Should We Cheer Together? Gender Differences in Instantaneous Well-Being during Joint and Solo Activities," IZA Discussion Papers 13306, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Giulia M. Dotti Sani, 2022. "The Intrinsic Value of Childcare: Positive Returns of Childcare Time on Parents’ Well-Being and Life Satisfaction in Italy," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 1901-1921, June.
    18. Younghwan Song & Jia Gao, 2023. "Do fathers have son preference in the United States? Evidence from paternal subjective well-being," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 1083-1117, September.
    19. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia & Victoria Vernon, 2022. "Telework, Wages, and Time Use in the United States," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 687-734, September.
    20. Buddelmeyer, Hielke & Hamermesh, Daniel S. & Wooden, Mark, 2018. "THE stress cost of children on moms and dads," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 148-161.
    21. Marina Zannella & Alessandra De Rose, 2020. "Gender differences in the subjective perception of parenting time," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 74(2), pages 49-60, April-Jun.
    22. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2020. "Life satisfaction, loneliness and togetherness, with an application to Covid-19 lock-downs," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 983-1000, December.

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