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European Mothers' Time with Children: Differences and Similarities across Nine Countries

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  • Jutta M. Joesch
  • C. Katharina Spiess

Abstract

We use data from the 1996 wave of the European Community Household Panel to present and compare the weekly number of hours mothers of children less than 16 years of age reported looking after children in nine European countries in 1996. In addition, we explore to what extent cross-country differences in socio-demographic characteristics and parents' employment status contribute to differences in maternal time with children across the nine countries. We find cross-country differences in the mean of the amount of time mothers reported looking after children. Only a small portion of these differences is explained by differences in socio-demographic characteristics and employment status across countries in Europe. For three country pairs, we use a Oaxaca decomposition to investigate whether behaviour differences or differences in sample characteristics explain more of the observed differences in mothers' time looking after children. According to our results, the differences between Ireland and the UK can be explained mainly by behaviour differences. The results for Germany vs. Austria and Denmark vs. Greece, however, depend on the weights used.

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  • Jutta M. Joesch & C. Katharina Spiess, 2002. "European Mothers' Time with Children: Differences and Similarities across Nine Countries," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 305, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp305
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    Cited by:

    1. Gimenez-Nadal, José Ignacio & Marcén, Miriam & Molina, José Alberto, 2007. "How Does the Presence of Children Affect Dependent Care? A Psycho-Economic Approach," IZA Discussion Papers 2726, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Jonathan Guryan & Erik Hurst & Melissa Kearney, 2008. "Parental Education and Parental Time with Children," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(3), pages 23-46, Summer.
    3. Oriel Sullivan, 2007. "Cultural voraciousness - A new measure of the pace of leisure in a context of 'harriedness'," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 30-46, September.
    4. Satvika Chalasani, 2007. "The changing relationship between parents’ education and their time with children," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 93-117, September.
    5. Jens Bonke & Frederik Gerstoft, 2007. "Stress, time use and gender," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 47-68, September.
    6. Hannu Piekkola & Liisa Leijola, 2007. "Time use and options for retirement in Europe," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 1-29, September.
    7. Monika Hjeds Löfmark, 2007. "Gender and time allocation differences in Taganrog, Russia," electronic International Journal of Time Use Research, Research Institute on Professions (Forschungsinstitut Freie Berufe (FFB)) and The International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), vol. 4(1), pages 69-92, September.

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