For Immediate Release
June 3, 2005
Contact: Nancy Folbre, University of Massachusetts, 413-545-3283, folbre@econs.umass.edu
Family Time Study Examines "Quality Time," Multitasking, Single-Parent Families, and Grandparent Care
(Washington, DC) Several U.S. studies have found that the time mothers spend with children in activities and the hours those mothers spend working for pay have both increased over the past two decades. But these seemingly contradictory trends actually reflect a reduction in the time mothers spend supervising their children, according to a new study published in the May issue of the journal, Demography.
Trends in overall hours of parental child care may give a misleading impression of the quantity and quality of family time, say study co-authors Nancy Folbre of the University of Massachusetts, Allison Fuligni of the University of California at Los Angeles, and Jayoung Yoon and Kade Finnoff of the University of Massachusetts.
According to Folbre, time spent in activities with children is only a small part of child-care responsibilities and is more flexible than supervisory time. She suggests that parents can make up for absences during weekdays by providing extra attention on the weekends.
To get a more accurate picture of child-care responsibilities, the researchers examined family time-use data that took into account both active care (often called "quality time," such as reading to a child) and passive care (making dinner while supervising a child playing outside). The data draw on time-use dairies compiled in 1997 by mothers of 2,900 children ages 12 and younger for the nationally representative Child Development Supplement of the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics.
Folbre and her colleagues found that teachers, babysitters, and child-care providers spend as much time directly engaged in activities with children as do the children’s parents—an average of 27 hours per week.
They also discovered that children in both single-parent and two-parent families spend about the same amount of time each week engaged in activities with adults. But compared with children in two-parent families, single-parent children spend seven fewer hours a week in activities with their parents (24 hours versus 31 hours). Single-parent children also spend one-half as much time in activities with their fathers alone but more time in the care of other relatives (mainly grandmothers).
In addition, other adults are also participating an average of one-third of the time a parent is providing active care. Another child (usually a sibling) is participating during about 25 percent of active-care time, on average.
The researchers suggest that children may benefit from the additional time and attention they receive when two or more adults are involved in an activity with them and from watching the adults interacting with each other. They also note that sharing child-care duties may be less stressful for adults. While it seems more efficient for mothers and fathers to reallocate activity time to reduce overlap, the researchers note that this practice may also increase parental stress.
But Folbre and her colleagues caution that if other children are involved in child care, those children may instead compete for adult attention, diluting the quality of care. "Parental care is spread most thickly when there are two parents and only one child and most thinly when there is only one parent and several children," the researchers write.
The full article, "By What Measure? Family Time Devoted to Children in the United States," is available at www.prb.org/cpipr/demography/ByWhatMeasure.pdf. Or call the Center for Public Information on Population Research at 202-939-5409. The Center, a project of the Population Reference Bureau, is funded by the National Institute on Child Health and Human Development.
Demography is the peer-reviewed journal published by the Population Association of America.