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Mothers’ and Fathers’ Time Spent with Children in the U.S.: Variations by Race/Ethnicity Within Income from 2003 to 2013

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Abstract

Using data from the American Time Use Survey, we examine the empirically underexplored ways in which racial and ethnic identity shapes parental time use. Racial/ethnic differences emerge within income groups in terms of trends and trade-offs in time spent with children versus time spent in paid work and other activities. For fathers, trade-offs in paid work and time spent with children are qualitatively similar across income by race/ethnicity. However, our estimates suggest that low-income Hispanic fathers spent approximately 10 minutes less with their children for every hour in time spent in paid work, a substantively starker trade-off than that made by low income non-Hispanic fathers. For mothers, the lowest-income white mothers show the largest reductions in time spent with children for every hour spent in paid work. Increased time in paid work decreases the time spent on other (non-sleep) activities in a qualitatively similar manner for mothers and fathers by racial/ethnic group, across and within income groups.

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Notes

  1. Multivariate regressions predict time spent with children in minutes with OLS (Stewart 2009) and control for year with 2003 as the default, categorical variables for parent education, parent age, number of children in the household, whether or not employed, whether or not employed full-time, and marital status.

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Acknowledgments

This research was inspired by Dr. Gennetian’s collaboration with the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families. The authors thank Natasha Cabrera, Danielle Crosby, Lina Guzman, Michael Lopez, Ann Rivera, and Elizabeth Wildsmith for their constructive feedback on earlier versions of this research. The study contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, the Administration for Children and Families, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Funding

This research was made possible by grant number 90PH0025 by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Illuminate, Inform, Inspire: Building upon ACF’s Strengths to Support Hispanic Children and Families.

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  1. Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, 212 Rubenstein Hall, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Lisa A. Gennetian

  2. Institute for Human Development and Social Change, New York University, 246 Greene Street, New York, NY, 10021, USA

    Christopher Rodrigues

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Correspondence to Lisa A. Gennetian.

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Gennetian, L.A., Rodrigues, C. Mothers’ and Fathers’ Time Spent with Children in the U.S.: Variations by Race/Ethnicity Within Income from 2003 to 2013. J Econ Race Policy 4, 34–46 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41996-019-00046-w

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