Patterns of Mother and Father Time with Children in the U.S.: The Importance of Education and Employment

Abstract

Voluminous research has measured the amount of time parents spend with their children in a variety of activities, but no research to date has investigated the patterns of parenting time, or typologies of parenting. The family characteristics that predict these parenting patterns are also unknown. Recent research has shown that parenting roles have shifted dramatically in the past 50 years in part because mothers began to increase their participation in the work force, shifting the amount of time that each parent spent with children dramatically. The present study used cluster analyses of 2003-2008 American Time Use Survey data to discover that the majority of parents are ―Low-Involved‖ parents, spending very little time each day interacting with their children. ―Involved‖ mothers and fathers have different roles, and these roles vary on weekdays versus weekend days. Parents‘ level of education and employment status also predict membership into these parenting typologies.