The The Timing of Maternal Work and Time with Children

The author investigates how maternal employment affects when during the day that employed mothers engage in enriching childcare and whether they adjust their work schedules to spend time with their children at more-desirable times of day. Using data from the American Time Use Survey and focusing on mothers of pre-school-aged children, he finds that both full- and part-time employed mothers shift enriching childcare time from workdays to non-workdays. On workdays, full-time employed mothers shift enriching care time to evenings, whereas part-time employed mothers shift care time very little. The author finds no evidence that mothers working full time adjust their work schedules to spend enriching time with their children at more preferred times of the day. In contrast, part-time employed mothers shift their work hours to later in the day in order to spend time with their children at more-desirable times of day.