Married Fathers' and Mothers' Time with Children: Gender Differences in the Role of Parents’ and Their Spouses' Employment

Margaret L. Usdansky, Syracuse University
Wendy Parker, Syracuse University

The time that married fathers spend with their children rose over the past 20 years. Mothers’ time with children rose over this period, too, resulting in a narrowed but still substantial gender gap in parental time with children. Given longstanding gender differences in parental time with children, this paper explores how factors that promote parental time investments in children vary by gender, too, paying particular attention to the role of parents’ and their spouses’ employment. Our sample includes 4,770 married fathers and 5,428 married mothers from the 2003 and 2004 American Time Use Survey, a new U.S. time diary data set, which permits detailed analyses of the activities parent engage in while with their children. Using tobit regression models, we find that holding a high status occupation increases fathers’, but not mothers’, time with children and that a spouse’s employment affects mothers’ and fathers’ time with children differently.