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Education Gradients in Parental Time Investment and Subjective Well-being

Author

Listed:
  • Ariel Kalil
  • Susan Mayer
  • William Delgado
  • Lisa A. Gennetian

Abstract

College-educated mothers spend substantially more time in intensive childcare than less educated mothers despite their higher opportunity cost of time and working more hours. Using data from the 2010–2013 and 2021 waves of the Well-being Module of the American Time Use Survey, we investigate this puzzle by testing the hypothesis that college-educated mothers enjoy childcare more. We find that among all mothers, spending time in childcare is associated with higher positive feelings compared to spending time in other activities. However, college-educated mothers experience no more positive feelings and no fewer negative feelings during intensive childcare than other mothers. Moreover, college-educated mothers report substantially fewer positive feelings for time spent in management activities and substantially more negative feelings for time spent in educational activities with their child. Findings are robust to controlling for a rich set of covariates, mother fixed effects, and simulations to account for selection into intensive childcare.

Suggested Citation

  • Ariel Kalil & Susan Mayer & William Delgado & Lisa A. Gennetian, 2023. "Education Gradients in Parental Time Investment and Subjective Well-being," NBER Working Papers 31712, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31712
    Note: CH
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    Cited by:

    1. Hanna Virtanen & Mikko Silliman & Tiina Kuuppelomäki & Kristiina Huttunen, "undated". "Education, Gender, and Family Formation," Working Papers 340, Työn ja talouden tutkimus LABORE, The Labour Institute for Economic Research LABORE.
    2. Virtanen, Hanna & Silliman, Mikko & Kuuppelomäki, Tiina & Huttunen, Kristiina, 2024. "Education, Gender, and Family Formation," ETLA Working Papers 116, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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