Diverging Destinies: Maternal Education and the Developmental Gradient in Time With Children
Open accessAbstract
Using data from the 2003–2007 American Time Use Surveys (ATUS), we compare mothers’ (N = 6,640) time spent in four parenting activities across maternal education and child age subgroups. We test the hypothesis that highly educated mothers not only spend more time in active child care than less-educated mothers but also alter the composition of that time to suit children’s developmental needs more than less-educated mothers. Results support this hypothesis: not only do highly educated mothers invest more time in basic care and play when youngest children are infants or toddlers than when children are older, but differences across education groups in basic care and play time are largest among mothers with infants or toddlers; by contrast, highly educated mothers invest more time in management activities when children are 6 to 13 years old than when children are younger, and differences across education groups in management are largest among mothers with school-aged children. These patterns indicate that the education gradient in mothers’ time with children is characterized by a “developmental gradient.”
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More educated mothers not only spend more time on childcare overall, but also tailor this time more closely to their children's developmental needs, and the overall gap in childcare time between more- and less-educated parents is especially large for education-oriented activities.
“Such a channel is supported by evidence that more educated mothers not only spend more time on childcare overall, but also tailor this time more closely to their children's developmental needs (Kalil, Ryan, and Corey 2012), and that the overall gap in childcare time between more-and less-educated parents is especially large for education-oriented activities (Ramey and Ramey 2010;Kalil et al. 2016;”
From Educational Inequality* (2022) · cites this paper as Kalil, Ryan, and Corey 2012
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“Kalil et al. (2020) note that in the United States, more educated mothers spend considerably more time on childcare than mothers with less education, and ask whether part of the reason may be that educated mothers find childcare more enjoyable. Evidence from the Well-Being Modules of the American Time Use Survey does…”
BackgroundInfluential
- Authors
- Kalil, A., Ryan, R., & Corey, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago (US)
- Georgetown University (US)
- Venue
- Demography
- Publisher
- Duke University Press
- Published
- 2012-08-11
- Volume
- 49
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 1361-1383
- ISSN
- 0070-3370 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-7790
- PMC
- PMC4894844
- OpenAlex
- W2127048838
- Cited by
- 535
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 52 · 2020: 40 · 2019: 55 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 66.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Demography (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Knowledge@UChicago (University of Chicago) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- University of Chicago
- Funders
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (T32HS000084, 5T32 HS000084)
- National Institute on Aging (T32AG000243)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (1F32HD54044, F32HD054044)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Work-Family Balance Challenges
- Keywords
- maternal education, time use, parenting activities, child care, developmental gradients, child age, mothers, infant care, toddler care, elementary school students, basic care, play time, household management, educational inequality
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Age Factors, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Educational Status, Female, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Mothers, Play and Playthings, Socioeconomic Factors, Time Factors, United States, Parenting
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