Children’s Time Allocation and the Socioeconomic Gap in Human Capital

Nicole Black, Danusha Jayawardana () and Gawain Heckley

No 2023-06, Working Papers from Centre for Health Economics, Monash University

Abstract: Children’s time investments in various activities may be important for reducing socioeconomic status (SES) gaps in educational and mental health outcomes. Using time use diaries of Australian children aged 4-14, we find children from low SES backgrounds spend more time on digital media and less time on cognitively stimulating out-of-school activities, organised or for leisure. This difference contributes about 4% to the observed SES gap in numeracy skills. The contribution is larger for males, older age groups, and when the cumulative effect on learning is considered. No clear results are found for literacy skills and mental health outcomes.

Keywords: Time use; mental health; cognitive skills; socioeconomic gap; human capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I14 I24 J22 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-neu
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Related works:
Journal Article: Children’s time allocation and the socioeconomic gap in human capital (2024)
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