Parental time investments and instantaneous well‐being in the United States

Steven Bosworth, José Ignacio Gimenez‐Nadal and Almudena Sevilla

Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 2025, vol. 72, issue 1

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between maternal education, child‐care time, and well‐being in the United States, with a particular focus on the role of societal norms. Highly educated mothers spend more time on childcare compared to their less educated counterparts. Drawing on data from the American Time Use Survey's Well‐Being Modules (2012, 2013, 2021), this research provides a comprehensive examination of maternal activities and well‐being. Notably, educated mothers consistently experience reduced instantaneous happiness during childcare, across various caregiving tasks, despite investing greater time in them. To better understand this pattern, we introduce an identity economics model whose predictions are consonant with the empirical findings. Our model illustrates how societal gender roles differentially influence patterns of time allocation by mothers' education and impact their instantaneous and overall well‐being.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/sjpe.12402

Related works:
Working Paper: Parental time investments and instantaneous well-being in the United States (2025)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:scotjp:v:72:y:2025:i:1:n:e12402

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=0036-9292

Access Statistics for this article

Scottish Journal of Political Economy is currently edited by Tim Barmby, Andrew Hughes-Hallett and Campbell Leith

More articles in Scottish Journal of Political Economy from Scottish Economic Society Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().