Moms' Time - Married or Not

Daniel Hamermesh

No 13997, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Using time-diary data from the U.S. and six wealthy European countries, I demonstrate that non-partnered mothers spend slightly less time performing childcare, but much less time in other household activities than partnered mothers. Unpartnered mothers' total work time paid work and household production is slightly less than partnered women's. In the U.S. but not elsewhere they watch more television and engage in fewer other leisure activities. These differences are independent of any differences in age, race/ethnicity, ages and numbers of children, and household incomes. Non-partnered mothers feel slightly more pressured for time and much less satisfied with their lives. Analyses using the NLSY79 show that mothers whose partners left the home in the past two years became more depressed than those whose marriages remained intact. Coupled with evidence that husbands spend substantial time in childcare and with their children, the results suggest that children of non-partnered mothers receive much less parental care perhaps 40 percent less than other children; and most of what they receive is from mothers who are less satisfied with their lives.

Keywords: time use; marital status; life satisfaction; time stress; depression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I31 J12 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2020-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-eur and nep-lma
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Published - published in: Jose Alberto Molina (ed.), Mothers in the Labor Market, Springer Publishers, 2022, 1-27.

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Related works:
Working Paper: Moms’ Time—Married or Not (2021)
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