The Changing Rhythms of American Family Life

Acknowledgments

xv Acknowledgments T HIS BOOK is based on two rounds of new data collection, reanalysis of all the existing U.S. time use data collections dating back to 1965, and a comparison of U.S trends to several other nations. Projects like this do not just happen—they result from the hard work of talented research assistants, the generosity of visionary (we think!) funding organizations, the encouragement of journal and series editors, and the collaborative ties that enhance the research endeavor and make it truly enjoyable and worth doing. We have had the great fortune of benefiting from research assistance that has grown into collaboration with a number of past and present graduate students. We thank Liana Sayer, now assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State University, who assisted with both data collections and who began her work with us by helping us assess trends in housework (Bianchi, Milkie, Sayer, and Robinson, Social Forces 2000). Her dissertation on gender differences in nonmarket time use informs chapter 3, her collaboration with us on changes in parental time with children (Sayer, Bianchi, and Robinson, American Journal of Sociology 2004) greatly enhances chapter 4, and her re-conceptualization of leisure activities contributes to chapter 5. Marybeth Mattingly, finishing her dissertation as we finish this book, completed an MA thesis analysis (Mattingly and Bianchi, Social Forces 2003) that demonstrated that the quantitative diary data on free time could be used in a more qualitative way. This work informs trends reported in chapter 5 and we draw on Beth’s joint work with Liana (Mattingly and Sayer, Journal of Marriage and Family 2006) on trends in subjective feelings of time pressure in chapter 7. Beth and Liana undertook a great deal of data collection and management tasks for our project but along the way became true collaborators , often leading the way with their fresh ideas and thoughtful analyses. As Liana and Beth moved on to other projects, we had the good fortune to sign on Kei Nomaguchi, now an assistant professor of sociology at Northern Illinois University, who swooped in for a year and assisted greatly with analyses of subjective feelings about children and family life (Milkie, Mattingly, Nomaguchi, Bianchi, and Robinson, Journal of Marriage and Family 2004; Nomaguchi, Milkie, and Bianchi, Journal of Family Issues, 2005). We draw on this collaboration in chapter 7. We also found Sara Raley, who in some ways contributes most to this volume because she joins us as author of chapter 8 on children’s time use. Zsuzsa Daczo delved into the analysis of the weekly diaries—going where no one had ventured before. Thanks to her, we were able to include chapter 6 in this volume. Zsuzsa also contributed to the programming of tables throughout the volume. And, finally, thanks to our “angel at the end,” Vanessa Wight, who with consummate editorial experience, organization , and skill, handled all the many rounds of edits and revisions, always tackling them with extreme good humor. We owe special thanks to our international collaborators—Jonathan Gershuny of Great Britain, Michael Bittman of Australia, Andries van den Broek of the Netherlands, Gilles Pronovost of Canada, and Laurent Lesnard and Alain Chenu of France. Their analysis of time-diary data from their respective countries allows us to place U.S. trends in comparative perspective in chapter 9, and their interpretation of trends appears in appendix C. We are especially indebted to those who funded our data collection and analyses and supported our research and the graduate students working with us: the National Science Foundation, Grant No. SBR 9710662, the Alfred B. Sloan Foundation, particularly Kathleen Christensen, Program Officer for the Working Families Program at the Foundation, and the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) infrastructure support, 1 R24 HD41041-01 for the Maryland Population Research Center. We are indebted to the ASA Rose Series Editors, especially Naomi Gerstel, for their helpful suggestions in a preliminary meeting in April 2003 and their patience as we crawled to completion of the first draft in March 2004 and the final draft in June 2005. We benefited from the thoughtful reviews of Andrew Cherlin and Jerry Jacobs and our colleague Stanley Presser, who not only helped collect the time-diary data we use but also read and commented on the complete draft manuscript. This volume marks a truly collaborative effort among the three of us—John, Melissa, and Suzanne—each with differing strengths, each who at differing times pushed the project forward...