The Changing Rhythms of American Family Life

Chapter 5: Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships: “What Gives” in Busy Families?

89 Chapter 5 Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships: “What Gives” in Busy Families? F OR MOTHERS to spend more time in child care (as well as in market work) since 1965, something has had “to give.” For example, many observers expect that the shift to more paid work has caused mothers to find fewer hours for precious sleep. Others surmise that to do it all, today’s mothers have had to give up free time. Yet the data in this chapter show that neither of these obvious tradeoffs —for sleep or for leisure—account for much change in mothers’ lives, on average. Less sleep and less leisure do distinguish employed from nonemployed mothers’ lives, however. The data also show that married fathers’ lives have shifted in important, though less dramatic, ways. For them, what gives is paid work and personal care to allow for their increased child care and housework time. As noted in chapter 2, time-diary data allow us to get at three important aspects of how the lives of mothers and fathers may have changed to allow them similar or increased time in child care: reduced time in other primary activities, increased child-oriented secondary activities that accompany these main activities, and increased time with children, perhaps instead of with friends and other adults, even when parents engage in adult-oriented activities. Changes in Primary Activities In terms of the 168 weekly hours of primary activities for both married and single parents between 1965 and 2000, figure 5.1 shows the changes in the four most general categories of time: paid work, family care, personal care (including sleep), and free time activities. Appendix tables 5A.1 and 5A.2 provide more detailed time-use categories and appendix table 5A.3 details the type of activities clustered under each category. 90 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life 48 47 42 40 42 6 15 20 25 24 28 19 25 28 29 12 12 19 21 22 53 40 40 41 41 31 32 26 26 37 73 74 73 67 70 74 76 75 71 71 79 78 76 73 71 35 35 34 40 35 36 37 34 31 32 29 40 41 41 31 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 Married Fathers Married Mothers Single Mothers Hours per Week Market Work Unpaid Family Caregiving Personal Care Free Time Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1965–66 Americans’ Use of Time Study; the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts; 1985 Americans’ Use of Time; the 1995 Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Study; and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. Note: Estimates of personal care, unpaid family caregiving, and market work statistically significantly different between 1965 and 2000 among married fathers, p < 0.05. All estimates statistically different between 1975 and 2000 among married mothers, p < 0.05. Estimates of unpaid family caregiving and personal care statistically different between 1975 and 2000 among single mothers, p < 0.05. Figure 5.1 Cumulative Time Use for Parents Chapter 3 (table 3.4) showed that married mothers in 2000 spent almost 18 more hours per week on market work than in 1965, averaging 24 hours in 2000 versus only 6 in 1965. Given the zero-sum constraint of 168 hours in a week, this 18-hour increase in 2000 compared with 1965 was offset by about 12 fewer hours per week of unpaid family care at home, 2 fewer of personal care, and about 4 fewer of free-time pursuits. These changes are graphed in the middle panel of figure 5.1 and discussed in detail below. Single mothers’ lives shown in the third panel in figure 5.1 have changed less, with no change in weekly work hours, a 6-hour increase in family time (largely spent in increased child care), and a gain of 3 hours in leisure, offset by about an 8-hour decline in personal care. It is hard to know what to make of single mothers’ reporting so much less personal care time (such as sleep or grooming, which do have a somewhat discretionary character), particularly given the small samples of single mothers in the earlier periods. Married mothers and single mothers are more similar to each other today than in the past, as married mothers have shifted toward more paid and less unpaid work. Moreover, as noted in chapter 3, both single mothers and married mothers have a greater overall work burden in 2000, an increase of about 6 hours (from 59 to 65 hours per week). For married fathers, the shift in categories of time use over the past half century is only half as great as for mothers—but it is still almost a 10-hour-per-week change. However, the first panel of figure 5.1 shows that it goes in the opposite direction from mothers—that is, toward more family care, including the approximately 4 hours more per week that fathers spend on child care (as discussed in chapter 4), plus the 5 additional hours per week of housework (discussed below). Increased family time of fathers seems largely to come from declines in paid work and in personal care. Married fathers averaged 47.8 market work hours (work and its commute) in 1965, compared with 42.5 hours today, a statistically significant decline. However, their increased domestic work has more than compensated for this decline, such that married men’s workload has also increased—from 60 hours per week in 1965 to 64 hours today, as noted in chapter 3. Changes in Family Care Chapter 4 illustrated that an important part of mothers’ time—child care— has been steady or increasing. Thus, married mothers’ 16-hour-per-week increase in paid work as a primary activity (an 18-hour increase when commuting is added) has not taken time from child care, on average. But surprisingly, on average, paid work has not generally replaced sleep either, nor has it crowded out leisure to any great extent. Rather, today’s mothers have shed a sizable 13 weekly hours of core housework , a finding corroborated in the Middletown community studies of Caplow, Hicks, and Wattenberg (2001, 36–37).1 In contrast, other family care in shopping and obtaining family services, such as adult medical appointments or repair services, has increased by about an hour. Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships 91 Table 5.1 disaggregates housework into core or routine tasks and other types of housework. It also shows that the percentage of married mothers who reported any housework on the diary day dropped from almost 100 percent in 1965 to 91 percent in 2000 (top row in table 5.1). How much this lost housework among married mothers represents cleaning that remains undone, now gets accomplished more efficiently, or is getting picked up by other people remains unclear. The drop in housework hours could mean that today’s homes are less well-maintained than those of the past, especially given that homes are larger and thus have more areas to clean and organize. If standards for housework have dropped, which may be the case (Robinson and Milkie 1998), then having homes that are less clean and ordered, or clothes that are more wrinkled , is not a cause for concern. Another possibility is that homes are just as clean and home-cooked meals are just as appetizing, but that mothers are doing proportionately less of the work. For example, there may be more outside or hired help or more take-home foods. Additionally, mothers may be more efficient today, particularly with the aid of technologies such as microwave ovens, dishwashers, and permanent press clothing that have made some housework tasks easier to perform. These technologies may allow more multitasking of housework activities, as indicated by the increase in housework hours reported as a secondary activity (figure 5.2). Earlier research suggests that all of these factors may have substituted for the greater amount of housework that women in the past accomplished (Robinson and Milkie 1998; Bianchi et al. 2000). Married mothers seem to have swapped paid work for housework almost hour for hour. In other words, their 16-hour increase in paid work is almost completely made up by the 15 fewer hours in the unpaid work of household labor. However, because their paid work is almost exclusively outside the home, their overall accessibility to children has probably declined. That makes their increased interaction time with children even more remarkable. Single-mothers’ housework profile looks quite different from that of married mothers. We find no decrease in housework, with their 17 hours per week of housework in 2000 being almost the same as reported in 1965. So, although single mothers in the 1960s did only half the amount of housework that married mothers did, married mothers have reduced their housework so much that today they do almost as little housework as single mothers. As with married mothers, there is a decrease in the daily percentage of single mothers who report doing housework on the diary day, from 90 to 84 percent. Similar to married mothers, single mothers counter a decline in core housework somewhat by shopping and obtaining services 1.7 more hours per week in 2000 than in 1965. 92 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life Table 5.1 Trends in Parents’ Housework, Hours per Week Married Fathers Married Mothers Single Mothers 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 Percentage reporting 54.4 43.0 71.5 60.1 69.4* 99.6 97.6 95.3 89.6 91.2* 90.1 91.5 90.9 70.6 83.8 housework Total hours in primary 4.4 5.6 10.7 10.9 9.7* 34.5 25.2 22.5 21.6 19.4* 16.8 19.0 14.4 12.7 16.8 housework activities Core housework 1.4 1.6 4.1 3.6 4.6* 31.3 22.8 19.2 17.4 15.6* 15.6 18.2 12.6 9.4 13.9 Cooking meals 0.6 0.8 1.8 1.4 2.1* 10.9 9.4 8.1 6.5 5.8* 5.0 7.8 5.5 2.5 5.2 Meal cleanup 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.1 0.4 5.1 2.9 2.1 1.0 1.3* 2.7 2.1 1.4 0.3 1.1* Housecleaning 0.3 0.5 1.5 1.7 1.8* 8.7 6.3 6.1 7.2 5.1* 4.2 5.9 3.7 5.2 4.4 Laundry and ironing 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.4 0.3 6.6 4.2 2.9 2.7 3.4* 3.7 2.4 2.1 1.4 3.3 Other housework hours 3.0 3.9 6.6 7.3 5.1 3.2 2.4 3.3 4.2 3.8* 1.2 0.8 1.8 3.3 2.9 Outdoor chores 0.6 1.0 1.4 2.8 2.0* 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.7 0.8* 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.8 0.4 Repairs 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.4 1.7 0.5 0.8 0.5 0.9 0.9 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.4 Garden and 0.2 0.2 0.9 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.4 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.1 0.1 0.4 0.2 0.6 animal care Bills, other financial 0.5 0.6 2.0 1.5 1.1 1.9 0.6 1.6 2.0 1.5 0.9 0.3 0.7 2.1 1.4 Sample size (N) (326) (239) (583) (133) (550) (358) (278) (673) (198) (700) (59) (91) (230) (109) (299) Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1965–66 Americans’ Use of Time Study; the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts; 1985 Americans’ Use of Time; the 1995 Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Study; and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. *2000 estimates statistically different from 1965, p < 0.05. We saw in chapter 4 how married fathers notably increased their child care hours. Fathers have also more than doubled their hours in housework, from about 4.5 hours in 1965 to almost 10 hours per week in 2000. Unlike child care, where the biggest increases for fathers occurred in the 1990s, fathers’ housework time increased earlier—between 1965 and 1985—and has not changed appreciably since 1985. Including secondary time in housework adds an extra 1.7 hours per week to their family care in 2000 (shown in figure 5.2). Some of the biggest increases in fathers’ housework have been in the traditionally female tasks of cooking and cleaning. Fathers’ hours preparing meals per week in 2000 was four times the minimal half hour figure in 1965; and they report more than six times as much housecleaning (2 hours per week in 2000 compared with 20 minutes in 1965). 94 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life Figure 5.2 Housework Reported as a Secondary Activity 0.3 1.6 0.6 1.7 3.1 2.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 Married Fathers Married Mothers Single Mothers Hours per Week 1975 2000 Source: Authors’ calculations from 1975-76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts and the combined file of the 1998-99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. Note: 2000 estimates greater than 1975 estimates, p < 0.05. Traditionally masculine types of housework have also increased, but not as much, particularly in the form of more outdoor chores and bill paying—two chores that may now require more attention and time as housing lots have become larger and finances more complex. Time shopping for goods and obtaining household services has remained steady for fathers at about 5 hours per week (see appendix table 5A.2). Changes in Personal Care Television commercials often portray harried mothers as exhausted and pining for sleep. The numerous magazine articles, showing how mothers can make more time for themselves, suggest that they are more stretched for time than ever. Although certainly some mothers have had to squeeze out a great deal of personal (or free) time as they seek to balance paid work with family life, our time-diary data show that personal care in the form of sleeping, grooming, and eating has not changed much, at least on average. As shown in table 5.2, married mothers in 1965 spent about 9 hours per week eating, 55 hours sleeping and 10 hours grooming— compared with about 8 hours eating, 55 hours sleeping, and 9 hours grooming in 2000. For single mothers, the reduction in their sleep hours to 55 hours a week make them look almost exactly like married mothers, and married fathers for that matter; their meal times have declined slightly, but their grooming time remains steady. Fathers’ time in personal care is fairly similar across time, with declines in time spent eating of about 2.5 hours per week since 1965 (from 10.6 to about 8 hours), probably due to more fast food, eating while commuting in cars, or lunching at one’s work desk. Like mothers, fathers still average about the same number of hours per week of sleep as they did in the 1960s, but spend almost a half hour less per week on grooming. Changes in Free Time Activities Table 5.3 provides a closer look at the trends in parental free-time activities , documenting first for married mothers a decline in free time from 36 hours per week in 1965 to 32 hours today. Although significant, this decline is not nearly as drastic as the declines in housework. For single mothers, reports of free-time hours were actually much higher in the 1975 through 1995 diaries, but in 2000 were only slightly higher than in 1965—31 hours in 2000 compared to 29 hours per week in 1965. Changes have occurred in how free time is spent, however. Consistent with Putnam’s (2000) thesis about the decline in community engagement, married mothers’ time in organizations and in visiting with others has dropped significantly, with an hour less time in organizational activities Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships 95 and 2.9 hours less visiting in others’ homes. These married mothers in 2000 also show declines in reading of 2 hours per week and on hobbies of 1.3 hours. By contrast, their time in fitness activities has increased, and time in religious activities and listening to music has remained stable. Dwarfing all other uses of free time at all time points, however, is television viewing, which includes videos in 2000—being a steady 11 hours per week and similar to 1965. Because of small sample sizes, estimates for single mothers are unstable over the years, and therefore the only activity to show a statistically significant decline among single mothers is time spent attending events, which dropped from 4 to 1.4 hours per week. Married fathers’ leisure activities show only minor changes. Their overall free time has remained almost constant at 35 hours per week, with only one year (1995) showing unusual deviation from the overall pattern.2 Similar to married mothers, their time visiting in friends’ and relatives’ homes and in reading has declined. As with mothers, fathers’ television time remains the dominant leisure activity by far, consuming 96 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life Table 5.2 Trends in Personal Care Activities of Parents, Hours per Week Activity 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 Married fathers Total 73.4 74.1 72.9 66.7 69.5* Sleep 54.7 56.1 54.5 53.4 54.2 Meal 10.6 10.4 7.2 5.9 7.9* Grooming 8.0 7.6 11.2 7.5 7.5 Sample size (N) (326) (239) (583) (133) (550) Married mothers Total 73.6 75.8 74.5 71.2 71.5* Sleep 54.8 57.9 56.3 57.2 54.8 Meal 9.0 9.0 6.7 5.3 7.8* Grooming 9.8 8.9 11.5 8.7 8.9 Sample size (N) (358) (278) (673) (198) (700) Single mothers Total 79.4 77.6 76.0 73.1 70.9* Sleep 59.4 59.8 56.3 59.1 54.5* Meal 8.5 7.9 5.5 4.1 6.3* Grooming 11.5 10.0 14.2 9.9 10.2 Sample size (N) (59) (91) (230) (109) (299) Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1965–66 Americans’ Use of Time Study; the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts; 1985 Americans’ Use of Time; the 1995 Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Study; and the combined file of the 1998-99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. *2000 estimates statistically different from 1965, p < 0.05. Table 5.3 Trends in Parents’ Free-Time Activities, Hours per Week Married Fathers Married Mothers Single Mothers Activity 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 1965 1975 1985 1995 2000 Total 34.5 34.7 33.7 40.5 34.5 35.7 37.1 34.1 31.3 31.7* 29.4 39.6 41.5 41.5 31.4 Education 1.0 1.2 0.5 1.6 3.1* 0.5 0.6 0.8 2.5 2.2* 1.7 3.3 3.5 3.5 2.5 Religion 1.1 1.3 0.8 0.6 1.6 1.2 2.6 1.6 0.7 1.3 0.7 1.3 2.0 0.8 1.2 Organizations 1.1 1.1 1.1 0.4 0.8 1.5 2.2 1.1 0.8 0.6* 0.5 1.0 0.7 0.3 0.8 Event 0.6 0.4 0.8 1.1 1.4* 0.7 0.9 0.9 1.8 1.4* 4.0 0.5 0.9 2.1 1.4* Visiting 7.7 6.1 4.8 6.6 4.7* 9.3 6.4 5.7 5.1 6.4* 7.1 8.0 7.4 10.6 5.4 Fitness 1.4 1.7 2.5 7.2 2.3 0.5 1.0 1.5 1.7 1.4* 0.7 0.2 1.2 1.5 1.4 Hobby 1.3 2.2 2.4 4.1 1.6 3.0 3.0 2.7 1.1 1.7* 1.0 2.6 1.8 1.3 1.5 Television 13.6 14.9 14.9 13.9 14.2 10.5 13.4 12.9 11.1 11.2 9.3 16.1 16.1 15.7 12.3 Reading 4.0 2.7 2.4 2.0 1.1* 3.8 2.9 2.5 2.6 1.5* 1.2 1.8 1.7 1.0 1.3 Stereo 0.7 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.1* 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.6 0.9 0.6 0.0 0.3 Communication 2.0 2.5 3.3 2.9 3.7* 4.3 3.8 4.3 3.9 4.0 2.6 3.9 5.5 4.7 3.4 Sample size (N) (326) (239) (583) (133) (550) (358) (278) (673) (198) (700) (59) (91) (230) (109) (299) Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1965–66 Americans’ Use of Time Study; the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts; 1985 Americans’ Use of Time; the 1995 Electric Power Research (EPRI) Study; and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. *2000 estimates statistically different from 1965, p < 0.05. about 14 hours per week in 2000, much as in 1965. In essence, married fathers’ time in leisure is somewhat greater than married mothers, but their patterns of change mirror those for married mothers in table 5.3. In Summary Mothers’ time, particularly married mothers, has changed most since 1965, with an apparent trade-off of unpaid housework for paid work, a shift that has left their time with children intact. They also have a bit less free time, but report the same amount of sleep as in 1965. Single mothers have also increased their child care time a bit, with this time coming from personal care, but their housework and paid work have remained relatively stable. How much fathers’ lives have changed depend on one’s point of view. Compared to their fathers’ generation, married fathers today are spending more hours in family care—both child care (as discussed in chapter 4), and housework (as detailed in this chapter). That has been offset by less time in paid work and personal care. Changes for married fathers have not been as dramatic as for married mothers. Moving Beyond Zero-Sum Measures: Increased “Time Deepening” via Secondary Activities These shifts in primary activities tell only part of the story of social change, given that parents can try to gain time in their 24-hour days by multitasking—doing more activities at once to fit everything into their lives. Some evidence of this in the increase in child care combined with other activities was found in chapter 4 and in figure 5.2 with respect to housework. Here we examine the amount of time spent in two activities at once, in an attempt to determine whether multitasking may have increased. Including secondary time does double count time, but perhaps allows a fuller picture of how families have changed. Thus an important way to examine whether parents have in essence sped up their daily lives is to look at the nature of multitasking. The 1975 and 2000 diary data allow us to examine whether respondents report more secondary activities today. That is, when parents detail their day by each main activity, do more of them also report doing something else at the same time? Table 5.4 shows that among all three groups—married fathers, married mothers, and single mothers—multitasking greatly increased over the last quarter of the twentieth-century. The first row shows time in multitasking in which work, family care, or personal care is the primary activ98 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships 99 Table 5.4 Changes in Parent Multitasking, Hours per Week Change 1975 2000 Hours Percent Married fathers Multitasking (excluding all primary free-time activities) 3.7 8.7* 5.0 134 Multitasking (excluding time when both secondary and primary activities are free time) 30.4 59.4* 29.1 96 All multitasking (all time where a secondary activity is reported) 39.4 78.3* 39.0 99 Sample size (N) (239) (550) Married mothers Multitasking (excluding all primary free-time activities) 7.7 14.6* 6.9 89 Multitasking (excluding time when both secondary and primary activities are free time) 32.4 64.1* 31.7 98 All multitasking (all time where a secondary activity is reported) 41.8 80.6* 38.8 93 Sample size (N) (278) (700) Single mothers Multitasking (excluding all primary free-time activities) 6.2 12.6* 6.4 104 Multitasking (excluding time when both secondary and primary activities are free time) 30.1 62.1* 32.0 106 All multitasking (all time where a secondary activity is reported) 39.4 78.9* 39.5 100 Sample size (N) (91) (299) Source: Authors’ calculations from 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. *2000 estimates greater than 1975 estimates, p < 0.05. ity and some secondary activity was reported. The second measure includes primary free-time activities if the secondary activity is not also a free-time activity—in other words, excluding that which consists of two simultaneous leisure activities. Using this measure we find married fathers’ hours of multitasking increased from about 30 to 59 hours per week (a gain of 96 percent), married mothers from 32 to 64 (a 98-percent increase), and single mothers from 30 to 62 hours per week (a 106-percent increase). This is a gain of more than 6 hours per day, and when considering it in terms of waking hours only, about half of today’s parents’ time is spent doing two or more activities simultaneously. When looking at all multitasking (including engaging in two leisure activities at once), we see that it has virtually doubled for all groups—with about 5.5 hours per day (or almost 40 hours per week) more now. For married fathers, the increase is from 39 to 78 hours per week, for married mothers from 42 to 81 hours, and for single mothers, from about 39 to 79 hours. One could argue that doing two leisure activities, one component of the measure called all multitasking, is not really multitasking; however it does describe a busier or more complex life style of packing more things into one’s days. Such a shift may alter the look and the feel of family life for today’s parents. We were concerned that the increase in multitasking might be methodological , that in 2000, the computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) process may have encouraged more consistent prompting of secondary activities than the personal and non-CATI interviews in 1975. The first wave of the 1975 collection involved a lengthy personal interview, though subsequent waves were shorter and by telephone. Although the prompt for secondary activities is similar across the years, the computer-assisted interview may have increased the likelihood that more respondents reported secondary activities, given that the computer automatically prompts the interviewer to ask about secondary activities when the respondent reports a lengthy primary activity. Further, the personal interview during the first wave of 1975 was lengthy and interviewers may therefore not have been as careful in detecting secondary activities, versus when they administered the telephone interviews in subsequent waves. We compared multitasking reports in the third wave of the 1975 data collection, in which interviews were conducted over the telephone, hence the survey method was more comparable to 2000. Appendix table 5A.4 compares multitasking estimates between 1975 and 2000 using a subsample of the third wave in 1975. There is remarkable consistency across the 1975 estimates. There is no way to fully ensure that the increase in multitasking over time is not a methodological aberration. However, despite the fact that some of the increased 2000 reports of multitasking may be due to the increased probing of secondary activities, sizable increases remain in reports of multitasking between the 1975 third wave and the 2000 reports. Uncontaminated Leisure or Quality Time In a creative use of time-diary evidence from Australia, Bittman and Wajcman (2000) recently argued that the overall amount of free time cap100 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life tured in time diaries may not adequately portray the quality of leisure experiences. They note that leisure activities can be more or less contaminated by simultaneous activities that are not as enjoyable, such as folding laundry while watching a video. Even when two individuals have the same total number of hours of free time, the experience of leisure may be more fragmented for some than for others. Finally, leisure spent only with adults may be qualitatively different from that spent with children. The authors measured each concept using their detailed Australian timediary data to locate significant gender differences in each behavior. The theme of fragmentation of leisure is a common one among feminist scholars of leisure (Deem 1996, 6; Wimbush and Talbot 1988, 11). The notion is that women’s leisure time is often chopped up into many small parcels during the day, and this means that they can never fully relax. If all one has is 10 minutes here and there, between chauffeuring children to and from lessons or sports activities in the after-school hours, that does not qualify as refreshing free time. To assess whether fragmented free time has increased over time, we examine the number of distinct freetime episodes on the diary day, as well as the length of the longest episode of leisure. To measure the contamination of leisure by other tasks, we assess how often a free-time activity occurs without the distraction of another nonleisure activity. Pure free time thus refers to periods when the primary activity reported is a free-time activity and no secondary activity is reported, or when the secondary activity is also a free-time activity. One can further assess this pure leisure by examining the with whom data, focusing on whether the activity is spent only with adults or alone— or with children present. Adult leisure is conceptualized as a type of free time qualitatively different from that spent in the company of children (Mattingly and Bianchi 2003). One can also assess the amount of free time when a mother or father is alone (that is, the only adult) with children. Free time spent alone with children is time that is likely to be qualitatively different than time with children when other adults are present, because of the limited range of activities in which it is appropriate and feasible to engage when one is alone with children (especially very young children). One caveat about labeling free time with children as contaminated free time is that diary and other studies show high levels of enjoyment of time with children. For example, using 1985 time-use data, Robinson (1993, 47) found that people greatly enjoyed playing with children and talking or reading to children, ranking these activities 8.8 and 8.6, respectively, on a ten-point enjoyment scale. Many parents cherish free time spent with their children, and we have noted the high enjoyment levels of activities involving children in the previous chapter. Table 5.5 compares these various measures of the quality of free-time activities for married fathers, married mothers, and single mothers, using Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships 101 102 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life Table 5.5 Trends in Parents’ Free Time 1975 2000 Married fathers Total (hours per week) 34.7 34.6 Fragmentation (average per day) Number of episodes 5.0 4.0* Longest episode (hours) 2.2 2.4 Contamination (hours per week) Pure free time 30.1 29.1 Adult free time 20.6 18.3 Free time alone with children 2.1 3.8* Sample size (N) (239) (550) Married mothers Total (hours per week) 37.2 31.8 Fragmentation (average per day) Number of episodes 6.4 4.2* Longest episode (hours) 2.1 2.2 Contamination (hours per week) Pure free time 32.9 25.8* Adult free time 21.1 14.8* Free time alone with children 5.0 7.4* Sample size (N) (278) (700) Single mothers Total (hours per week) 39.6 31.9 Fragmentation (average per day) Number of episodes 5.6 3.9* Longest episode (hours) 2.4 2.2 Contamination (hours per week) Pure free time 34.4 26.5* Adult free time 20.5 17.4 Free time alone with children 12.3 9.9 Sample size (N) (91) (299) Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. *2000 estimates statistically different from 1975, p < 0.05. diary data from 1975 and 2000 (again, mainly because they are the only studies containing the requisite full diary reports to calculate the various measures of fragmentation and contamination of leisure activities). Among married mothers, there has been a decrease in the number of episodes of leisure per day, along with the total amount of free time. Because the longest episode of free time is similar at both time points, there is no strong evidence that leisure has become more fragmented for married mothers. The contamination measures, however, do suggest a possible erosion in the quality of free-time experiences. Pure free time, that is free time uncontaminated by secondary activities (such as housework, child care, or grooming), declined fairly substantially—from about 33 to 26 hours a week for married mothers. Adult child-free time shows a significant decline as well. Conversely, free time alone with children increased. For single mothers, the total amount of free time, along with the number of free-time episodes per day, declined between 1975 and 2000. The longest episode indicator also suggests a possible decrease in the quality of leisure. As for married mothers, pure free time (free time uncontaminated by nonleisure activities) has declined. When we examine trends in the quality of married fathers’ free time, there is little indication of change over the decades. Although the number of episodes of leisure per day has declined (as for mothers), pure free time and adult free time (perhaps the most refreshing kind of leisure) did not change much for fathers. Fathers have increased their leisure time spent alone with their children, that is, without the children’s mother or any other adult present. In sum, mothers and fathers appear to have greatly deepened their time through multitasking over the past decades, which indicates a faster or more complex pace of life today. When we consider the quality of leisure more explicitly using these new measures, it appears that the quality of married and single mothers’ leisure may have declined by some measures. Married fathers’ leisure experiences seem more stable. Deepening Time for Children by Reducing Time with Others There is another way that parents (especially mothers) may have deepened time over the decades—that is, made time for children despite increases in paid work and other obligations. They could be spending less time with other people in their lives. Thus, another question we can address using the with whom component of the diary data concerns the significant people with whom mothers and fathers do spend time. Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships 103 Perhaps, for example, the modern employed mother may make up for a felt lack of shared time with her preschooler by including that child in her leisure activities or by choosing a child-friendly leisure activity (like going to a park) rather than having an adult dinner with friends. Perhaps married mothers and fathers can tag team paid work or errands, with one parent coming home to be with children as the other heads out the door. Although this ensures that children have adequate parental time, it also means that spouses rarely encounter each other during the day. Perhaps, as Putnam (2000) suggested, what today’s mothers have given up are commitments that in the past put them in contact with others in the neighborhood school, church, or community center . We now look at time spent with spouses, friends, extended family, and in civic pursuits in order to assess a potentially complex way that parents’ lives may have changed. Trends in Time with One’s Spouse Table 5.6 shows trends in parents’ time with their spouse. We again have the full diary data to exploit for only 1975 and 2000. In terms of time with spouse alone, both married mothers and fathers report significantly less time together, a decline from 12 hours per week in 1975 to 9 hours in 2000 (a 26-percent drop). In terms of spending any time with one’s spouse, which includes when others are present or not, the figures are 35 hours in 1975 versus 28 hours in 2000 (a 20-percent drop).3 104 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life Table 5.6 Trends in Parents’ Time with Spouse, Hours per Week Percent Change 1975 2000 1975 to 2000 Spouse only All married parents 12.4 9.1a −26 Married mothers 11.8 8.6a −27 Married fathers 13.0 9.6a −26 Any time with spouse All married parents 35.4 28.4ac −20 Married mothers 35.6 26.8a −25 Married fathers 35.3 30.9a −12 Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. a. 1975 to 2000 within gender difference statistically significant, p < 0.05. b. Gender difference in 1975 statistically significant, p < 0.05. c. Gender difference in 2000 statistically significant, p < 0.05. Trends in Time with Friends and Extended Family Do mothers and fathers spend less time with other family members, friends, or other individuals in their community? We saw earlier that primary activity time spent in visiting with other family members and friends in their homes has declined. However, primary activity time spent visiting is quite limited and does not take into account the with whom codes available for any activity, such as housework or leisure activities, other than visiting. If one looks at total time with friends and relatives, the estimates suggest relative stability for married parents but a decline for single mothers. Table 5.7 shows that married mothers and fathers spent about 10 hours a week with friends and relatives in 2000, rather similar to 1975. Single mothers’ time with friends and relatives has declined by 25 percent, from 19 to 14 hours a week. Trends in Time in Social Leisure and Civic Pursuits Another aspect of changing leisure time with others is provided in table 5.8, where we use the categorization developed by Liana Sayer (2001), as outlined in appendix table 5A.5. Free-time activities are grouped into those that promote community, or that reflect organizational or civic commitment. Social leisure activities with friends or family include socializing, eating meals, attending movies, pursuing hobbies, or engaging in other recreation, and they provide another perspective on time spent with others. Active but solitary leisure and passive leisure pursuits (a large component of which is television viewing) are also shown. Using this categorization of leisure activity, married fathers engaged in 17 weekly hours of social leisure in 1975, compared with about 15 hours Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships 105 Table 5.7 Trends in Parents’ Time with Friends and Relatives, Hours per Week 1975 2000 Percent Change Married fathers 10.1 9.7 −3 Married mothers 11.6a 10.6a −9 Single mothers 19.3b 14.4b −25 Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the National Survey of Parents. a. Estimates for married mothers significantly different from single mothers, p < 0.05. b. Estimates for married fathers significantly different from single mothers, p < 0.05. today. Married mothers spent 18 hours per week in social leisure in 1975, virtually the same amount as today. Social leisure has declined some for single mothers, from 15 hours in 1975 to 13 hours today. There has also been a decline in the proportion of diary keepers reporting any social activity on the diary day. For example, where 93 percent of single mothers in 1975 reported some form of social leisure on the diary day, only 83 percent did so in 2000 (see table 5.8). For married 106 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life Table 5.8 Changes in Civic, Social, Active and Passive Leisure Activities Hours per Week Percentage Reporting 1975 2000 1975 2000 Married fathers Social leisure 16.9 15.2b 97.8 89.5ab Civic leisure 2.1b 2.0 14.4b 12.5 Active leisure 2.8 1.7ab 23.6 18.4 Passive leisure 3.7 3.2 48.7 33.4a Watching television 14.9 14.2b 77.2 78.2 Sample size (N) (239) (550) Married mothers Social leisure 18.2 18.1c 96.7 93.6c Civic leisure 4.0c 1.6a 26.7c 11.3a Active leisure 2.3 1.1ac 26.8 15.3a Passive leisure 4.1 3.1 49.5 36.2a Watching television 13.4 11.2a 77.4 64.8a Sample size (N) (278) (700) Single mothers Social leisure 15.6 13.6 93.3d 83.3ad Civic leisure 1.8 1.3 16.5 8.6a Active leisure 2.1 2.0 23.6 23.2 Passive leisure 5.1 3.2a 42.4 33.5 Watching television 16.1 12.3 73.4 63.7d Sample size (N) (91) (299) Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. a. Within gender difference statistically significant, p < 0.05 b. Estimates for married fathers statistically significantly different from married mothers , p < 0.05. c. Estimates for married mothers statistically significantly different from single mothers, p < 0.05. d. Estimates for married fathers statistically significantly different from single mothers, p < 0.05. mothers, the change was smaller, from 97 to 94 percent. For married fathers, however, the decline was from 98 to 90 percent. Although these levels remain high, perhaps socializing has become more constrained, given the somewhat fewer days per week that parents in 2000 reported it than those in 1975 did. Time in civic leisure may be important, not only for parents, but also in terms of developing bonds of trust among community members, and in building social capital for children (see Sayer 2001). For married fathers, the already low number of hours in civic pursuits remained steady at about 2 hours per week, with 14 percent of the sample reporting this in 1975 and 13 percent in 2000. For married mothers, there is a large decline, from about 4 to 1.5 hours per week—and from 27 percent reporting to about 11 percent. For single mothers, there is about a half hour decline (from 1.8 to 1.3 hours per week), along with a drop from 17 percent to only 9 percent reporting this kind of activity. In sum, there may be fewer instances each week of interacting with spouses for married mothers and fathers. There seems to be the same amount of time spent together with family and friends for married mothers and fathers, in contrast to a decrease for single mothers. Among married mothers, there is a large decline in civic time. Because this is the group that most changed their position vis-à-vis the home, it makes sense that they now look much more like married fathers and single mothers in terms of the time spent in civic activities per week. Understanding Changes: Employed and Nonemployed Mothers in the Two Eras Two trends form the conundrum of this chapter: the large shift of mothers into paid work in the face of stable or increasing maternal time in child care. A direct comparison of employed and nonemployed mothers’ time in various activities fills in the picture of what gives to allow mothers to find time for both paid work and child care. Table 5.9 provides this comparison , showing differences in housework, sleep, and various free-time activities of both employed and nonemployed mothers in 1975 and 2000. Appendix table 5A.6 shows estimates of all time uses for employed and nonemployed mothers in 1975 and 2000. Mothers trade housework for paid work, as noted at the outset of this chapter, with employed mothers averaging 8 fewer hours per week of housework than nonemployed mothers in 2000. Housework has dropped dramatically overall for all mothers, largely because more mothers are now employed and employed mothers do much less housework than their nonemployed counterparts. Nonemployed mothers in 2000 also Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships 107 108 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life Table 5.9 Differences in Activities of Employed and Nonemployed Mothers, Hours per Week 1975 2000 Combined Housework Employed mothers’ hours 17.1a 16.1ab 16.3a Nonemployed mothers’ hours 28.9a 24.6ab 26.4 Difference (unadjusted) −11.8 −8.5 10.1 Difference (OLS adjusted) −11.9*** −7.8*** −9.0*** Year (=2000) (OLS estimate) — — 2.1*** Sleep Employed mothers’ hours 56.7a 53.4ab 54.0a Nonemployed mothers’ hours 59.7a 57.8ab 58.6 Difference (unadjusted) −3.0 −4.4 −4.5 Difference (OLS adjusted) −2.2 −4.6*** −3.8*** Year (=2000) — — −2.7** Watching television Employed mothers’ hours 10.3a 9.6ab 9.7a Nonemployed mothers’ hours 17.1a 16.2ab 16.6 Difference (unadjusted) −6.8 −6.6 −6.9 Difference (OLS adjusted) −6.5*** −7.3*** −7.1*** Year (=2000) — — 0.6*** Total free time Employed mothers’ hours 29.6a 27.7ab 28.0a Nonemployed mothers’ hours 44.3a 41.0ab 42.4 Difference (unadjusted) −14.7 −13.3 −14.3 Difference (OLS adjusted) −15.6*** −14.5*** −15.0*** Year (=2000) — — −2.3 “Pure” child free time Employed mothers’ hours 17.2a 13.8ab 14.5a Nonemployed mothers’ hours 24.0a 19.8ab 21.6 Difference (unadjusted) −6.8 −6.0 −7.1 Difference (OLS adjusted) −7.9*** −8.6*** −8.5*** Year (=2000) — — −3.9*** Sample size (N) (369) (999) (1,368) Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. Note: OLS regression is used to produce an estimate of the employment difference net of associations of time engaged in the specific activity with number of children, children under age 6, educational attainment, age, marital status. The interaction of year and employment was never statistically significant. Year changes estimated by OLS regressions with concatenated 1975 and 2000 data. a. Employed and nonemployed statistically significantly different at p < 0.05. b. 1975 and 2000 statistically significantly different at p < 0.05. ***p-value < .001, **p-value < .01, *p-value < .05. appear to do less housework than their counterparts in 1975. All mothers, like women in general, seem to be shedding housework. Employed mothers also adjust other facets of their lives, averaging 3 or 4 hours less sleep per week than nonemployed mothers and watching television almost 7 fewer hours per week.4 Both in 1975 and 2000, there was a large difference in the amount of free time between the two groups of mothers, with employed mothers having 15 hours less discretionary time each week (see the estimate for the combined model). With the focus on what is arguably the most “refreshing” type of free time—adult only, pure free time not contaminated by doing family caregiving—we find that free time has decreased significantly for both employed and nonemployed mothers. Thus, employed and nonemployed mothers seem to keep their time with children high by more often incorporating children into their free-time activities, which is consistent with the decline in their pure child-free leisure hours. At the same time, employed mothers may be relatively more harried than their nonemployed counterparts, because they have significantly fewer pure free-time hours each week. Table 5.10 shows that both nonemployed and employed mothers seem to have curtailed their hours of civic leisure, with employed mothers averaging almost 2 fewer hours per week in community activities, and with neither group averaging very many hours in this type of activity in 2000. Employed mothers also spend almost 3 fewer hours per week with friends and relatives. Married employed mothers also seem to be spending far less time in total with their spouse than in the past, resulting in an estimated 6 fewer hours per week with their spouse (in the combined models) than nonemployed mothers. In sum, what mothers give up to finance employment but keep child care time relatively high is substantial. Employed mothers experience time deficits in an array of activities. Employed mothers spend less time on housework, sleep fewer hours per week, and have much less discretionary time. In addition, they have less time with their spouse, family, and friends. Recall from chapter 3 that the employed mother averages a 71-hour work week, compared with the average 52-hour work week for the nonemployed mother. That employed mothers have so much less overall free time raises concerns about the quality of their down time (and consequent health and well-being) as they try to balance paid work, child care, and nonmarket work. Further, the finding that employment restricts mothers’ participation in civic and social pursuits raises more global concerns about how the quality of civic and social organizations is affected, or perhaps diminished, by the demands placed on employed mothers’ time. Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships 109 110 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life Table 5.10 Differences in Civic and Family Activities of Employed and Nonemployed Mothers, Hours per Week 1975 2000 Combined Civic leisure Employed mothers’ hours 2.4a 1.1ab 1.3a Nonemployed mothers’ hours 4.2a 2.6ab 3.3 Difference (unadjusted) −1.8 −1.5 −1.9 Difference (OLS adjusted) −1.6 −1.7* −1.7* Year (=2000) (OLS estimate) — — −1.5* Time with friends and relatives Employed mothers’ hours 11.7 11.1 11.2a Nonemployed mothers’ hours 15.0 13.2 14.0 Difference (unadjusted) −3.3 −2.1 −2.7 Difference (OLS adjusted) −5.0* −1.5 −2.6* Year (=2000) — — −2.0 Time alone with spouse Employed mothers’ hours 11.3 8.0 8.6a Nonemployed mothers’ hours 12.2 9.9 10.8 Difference (unadjusted) −0.9 −1.9 −2.2 Difference (OLS adjusted) −1.7 −2.6* −2.2* Year (=2000) — — −2.8* Any time with spouse Employed mothers’ hours 35.1 24.0a 26.2a Nonemployed mothers’ hours 35.8 32.8a 34.1 Difference (unadjusted) −0.7 −8.8 −7.9 Difference (OLS adjusted) 0.1 −9.4* −6.0* Year (=2000) — — −7.4* Sample size (N) (369) (999) (1,368) Source: Authors’ calculations from the 1975–76 Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts and the combined file of the 1998–99 Family Interaction, Social Capital and Trends in Time Use Study and the 2000 National Survey of Parents. Note: OLS regression is used to produce an estimate of the employment difference net of associations of time engaged in the specific activity with number of children, children under age six, educational attainment, age, marital status. The interaction of year and employment was never statistically significant. Year changes estimated by OLS regressions with concatenated 1975 and 2000 data. a. Employed and nonemployed statistically significantly different at p < 0.05. b. 1975 and 2000 statistically significantly different at p < 0.05. *p < 0.05. Summary and Conclusions As mothers have increased their attachment to the labor force and have done more parenting alone, what has changed? The number of hours spent on core housework as a primary activity each week has decreased almost 15 hours among married mothers, on average. Single mothers’ housework activities have not changed all that much, probably because single mothers have always done less housework to provide economically for their children. In many ways, married mothers’ time allocations have become more similar to single mothers’ across the decades. For mothers, other subtler and smaller changes have taken place as well. Specifically, both married and single mothers today report more multitasking, and all mothers report less time in civic leisure pursuits. Among married mothers, less time is spent with their husbands. To some degree, these more subtle changes probably arise from married mothers’ shift of work activities from unpaid work (largely in the home) to paid work outside the home. In their movement into the workplace, married mothers are increasingly positioned physically outside their home and neighborhood for more hours per week than in the past. As employment becomes widespread for mothers, those who are not employed at any given point in time become a more select group. Many trends characterize both groups—for example, the decline in housework and civic engagement and the decline in time alone with a spouse. Yet nonemployed mothers may be better able to carve out time for themselves and make time for activities that include both parents (or perhaps the whole family), whereas employed mothers may be managing to keep more balls in the air by tag-teaming child care with their husbands (thus reducing their overall time with their spouse) and limiting the time they devote solely to adult-only leisure activities. The way married fathers spend their time has changed as well, but in less dramatic ways. Fathers not only increased their child care time, but also now spend more hours per week on housework than before. This moderate turn toward family activities is paralleled by some decline in their paid work activities and in personal care. Fathers also show an increase in multitasking and spend less time with their wives than in the past. As noted, the story about family time combines both continuities in parents ’ lives along with some important changes. Married mothers’ increased paid work has pulled them from other activities, mainly unpaid work, but also from time in their communities. Although it has not pulled them away from children to any large degree (at least not in terms of average interaction time as shown in chapter 4), it may be reducing the time they have to refresh and rejuvenate. Housework, Leisure, Personal Care, Relationships 111 The question of how today’s mothers feel about their time—with children , with their spouse and for themselves—as well as how they feel about balancing and tradeoffs thus becomes an intriguing one. We suspect that even though mothers objectively may average the same amounts of time interacting with their children, they may feel more strained in comparison to the full-time homemaker mothers of years past. Perhaps this is due to rising cultural standards, to mothers’ relative lack of accessibility to family members (not captured by the diary data), and to the speeding up of daily activities in the form of multitasking. Fathers also seem to be at a crossroads. Cultural standards for fathers’ involvement in family life have increased, potentially increasing their time pressure. Yet chapter 4 showed that today’s fathers are spending notably more time with children, at least in comparison with previous time points. This may make men feel that they are doing a better job of balancing work and family than their fathers did, making it interesting to know more about fathers’ feelings about time in contemporary U.S. society. After a short digression into joint parental time provided by an examination of the weekly diaries in the next chapter, we turn to the topic of feelings about time in chapter 7. 112 Changing Rhythms of American Family Life ...