Working Paper: NBER ID: w28317
Authors: Daniel S. Hamermesh
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; mothers; happiness
JEL Codes: I31; J12; J22
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Marital status (J12) | time allocation (J22) |
| Marital status (J12) | well-being (I31) |
| Nonpartnered mothers (J12) | time spent in childcare (J13) |
| Nonpartnered mothers (J12) | time spent on household activities (D13) |
| Nonpartnered mothers (J12) | total work time (J22) |
| Nonpartnered mothers (J12) | television watching (L82) |
| Nonpartnered mothers (J12) | leisure activities (L83) |
| Partner absence (J12) | depression (E32) |
| Nonpartnered mothers (J12) | parental care for children (J13) |
| Parental care (J13) | mothers' life satisfaction (J12) |