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PARENTAL TIME IN THE UK: THE ROLE OF PARENTAL EDUCATION

Cristina Borra1 Almudena Sevilla2

1Department of EconomicsUniversity of Seville (Spain)

2School of Business ManagementQueen Mary University of London (UK)

15th May 2014

QUESTION

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How has parents’ time with children changed in the UK since the 1970s? :

We compare trends for parents with and without post-secondary education

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WHY DO WE CARE?

Crucial from a child development perspective:1 hour more of maternal childcare per week increases test

scores by 22% of a standard deviation, moving a child about five positions up in a class of 30 (Villena-Roldán and Ríos-Aguilar, 2012: PSID-CDS)

Crucial for policies aimed at inequality and social mobility:=> Growing inequality in resources (time and money) invested in children

MAIN FINDINGS

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Time parents spend with children tripled for mothers and increased six fold for fathers over this period

Parents with and without post-secondary education spent the same amount with their children at the beginning of the period (70s)

Until the mid 1990s parents with post-secondary education increased the time they spent with their children by twice as much

At the end of the period (in 2005) all parents were spending about the same amount of time with their children. However: Parents with post-secondary education spent more quality time (doing

educational activities) with their children

increases in the time devoted to studying and doing homework over this period, particularly for children with more educated parents

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DATA : UK MTUS

UK: 1975,1983, 1995, 2000, 2005

Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) an ex post harmonized cross-time comparative time use database

constructed from national representative random sample

time-diary

Main sample mothers and fathers aged 18 to 64 with co-resident children

Time Start Time Finish

Primary Activity

7:00 7:15 wash face

…

7:30 7:37 Wake up child

…

9:00 9:30 Take child to school

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TIME DIARY- AN EXAMPLE

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TRENDS IN PARENTAL TIME INVESTMENTS IN THE UK

Notes: Average minutes per day devoted to parental time investments. Source: MTUS. Sample includes mothers (fathers) 18-64 who are not students or retired, with children between 6 and 18 years old in the household.

010

2030

4050

6070

8090

100

110

120

130

1974 1983 1995 2000 2005Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers

College Educated Less Than College Educated

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PARENTAL TIME INVESTMENTS OVER TIME-FAMILES WITH OLDER CHILDREN

Notes: Average minutes per day devoted to parental time investments. Source: MTUS. Sample includes mothers (fathers) 18-64 who are not students or retired, with children between 6 and 18 years old in the household.

010

2030

4050

6070

8090

1974 1983 1995 2000 2005Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers

College Educated Less Than College Educated

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PARENTAL TIME INVESTMENTS OVER TIME-FAMILES WITH YOUNGER CHILDREN

Notes: Average minutes per day devoted to parental time investments. Source: MTUS. Sample includes mothers (fathers) 18-64 who are not students or retired, with children younger than 6 years old in the household.

020

4060

8010

012

014

016

018

0

1974 1983 1995 2000 2005Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers

College Educated Less Than College Educated

TYPES OF PARENTAL TIME

General care (less interactive care)

Physical and medical care, unspecified care

Childcare-specific travel, organizing activities, making appointments

Recreational care

Talking to, reading to, and/or playing with a child

Educational care

Teaching, helping with homework

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EDUCATION GRADIENTS IN CHILDREN BASIC CARE

Notes: Average minutes per day devoted to basic by educational attainment. The samples include all mothers 18-64 who are not students or retired co-resident with children.

Source: UK- MTUS data.

010

2030

4050

6070

80

1983 2000Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers

College Educated Less Than College Educated

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EDUCATION GRADIENTS IN RECREATIONAL CARE

Notes: Average minutes per day devoted to recreational care by educational attainment. The samples include all mothers 18-64 who are not students or retired co-resident with childrenSource: MTUS data.

02

46

810

1214

1618

2022

24

1983 2000Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers

College Educated Less Than College Educated

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EDUCATION GRADIENTS IN EDUCATIONAL CARE

Notes: Average minutes per day devoted to educational care by educational attainment. The samples include all mothers 18-64 who are not students or retired co-resident with children.

Source: MTUS data.

01

23

45

67

89

10

1983 2000Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers

College Educated Less Than College Educated

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EDUCATION GRADIENTS IN EDUCATIONAL CARE-FAMILIES WITH OLDER CHILDREN

01

23

45

67

89

10

1983 2000Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers

College Educated Less Than College Educated

Notes: Average minutes per day devoted to educational care ( time helping with homework (main 29) by educational attainment. The samples include all mothers 18-64 who are not students or retired co-resident with children.Source: MTUS data.

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EDUCATION GRADIENTS IN EDUCATIONAL CARE-FAMILIES WITH YOUNGER CHILDREN

01

23

45

67

89

10

1983 2000Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers

College Educated Less Than College Educated

Notes: Average minutes per day devoted to educational care ( time helping with homework (main 29) by educational attainment. The samples include all mothers 18-64 who are not students or retired co-resident with children.Source: MTUS data.

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CHILDREN’S EDUCATION GRADIENTS IN HOMEWORK AND STUDY

Notes: Children’s average minutes per day devoted to Study and Homework by maternal educational attainment

Source: MTUS data.

010

2030

4050

6070

8090

100

Tim

e In

vest

men

ts (m

in p

er d

ay)

1974 1983 2000Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys

Homework and Study-UK

College Educated Less Than College Educated

Hypothesized explanation to our findings?Competition for University Places

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Did the increase in parental time with children

Particularly for parents with post-secondary education

Particularly for educational-type activities

has anything to do with increases in competition for university places?

• Did the increase in children’s time doing homework and studying

• Particularly for children from more educated parents

has anything to do with increases in competition for university places?

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HIGHER EDUCATION ENROLMENT RATES AT ELITE UNIVERSITIES-ANCIENT UNIVERSITIES

Notes: Ancient Universities are Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edingburg, all founded in the Middle Ages.

Source: University Statistical Records microdata (1972-1993)

025

050

075

010

0012

50N

umbe

r of s

tude

nts

(Tho

usan

ds)

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010year

Ancient UniversitiesPre-92 UniversitiesPre and Post-92 Universities

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HIGHER EDUCATION ENROLMENT RATES AT ELITE UNIVERSITIES (ANCIENTS & REDBRICK)

Notes: Ancients are Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edingburg, all founded in the Middle Ages. Redbrick Universities are Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Shefield, Bristol, founded in the major industrial cities of England before World War I.Source: University Statistical Records Microdata (1972-1993)

025

050

075

010

0012

50N

umbe

r of s

tude

nts

(Tho

usan

ds)

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010year

Ancient/Redbrick UniversitiesPre-92 UniversitiesPre and Post-92 Universities

IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL MOBILITY (I)

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Parents with post-secondary education increased time investments compared to parents without post-secondary educated Particularly during a period coinciding with increased competition for university

places (since the mid 80s to the mid 90s)

At the end of the period- in a context of high competition for university places and substantial amount of time that parents spend with children- there are no differences in parental time for parents with and without a post-secondary education. However:

• Parents with post-secondary education spent relatively more time in educational activities with children- driven by parents of older children

• Children of more educated parents spend more time in educational activities themselves (doing homework and studying)

Thanks!

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