WMU author examines time working mothers spend with children

A Western Michigan University faculty member has helped write a book that examines how mothers divide their time between work and childrearing and the consequences for child development.

The book is intended to provide needed information to those deciding public policy issues such as preschool education, tax credits and child care.

Dr. Jean Kimmel, WMU professor of economics, and Dr. Rachel Connelly, economics chair and the Bion R. Cram Professor of Economics at Bowdoin College are the authors of “The Time Use of Mothers in the United States at the Beginning of the 21st Century.”

To write the book, the authors analyzed time diaries of 6,000 single, married and divorced mothers with children under age 13. The data was collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The 165-page book, which was released last month by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, is based on the authors’ analysis of extensive time-diary data collected the American Time Use Survey. That survey tracks the activities of tens of thousands of Americans beginning in 2003, offering a statistical portrait of how they spent a 24-hour period.

Among their findings, the authors report time use of mothers varies widely and breaks down along income lines:

• Mothers who devote the most time to caregiving are high-wage married women. Although they work longer hours outside the home than lower-income mothers, they compensate by devoting more of their leisure time to care giving.

• Single mothers spend less time on child care than do married mothers. These mothers are more likely to earn low incomes, have older children and work in the evenings. 

• Women with younger children spend more time on  caregiving activities on weekdays than they do on weekends.

Kimmel teaches a variety of courses and actively conducts research. She has been a WMU faculty member since 2001.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Jean Kimmel, WMU