The housework and homework of 10 year olds

Jennifer Baxter12th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference

Melbourne, 25-27 July 2012

Presentation focus: 10-11 year olds

Uses the Longitudinal Study of Australian children to examine children’s time use Housework (i.e. domestic tasks) Homework (i.e. learning-related tasks for school) Other activities

By child gender By other child, parental and family characteristics (with a focus

on maternal employment, maternal education and child receipt of pocket money)

Rationale

Children’s time use provide insights on: Developmental opportunities Parental investments in children

Variation in children’s time use: By child characteristics – different preferences? By parental characteristics – different priorities of

parents, or opportunities or constraints related to time use of parents?

Acknowledgements

This paper uses data from Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC).LSAC is conducted in a partnership between the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The findings are those of the author and should not be attributed to FaHCSIA, AIFS or the ABS.

The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Page 3-4 of the diary fill out the rest of the day

The children’s time use diary , page 1 -2

Source: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Time use data

1,856 diaries for non-school days 902 girls, 954 boys

2,046 school-days 1,006 girls, 1,040 boys

Activities all coded up by the interviewers Here the data are used to analyse average amounts of

time in different activities – these averages will include those who spent zero time on these activities

Based on whether child reported doing school lessons that day

Analyses

Overall charts

Ordinary least squares, amount of time per day

Housework Homework

Key variables•Child gender•Mothers’ educational attainment•Mothers’ working hours•Pocket money

Other variablesMother rushed or pressed for time, number younger, older siblings, family form, fathers’ employment (if partnered), city/country

Overview of activities

Children’s time in all main activities

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

Children’s time use on school days

Sleep time is not shown

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

Children’s time use on non-school days

Sleep time is not shown

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

Housework

Children’s time doing housework - details

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

Total housework time Girls =38 minutes per dayBoys=28 minutes per day

Children’s time doing housework, by mothers’ work hours

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

p < .01 n.s.n.s.p < .01

Children’s time doing housework, by mothers’ education

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

n.s. p < .001p < .05n.s.

Children’s time doing housework, by pocket money received for doing jobs

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

p < .05p < .01p < .001n.s.

Housework: Results from multivariate analyses

Children do more housework: On non-school days (+18 minutes/day) Girls compared to boys (+10 minutes/day) Children living in the country compared to the city (+14 minutes/day) When mothers say they are often rushed (+5 minutes/day)

Children do less housework: If they get pocket money that is not tied to doing jobs, compared to getting no

pocket money (-7 minutes) No differences in time spent on housework according to:

Mothers’ hours of work and fathers’ employment status Mothers’ educational attainment Presence of older or younger siblings

Homework

Children’s time doing homework - details

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

Children’s time doing homework, by mothers’ work hours

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

p < .001 p < .01 p < .001n.s.

Children’s time doing homework, by mothers’ education

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

p < .001 p < .001p < .01p < .001

Children’s time doing homework, by pocket money received for doing homework

Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

p < .001 p < .001 n.s.p < .001

Homework: Results from multivariate analyses

No differences in time spent on homework: Girls compared to boys According to mothers’ work hours According to indicator of mother being rushed or pressed for time

Children do more homework: On school days (+16 minutes/day) If living in the city rather than the country (+6 minutes/day) When mothers are more highly educated (+9 minutes/day if bachelor degree or higher

compared to incomplete secondary) Children do less homework:

If they have older siblings (-4 minutes /day) If their father is not employed (-5 minutes/day) If they get pocket money that is not tied to doing homework, compared to getting no pocket

money (-3 minutes/day)

Summary

Housework and homework make up small proportion of children’s days at 10-11 years

Children’s houseworkGirls do more than boysNo overall difference by mothers work hours but children do more when mothers say they are often rushedMothers’ education not related to overall time in houseworkThere is some (weak) evidence that children do a little less if they get pocket money that is not tied to doing jobs

Children’s homeworkNo gender differenceNo difference according to mothers’ work hours (once education and other factors taken into account)Children with more highly educated mothers do moreThere is some ( weak) evidence that children do a little less if they get pocket money that is not tied to doing homework compared to getting no pocket money

Analyses of time doing housework (OLS)All children Boys Girls

School day Versus non-school day -18.5*** -14.4*** -22.9***

Metropolitan Versus ex-metropolitan -4.1* -5.4* -2.8

Boy Versus girl -9.6*** – –

Mother employed part-time hours Versus mother not employed 0.9 2.4 -0.7

Mother employed full-time hours Versus mother not employed 2.8 4.0 1.8

Mother often or always rushed Versus sometimes, rarely, never 5.1** 6.0** 4.1

Single mother Versus couple, father employed -3.8 -1.4 -6.7

Father not employed Versus couple, father employed 3.0 4.8 1.0

Has younger siblings Versus no younger siblings 2.8 4.3 1.1

Has older siblings Versus no older siblings 3.0 2.2 3.7Mother complete secondary/certificate/diploma Versus mother incomplete secondary -1.3 2.3 -5.0

Mother degree or higher Versus mother incomplete secondary -1.0 2.0 -4.7

Gets pocket money, not for jobs done Versus gets no pocket money -7.0* -5.7 -8.0

Get pocket money for jobs done Versus gets no pocket money 2.1 0.1 4.5

Constant 44.7*** 29.0*** 51.4***

Model statistics Sample size 3,810 1,942 1,868

R-squared .05 .03 .06

Table shows OLS coefficients and model statisticslegend: * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

Analyses of time doing homework (OLS)All children Boys Girls

School day Versus non-school day 15.6*** 12.6*** 18.7***

Metropolitan Versus ex-metropolitan 5.8*** 3.9* 7.8***

Boy Versus girl -2.0 – –

Mother employed part-time hours Versus mother not employed -0.1 -0.2 0.0

Mother employed full-time hours Versus mother not employed 2.6 3.7 1.6

Mother often or always rushed Versus sometimes, rarely, never -1.8 -0.2 -3.5

Single mother Versus couple, father employed -3.2 -3.1 -2.6

Father not employed Versus couple, father employed -5.2* -3.5 -6.7*

Has younger siblings Versus no younger siblings -2.5 -3.5 -1.5

Has older siblings Versus no older siblings -4.4** -4.3* -4.4*Mother complete secondary/certificate/diploma Versus mother incomplete secondary 0.8 -1.6 3.9

Mother degree or higher Versus mother incomplete secondary 8.7*** 6.9* 11.3***Gets pocket money, not for homework done Versus gets no pocket money -3.4* -1.9 -4.9*

Get pocket money for homework done Versus gets no pocket money 0.0 3.8 -4.2

Constant 10.9*** 11.8** 7.3

Models statistics Sample size 3810 1942 1868

R-squared .06 .04 .08

Table shows OLS coefficients and model statisticslegend: * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001