Cross-National Differences in the Association Between Parental Work Hours and Time with Children in Europe: A Multilevel Analysis

Abstract

This study investigates cross-national differences in the association between parental work hours and parent–child interaction time and explains differences in this individual-level association on the basis of country characteristics. It extends prior research by testing the moderating effects of country characteristics through multilevel analyses and by considering the possibility of selection effects. The presumption was that parents employ strategies to protect family life from work encroachments and that these strategies are enhanced by reconciliation policies, stronger parenthood ideologies, access to part-time work and higher income levels. Multilevel analyses were based on a subset of 5.183 parents in 23 countries from the 2005 European Working Conditions Survey that was complemented with country-level data. The negative association between parental work hours and parent–child time indeed varied significantly across countries and was weaker in countries where formal child care coverage was higher, part-time work was less prevalent, and earnings were lower. The effects of part-time work and earnings mainly applied to mothers. These findings suggest that child care coverage limits the availability of children and that differences in parent–child time between parents who work short and long hours are more pronounced when part-time work is more accessible and affordable.