What Did You Do Today? Children's Use of Time, Family Composition, and the Acquisition of Social Capital

Abstract

Using time-diary data collected from a statewide probability sample of California children aged 3-11, we examine the amount of time children spend on four activities presumed to affect their cognitive and development-reading or being read to, watching TV, studying, and doing household chores-and how that time varies by four family characteristics: parental education, maternal employment, number of parents in the household, and family size. As expected, children of highly educated parents study and read more and watch TV less. Contrary to expectations, children of mothers who are employed part-time watch significantly less TV than children of mothers at home full-time. Otherwise, there are few significant differences by mother's extent of paid employment, the presence of a father, and the number of siblings. Thus, the results reinforce the thesis that parental education is the predominant predictor of the and capital investments that children receive. Key Words: children, family composition, time use. Changes in the American family have resulted in a growing uneasiness about the well-being of children in the United States. Some researchers note how the increased educational attainment of parents and declining family size bode well for children's economic security (Bianchi, 1990; Haveman & Wolfe, 1993; Hernandez, 1993). At the same time, others have emphasized trends like the increase in single parenting that result in more poverty and undermine children's economic wellbeing (McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994). Although the research on maternal employment has been mixed and inconclusive (Bronfenbrenner & Crouter, 1982; Presser, 1995), there continues to be concern about the potentially negative effects of working mothers. Debate continues over whether the dramatic increase in mothers' labor force participation and more single parenting have diminished parental attention to children and eroded children's chances of success in school and in other arenas of life. Sociologists have emphasized the importance of parental transmission of cognitive ability and academic expectations for the educational and occupational achievement of children (Duncan, Featherman, & Duncan, 1972; Sewell & Hauser, 1980). The notion of human capital, a term sociologists borrowed from neoclassical economists, infuses our understanding of the goals of many childhood activities, particularly schooling. In this view, accumulating skills in childhood is of paramount importance, and understanding what impedes and what enhances development of competencies that will translate into success later in life becomes an important focus of the study of children and childhood activities. Sociologists, particularly James Coleman (1988), have broadened the economist's notion of capital to encompass what has been called social capital. Social like increases children's future productivity, but investments depend on the relationships in which children are embedded. So, for example, a child may have a talented and highly educated parent and thus be genetically endowed with great potential for cognitive development, but interactions with that parent are needed to convey encouragement and expectations. Social interaction with parents thus can create resources that will enhance the child's realization of his or her potential for achievement and later success. Parental resources also place children in certain types of communities and educational environments where interactions can provide further capital to facilitate good child outcomes. McLanahan and Sandefur (1994) argue persuasively that the dysfunctional outcomes of children raised with one parent-such as the higher likelihood of dropping out of high school, having an early teen birth, and having difficulty getting established in the labor market-result not only from the poorer economic circumstances of these children but also from the diminished interaction these children have with parents (especially fathers). …