Will you escort your child to school? The effect of spatial and temporal constraints of parental employment

Abstract

Children's independent mobility in many urban areas in the United States has been in decline. This implies that children's out-of-home travel involves the company of adults more often than before. This need requires parents to seek ways to balance work-family life. This study examines the factors that influence a parent-child joint trip to school in dual-earner households, with special consideration given to parental work arrangements and location, which act as intra-household temporal and spatial constraints. The study is carried out in the five-county Los Angeles region, drawing from household travel diaries from the 2001 Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Post Census Regional Household Travel Survey. The results show that parental employment, especially the mother's, is a very important factor influencing the probability of a joint trip to school. In terms of temporal constraints, longer working hours will reduce the likelihood that a child will be escorted by its parents. However, the option of flexible work hours offsets the negative effect of long working hours by offering a higher degree of scheduling flexibility. In terms of spatial constraints, the closer the mother's workplace is to the school, the more likely it is that the child will be escorted by the parents. This research provides important evidence that a child's joint trip is heavily influenced by the parents' work schedule and location. The findings shed light on how the provision of certain employment policies and programs may affect joint trips to school.