American Time Use Survey Research Articles

Same-Sex Couples' Shared Time in the United States.

This study examines and compares shared time for same-sex and different-sex coresident couples using large, nationally representative data from the 2003-2016 American Time Use Survey (ATUS). We compare the total time that same-sex couples and different-sex couples spend together; for parents, the time they spend together with children; and for both parents and nonparents, the time they spend together with no one else present and the time they spend with others (excluding children). After we control for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the couples, women in same-sex couples spend more time together, both alone and in total, than individuals in different-sex arrangements and men in same-sex couples, regardless of parenthood status. Women in same-sex relationships also spend a larger percentage of their total available time together than other couples, and the difference in time is not limited to any specific activity.

Evaluating the environmental impacts of online shopping: A behavioral and transportation approach

Various fields and commercial sectors have witnessed a transformation with the advent of the internet. In the last decade, the retail sector in particular has witnessed the massive growth of e-commerce. This has also significantly altered our shopping experiences, influencing a range of decisions, from where, how, and how much to shop. With the consistent growth of e-commerce transactions, more trucks than ever before are entering cities today, bringing with them the negative externalities of increased congestion and pollution. This study first unravels underlying shopping behaviors–both in-store and online–using the 2016 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data. The authors also develop an econometric behavioral model to understand the factors that affect shopping decisions. At a macro level, the disaggregate individual shopping behaviors are studied by implementing the model to synthetic populations to estimate potential vehicle miles traveled and environmental emissions in two metropolitan areas, Dallas and San Francisco (SF). Finally, the study estimates the impacts of rush deliveries, basket size, and consolidation levels by developing a breakeven analysis between in-store and online shopping. These results confirm the importance of managing the urban freight system, including delivery services and operations, to foster a more sustainable urban environment.

Culture and Gender Allocation of Tasks: Source Country Characteristics and the Division of Non-Market Work Among Us Immigrants

There is a well-known gender difference in time allocation within the household, which has important implications for gender differences in labor market outcomes. We ask how malleable this gender difference in time allocation is to culture. In particular, we ask if US immigrants allocate tasks differently depending upon the characteristics of the source countries from which they emigrated. Using data from the 2003-2017 waves of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we find that first-generation immigrants, both women and men, from source countries with more gender equality (as measured by the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index) allocate tasks more equally, while those from less gender equal source countries allocate tasks more traditionally. These results are robust to controls for immigration cohort, years since migration, and other own and spouse characteristics. There is also some indication of an effect of parent source country gender equality for second-generation immigrants, particularly for second-generation men with children. Our findings suggest that broader cultural factors do influence the gender division of labor in the household.

Working Remotely and the Supply-Side Impact of COVID-19

We analyze the supply-side disruptions associated with Covid. We find that sectors in which a higher fraction of the workforce is not able to work remotely experienced greater declines in employment and expected revenue growth, worse stock market performance, and higher likelihood of default. The stock market overweighs low-exposure industries, thus our findings cast light on the disconnect between stock market indices and aggregate outcomes. We combine these ex-ante heterogeneous industry exposures with daily financial market data to create a stock return portfolio that tracks news about the supply-side disruptions resulting from the pandemic.

Culture and Gender Allocation of Tasks: Source Country Characteristics and the Division of Non-Market Work among US Immigrants

There is a well-known gender difference in time allocation within the household, which has important implications for gender differences in labor market outcomes. We ask how malleable this gender difference in time allocation is to culture. In particular, we ask if US immigrants allocate tasks differently depending upon the characteristics of the source countries from which they emigrated. Using data from the 2003-2017 waves of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we find that first-generation immigrants, both women and men, from source countries with more gender equality (as measured by the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index) allocate tasks more equally, while those from less gender equal source countries allocate tasks more traditionally. These results are robust to controls for immigration cohort, years since migration, and other own and spouse characteristics. There is also some indication of an effect of parent source country gender equality for second-generation immigrants, particularly for second-generation men with children. Our findings suggest that broader cultural factors do influence the gender division of labor in the household.

Typical occupancy profiles and behaviors in residential buildings in the United States

The energy performance of a residential building is highly dependent on occupant's presence or non-presence in a building and their interactions with energy-consuming appliances. Typical occupancy schedules for residential buildings must be defined for applications such as building energy modeling as well as for assessing energy savings associated with the use of occupancy sensing technologies and occupancy-dependent controls. Currently, commonly used simulation programs assume a typical occupancy schedule, however, there is significant opportunity for improvement to these schedules as this is generally based on engineering judgement. This research uses 12 years of the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data to develop typical occupancy schedules for a range of household types and occupant age ranges. This is compared to currently utilized residential occupancy schedules. In many cases the developed schedules exhibit similar patterns, however, differences are also found to be as high as 41% for certain periods of time. For occupancy sensing applications, the spatial-temporal distribution of occupants in residential buildings is also evaluated. These locations vary based on temporal factors as well as demographic factors such as age and number of occupants. The results of this research work towards improved occupancy schedule development can benefit both industry professionals and researchers.

INFLUENCES OF CAREWORK INTENSITY ON DAILY TIME USE PATTERNS OF CAREGIVERS

With the aging of the Baby Boom generation, increasing numbers of older adults require assistance in their daily lives and most help comes from family members. Delays in childbearing mean many adult elder care providers are simultaneously raising children. Although past research has documented disparities in psychological distress and financial costs, less is known about the social costs resulting from elder caregiving and how this varies by parental status. We examine the social costs of elder caregiving by comparing elder and child care configurations to investigate three questions. First, do the daily time use patterns of elder caregivers differ by parental status? Second, do the daily time use patterns of elder caregivers differ by caregiving intensity? Third, does caregiving intensity moderate associations of elder caregiving and parental status on daily time use? We address these questions using nationally representative time diary data from the 2011-2017 American Time Use Survey (ATUS).

Unemployment and Effort at Work

We measure the sensitivity of work effort to local labour market conditions using self‐reported non‐work at the workplace in the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) 2003–12. Non‐work at work is quantitatively significant and varies positively with local unemployment, but in opposite directions at the extensive and intensive margins. The fraction of workers reporting positive values declines with unemployment, while time spent in non‐work conditional on any such time rises with unemployment. The results speak to issues of labour hoarding, efficiency wages and the cyclicality of labour productivity. We also demonstrate a relationship between the incidence of non‐work and unemployment benefits in state data linked to the ATUS. There are also pronounced occupational differences in the incidence and intensity of non‐work.

Time use patterns among U.S. disengaged youth

In 2018, 4.6 million youth in the U.S. were neither working nor enrolled in school, a rate of 11.7 percent. These individuals are often referred to as disengaged. Youth disengagement has profound negative consequences for substance use, mental health, and later life earnings. Little is known about how disengaged youth occupy their time or how activity patterns might vary among disengaged youth. This study used 2010–2016 data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to examine patterns of daily life for 1,129 disengaged youth ages 16–24. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis identified five subgroups. These were youth who focused on social activities, youth who appeared to be the primary caregivers of young children, youth engaged in religious pursuits, volunteering-focused youth, and youth who spent extensive time on court-related tasks and travel. Males, younger individuals, the unmarried, and those with fewer children were more likely to be focused on social activities than their counterparts. Females, Whites, older respondents, and those with children were more likely to be caregivers. Black youth and those from higher-income families were more likely to report religious activities.

Social and Solitary Exercise among the Unemployed and Out of the Labor Force in the United States: Estimates by Gender and Partnership Status

Abstract Introduction: The negative effects of unemployment are significant, and the potential for increased morbidity and mortality is a major public health challenge. Negative effects may be partially attributable to health behavior change and loss of social ties. Exercise has positive physical and mental health benefits and could help buffer such negative effects. This study examines whether time in social and solitary exercise varies by unemployment and out of the labor force (OOLF) status because exercise, especially social exercise, provides health benefits. Methods: Gender-stratified ordinary least squares models are estimated using data from the nationally representative 2003-2016 American Time Use Surveys to test how own and partner employment status are associated with total time in exercise, exercise alone, with children, with a partner, and with others. Results: Unemployed and OOLF men spend significantly more time in exercise alone (3-9 minutes, p<.05) and with others (about 13 minutes, p<.001) compared to employed men. Unemployed women spend significantly more time in exercise with others (6 minutes, p<.05), and OOLF women in all types of social exercise (1-9 minutes, p<.05), compared to employed women. Conclusions: Unemployed and OOLF individuals engage in more social exercise, which could be leveraged to help buffer loss of social ties and improve health. Exercise-related interventions may help reduce negative health consequences of unemployment. Keywords: physical activity, employment, American Time Use Survey

Complex Activity Recognition Using Acceleration, Vital Sign, and Location Data

Complex activity recognition is a valuable issue in mobile and wearable computing. Since complex activities are strongly relevant to users’ locations, location data can be used in complex activity recognition. Current activity recognition methods utilizing location data either do not make the most of location data or have a “cold-start” problem. In this paper, we propose CAROLINA (complex activity recognition using acceleration, vital sign, and location data) to recognize complex activities from wearable sensors. CAROLINA divides a map into grid cells and builds a grid cell-activity matrix by integrating check-in and ATUS (American Time Use Survey) datasets. Since some grid cells do not have check-in records, there are some null entries in the matrix, and all the entries are reconstructed by matrix factorization. Meanwhile, a POI (point of interest) category dataset is exploited to build a grid cell-grid cell similarity matrix, which is used to reduce the loss of matrix factorization. The results of experiments show that CAROLINA can effectively utilize location data to improve complex activity recognition performance.

Changes in Low‐Income Households’ Spending and Time Use Patterns in Response to the 2013 Sunset of the ARRA‐SNAP Benefit

AbstractWe examine the effects of the 2013 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit cut on households’ food expenditures, as well as other expenditure categories by analyzing data from the 2012–2014 Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX). Making use of the short panel structure of the CEX, we employ difference‐in‐differences methods with household fixed effects. Results show that reduced SNAP benefits significantly decreased the food‐at‐home expenditure of SNAP households, but increased expenditure on used cars and public transportation. To further explore these findings, we use the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), where we find that SNAP households spent less time on food preparation, but more time on market work (both formal work and informal work) after the 2013 SNAP benefit cut. Our findings suggest that cutting program benefits by any level is immediately reflected in low‐income household's food expenditure. Our results also indicate that an increase in transportation expenditures correspond with the observed increase in labor supply for participant households. These reveal important information about the behaviors and coping strategies of low‐income households as they respond to a negative shock to their income.

Different domains of physical activity: The role of leisure, housework/care work, and paid work in socioeconomic differences in reported physical activity.

:Inequality in socioeconomic status (SES)—education, income, and occupation—may further exacerbate the health gap between the “haves” and “have nots” by shaping health behaviors such as physical activity. For example, those in higher socioeconomic positions are consistently found to engage in more physical activity according to public health reports that focus on leisure activity. However, previous research investigating the role of SES in shaping engagement in housework, childcare, and paid work suggests different opportunities for physical activity. This discrepancy in how researchers ask questions about physical activity and the pathways people take to healthy activity raises the question: Do socioeconomic differences in physical activity look different when we look at other domains of physical activity beyond leisure? And, does how we measure SES matter? We draw on data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to assess the roles of education, income, and occupation in the amount of time individuals spend in different types of physical activity. Results demonstrate that socioeconomic differences in physical activity change depending on the activity domain and, therefore, when all domains of physical activity are accounted for compared to leisure-only. Further, the measurement of SES matters: key indicators of SES (education, income, and occupation) have varying associations with levels and types of physical activity. Findings from this research have important implications for the assessment of physical activity across SES, ultimately impacting survey research and public health.

CAREGIVING AND LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION: NEW EVIDENCE FROM THE AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY

AbstractMany informal caregivers, who provide an estimated $470 billion worth of unpaid care annually, are also employed. Studying the impact of caregiving on labor supply is key for understanding how workplace policies can support workers in managing work and caregiving responsibilities. Existing estimates of the effects of caregiving on work rely primarily on biennial panel data and do not capture employment outcomes in the months before and after caregiving starts. We provide new evidence of the short-term impacts of caregiving, leveraging caregiving data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) eldercare module from 2011 to 2016. We link the ATUS to the Current Population Survey (CPS) to create a short (18–21 month) panel of caregivers and observe monthly employment outcomes. Caregiving is associated with a 1.3% decrease in the likelihood of working, and a 40% increase in workplace absences in the months after a caregiving spell begins.

A comparative analysis of discretionary time allocation for social and non-social activities in the U.S. between 2003 and 2013

We investigate changes in the allocation of discretionary time to social activities between 2003 and 2013 in the United States using data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS). Within this period, several changes particularly around communication technologies have occurred, including the mass adoption of web and video enabled smart phones. Other advances include social networking platforms, low cost subscription based streaming movies, multi-person online gaming etc., which collectively can alter how people spend their discretionary time and their social activity time use. Summary statistics from the ATUS show a decline in the number of people reporting face-to-face social activities and a growth in the average leisure time spent alone between 2003 and 2013. At the same time, we observe modest declines in average time allotted to social activities and to mandatory activities. We separate time spent on discretionary activities into social activity time use and non-social activity time use and employ five doubly censored Tobit models to investigate time allocation for social and non-social activities between these two time points. These models show that the relative proportion of discretionary time allotted to face-to-face social activities has declined between 2003 and 2013. The apportionment of social to non-social time is also influenced by other sociodemographic variables such as gender, age, household structure, education and work hours. We summarize the implications of these findings to transportation and beyond.

The declining marginal utility of social time for subjective well-being

Are people who spend more time with others always happier than those who spend less time in social activities? Across four studies with more than 250,000 participants, we show that social time has declining marginal utility for subjective well-being. In Study 1 (N = 243,075), we use the Gallup World Poll with people from 166 countries, and in Study 2 (N = 10,387) the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), to show that social time has declining returns for well-being. In Study 3a (N = 168) and Study 3b (N = 174), we employ the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to provide initial evidence for both intra-domain (principle of diminishing satisfaction) and inter-domain mechanisms (principle of satisfaction limits). We discuss implications for theory, research methodology, and practice.

Marital Status and Mothers' Time Use: Childcare, Housework, Leisure, and Sleep.

Assumptions that single mothers are "time poor" compared with married mothers are ubiquitous. We tested theorized associations derived from the time poverty thesis and the gender perspective using the 2003-2012 American Time Use Surveys (ATUS). We found marital status differentiated housework, leisure, and sleep time, but did not influence the amount of time that mothers provided childcare. Net of the number of employment hours, married mothers did more housework and slept less than never-married and divorced mothers, counter to expectations of the time poverty thesis. Never-married and cohabiting mothers reported more total and more sedentary leisure time than married mothers. We assessed the influence of demographic differences among mothers to account for variation in their time use by marital status. Compositional differences explained more than two-thirds of the variance in sedentary leisure time between married and never-married mothers, but only one-third of the variance between married and cohabiting mothers. The larger unexplained gap in leisure quality between cohabiting and married mothers is consistent with the gender perspective.

Life Starts at Home: Bathing, Exertion and Participation for People With Mobility Impairment

ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between perceived exertion while bathing/dressing/grooming and associations with social-recreational activities outside the home for individuals with mobility impairment (MI). DesignA 2-study approach was used to examine data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and primary data from the Health and Home Survey (HHS). The relationship between bathing/dressing/grooming and engagement in social-recreational activities was explored, as well as the role that exertion in the bathroom may play in participation in these activities. SettingGeneral community setting. ParticipantsFor the ATUS survey, participants (n=6002) included individuals who reported an MI. For the HHS, 2 mail-based recruitment methods were used to recruit a sample of individuals with MI (n=170) across 3 geographically diverse U.S. communities. InterventionsNot applicable. Main Outcome MeasuresParticipation in social and recreational activities. ResultsPeople with MI (relative to those without MI) were less likely to report spending any time bathing/dressing/grooming on a given day, but spent more time when they did. People with MI reported higher exertion while bathing/dressing/grooming than people without. People with MI were less likely to leave the house or engage in social-recreational activities on days where they did not engage in bathing activities. People who reported greater exertion in the bathroom engaged in fewer social-recreational activities. ConclusionsExertion in the bathroom may present a barrier to participation, indicating a relationship between exertion in the bathroom and social-recreational participation. Research that examines the impact of home modifications on exertion and participation is needed.

Quality of Match for Statistical Matches Using the American Time Use Survey 2013, the Survey of Consumer Finances 2013, and the Annual Social and Economic Supplement 2014

This paper describes the quality of the statistical matching between the March 2014 supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) and the 2013 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) and Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), which are used as the basis for the 2013 Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being (LIMEW) estimates for the United States. In the first part of the paper, the alignment of the datasets is examined. In the second, various aspects of the match quality are described. The results indicate that the matches are of high quality, with some indication of bias in specific cases.

Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles on Consumers Time-Use Patterns

We use the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) to characterize how different consumers in the US might use Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). Our approach is to identify sub-groups of the population likely to benefit from AVs and compare their activity patterns with an otherwise similar group. The first subgroup is working individuals who drive to work with long total travel times. Auto-travelers in the top 20% of travel time number 19 million and travel 1.6 h more on a workday than those in the bottom 80%. For car-commuting professionals, the additional travel time of the long-traveling group comes from 30 min less work, 29 min less sleep, and 30 min less television watching per day. The second subgroup is working individuals with a long travel time and who take public transport. Long public transit riders show very similar differences in activity times as the driving subgroup. Work, sleep, and video functionalities of AVs are presumably in high demand by both groups. The third sub-group identified is elderly retired people. AVs enable mobility-restricted groups to travel more like those without restrictions. We compare two age groups, 60–75 years and >75 years old, the latter, on average, experiencing more mobility restrictions than their younger counterparts. The retired population older than 75 years numbers 16 million and travels 14 min less per day than retirees aged 60–75 years. The main activity change corresponding to this reduced travel is 7 min per day less shopping and 8 min per day less socializing. If older retired people use AVs to match the lifestyle of the 60–75 years old group, this would induce additional personal travel and retail sector demand. The economic, environmental and social implications of AV are very difficult to predict but expected to be transformative. The contribution of this work is that it utilizes time-use surveys to suggest how AV adoption could induce lifestyle changes inside and outside the vehicle.