Children's Time Allocation Research Articles

Daylight duration and time allocation of children and adolescents

This study explores the allocation of time, particularly to sleep, among children and adolescents in response to daily daylight variation. Utilising a dataset of over 50,000 time-use diaries from two Australian cohorts spanning 16 years and employing an individual fixed effects estimator, we uncover a substantial causal impact of daily daylight duration on sleep patterns. Our findings reveal that days with longer daylight hours are associated with a decrease in total sleep duration, primarily driven by a later sleep onset time. Additionally, longer daylight hours correspond to reduced time spent on personal care and media activities, with increased dedication to school and physical activities. Furthermore, we identify socio-demographic factors moderating these effects, such as older age and weekend days exerting a stronger influence on sleep duration, while females and children of unemployed mothers exhibit a subtle impact. These insights contribute to our understanding of how environmental factors shape daily routines and offer implications for designing schedules that promote positive developmental outcomes in young individuals.

The impact of weather on time allocation to physical activity and sleep of child-parent dyads

PurposePrevious studies showed that unfavourable weather conditions discourage physical activity. However, it remains unclear whether unfavourable weather conditions have a differential impact on physical activity in children compared with adults. We aim to explore the differential impact of weather on time allocation to physical activity and sleep by children and their parents. MethodWe use nationally representative data with time use indicators objectively measured on multiple occasions for >1100 Australian pairs of 12–13-year-old children and their middle-aged parents, coupled with daily meteorological data. We employ an individual fixed effects regression model to estimate the causal impact of weather. ResultsWe find that unfavourable weather conditions, as measured by cold or hot temperatures or rain, cause children to reduce moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity time and increase sedentary time. However, such weather conditions have little impact on children's sleep time or the time allocation of their parents. We also find substantial differential weather impact, especially on children's time allocation, by weekdays/weekends and parental employment status, suggesting that these factors may contribute to explaining the differential weather impact that we observed. Our results additionally provide evidence of adaptation, as temperature appears to have a more pronounced impact on time allocation in colder months and colder regions. ConclusionOur finding of a negative impact of unfavourable weather conditions on the time allocated to physical activity by children indicates a need to design policies to encourage them to be more physically active on days with unfavourable weather conditions and hence improve child health and wellbeing. Evidence of a more pronounced and negative impact on the time allocated to physical activity by children than their parents suggests that extreme weather conditions, including those associated with climate change, could make children vulnerable to reduced physical activity.

Child Labor under Cash and In-Kind Transfers

Abstract This paper studies the effects of cash versus in-kind transfers on the time allocation of children exploiting the randomized rollout of a program which transferred either cash or a basket of food to poor households in Mexico. Children in cash-recipient households experience a significantly larger decrease in paid employment and hours of work, and an increase in schooling, as compared to children in in-kind-recipient households. Both transfers are given to a female member of the household to enhance women’s participation in household decision-making. The difference between the cash and in-kind impacts on child time allocation is entirely driven by households presenting characteristics associated with lower female decision-making power. Thus, differences in child employment responses across transfer modalities are likely related to women-targeted transfers having larger effects on female empowerment when provided in cash.

Child work and cognitive development: Results from four low to middle income countries

We study the impact of child work on cognitive development in four Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries. We advance the literature by using cognitive test scores collected regardless of school attendance. We also address a key gap in the literature by controlling for children's complete time allocation budget. This allows us to estimate effects of different types of work, like chores and market/farm work, relative to specific alternative time‐uses, like school or study or play/leisure. Our results show child work is more detrimental to child development to the extent that it crowds out school/study time rather than leisure. We also show the adverse effect of time spent on domestic chores is similar to time spent on market and farm work, provided they both crowd out school/study time. Thus, policies to enhance child development should target a shift from all forms of work toward educational activities.

Weather and children's time allocation.

This paper presents the first causal estimates of the effect of weather on children's time allocation. It exploits exogenous variations in local weather observed during the random diary dates of two nationally representative cohorts of Australian children whose time-use diaries were surveyed biennially over 10 years. Unfavorable weather conditions, as represented by cold or hot temperature or rain, cause children to switch activities from outdoors to indoors, mainly by reducing the time allocated to active pursuits and travel and increasing the time allocated to media. Furthermore, the effects of bad weather are more pronounced on weekends and for children with asthma. Our results also provide some evidence of adaptation, as temperature tends to have greater impact not only in winter months but also in colder regions. Our findings are robust to a wide range of sensitivity checks, including controlling for individual fixed effects and using alternative model specifications. Overall, the results suggest that extreme weather conditions may diminish children's health, development and long-term achievements through their effects on children's time allocation.

Shortening the school week: time allocation of children and parents

ABSTRACT Shortening the school week is a controversial policy with little empirical investigation. We examine how shortening the school week can affect the time allocation of children and their parents. In South Korea, the government shortened the school week from 5.5 to 5 days gradually from 2006 to 2011. Using time-use data from 2004–2014, we found that, on Saturdays without school, children spent about half of the extra time freed from school sleeping. Parents reduced hours worked in the labor market and stayed at home with children. Shortening the school week could worsen the intergenerational transmission of inequality.

Government Transfers and Time Allocation Decisions: The Case of Child Labour in Ethiopia

AbstractWe exploit the social cash transfer programme in Ethiopia to study how an increase in unearned income through a government transfer affects children's work time allocation and their school attendance rate. In rural areas, the transfer led to a half an hour reduction in the total number of hours worked, while in urban areas, transfers had the opposite impacts, worsening the child labour situation with no impacts on the share of children attending school. An insufficient transfer amount and lack of messaging on its recommended use may partly explain the mixed results on child labour and the lack of impacts on school attendance. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Towards causal estimates of children's time allocation on skill development

SummaryIn this paper we examine how children's time allocation affects their accumulation of cognitive skill. Children's time allocation is endogenous in a model of skill production since it is chosen by parents and children. We apply a recently developed test of exogeneity to search for specifications that yield causal estimates of the impact time inputs have on child skills. The test exploits bunching in time inputs induced by a nonnegativity time constraint and it has power to detect a variety of sources of endogeneity. We find that with a sufficiently rich set of controls we are unable to reject exogeneity in our most detailed production function specifications. The estimates from these specifications indicate that active time with adult family members, such as parents and grandparents, are the most productive in generating cognitive skill.

An environment-people interactions framework for analysing children's extra-curricular activities and active transport

In this paper, the focus is on examining children's extra-curricular activities in a high density urban East Asian environment, specifically Hong Kong. The paper offers a framework to understand children's extra-curricular activities time allocation and active travel participation. Three variables of interest are considered: residential location choice (based on residential density), weekly time spent in four different types of out-of-home after-school activities (academic, sports, arts, and other), and level of active travel. The proposed model takes into account common observed and unobserved effects that can be affecting the three outcomes simultaneously. Overall, the findings, based on survey data collected at four primary schools between November 2015 and June 2016 in Hong Kong, show that children's activity and travel behaviour within the same city can differ quite substantially based on neighbourhood environment (notably residential density) and family socio-demographic background. The empirical findings and analysis provide insights for policy development, including those related to (a) targeting children's extra-curricular activity participation for underprivileged groups, (b) promoting work-friendly policies that enable parents to spend more time and participate in more activities together with their children, as well as (c) promoting mixed use and compact development to encourage a more active lifestyle for children and parents alike.

Health shocks and child time allocation decisions by households: evidence from Ethiopia

Little is currently known about the effects of shocks to parental health on the allocation of children’s time between alternative activities. Using longitudinal data from the Ethiopian Young Lives surveys of 2006 and 2009, we analyse the effect of health shocks on the amount of children’s time spent in work, leisure and education. One key contribution of the paper is that we distinguish between child labour as defined by organisations such as the International Labour Organisation and other types of child work, such as light domestic chores. We find that paternal illness increases the time spent in income-generating work but maternal illness increases the time spent in domestic work. Moreover, maternal illness has a relatively large effect on daughters while paternal illness has a relatively large effect on sons. Overall, parental illness leads to large and significant increases in the amount of child labour.JEL Classification: D13, I12, I21, O15

Reallocating children\u2019s time: coping strategies after the 2010 Haiti earthquake

This paper estimates the impact of the 2010 Haiti earthquake on the household decision about children’s time allocation. Using original data and objective geological measures, we exploit the fact that the earthquake might affect the decision about children’s time through its magnitude and household’s revealed vulnerability. Separated measures of the earthquake magnitude and its damage allow us to estimate the impact of the household’s vulnerability on the decision about the time allocation of children 10 to 17 years old. We are also able to analyze the differentiated effect on market and domestic work. Our results show that vulnerability at the time of the earthquake severely affects investments in children’s human capital almost 3 years after the shock, which increases the household’s risk of staying in poverty.

“I started working because I was hungry”: The consequences of food insecurity for children's well-being in rural Ethiopia

Food insecurity, the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of safe, nutritious food, is a persistent problem in rural Ethiopia. However, little qualitative research has explored how food insecurity affects children over time, from their point of view. What are the effects of economic ‘shocks’ such as illness, death, loss of livestock, drought and inflation on availability of food, and children's well-being? To what extent do social protection schemes (in this case, the Productive Safety Net Programme) mitigate the long-term effects of food insecurity for children? The paper uses a life-course approach, drawing on analysis of four rounds of qualitative longitudinal research conducted in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2014, with eight case study children, as part of Young Lives, an ongoing cohort study. Children's descriptions of the importance of food and a varied diet (dietary diversity) in everyday life were expressed in a range of qualitative methods, including interviews, group discussions and creative methods. The paper suggests that while the overall picture of food security in Ethiopia has improved in the past decade, for the poorest rural families, food insecurity remains a major factor influencing decisions about a range of matters – children's time allocation, whether to continue in school, whether to migrate for work, and whether they marry. The paper argues that experiences of food insecurity need to be understood holistically, in relation to other aspects of children's lives, at differing stages of the life-course during childhood. The paper concludes that nutritional support beyond early childhood needs to be a focus of policy and programming.

Shoeing the Children: The Impact of the TOMS Shoe Donation Program in Rural El Salvador

The study uses a cluster-randomized trial among 1,578 children from 979 households in rural El Salvador to test the impacts of TOMS shoe donations on children's time allocation, school attendance, health, self-esteem, and aid dependency. Results indicate high levels of usage and approval of the shoes by children in the treatment group, and time diaries show modest evidence that the donated shoes allocated children's time toward outdoor activities. Difference-in-difference and ANCOVA estimates find generally insignificant impacts on overall health, foot health, and self-esteem but small positive impacts on school attendance for boys. Children receiving the shoes were significantly more likely to state that outsiders should provide for the needs of their family. Thus, in a context where most children already own at least one pair of shoes, the overall impact of the shoe donation program appears to be negligible, illustrating the importance of more careful targeting of in-kind donation programs.

Migration and children's schooling and time allocation: Evidence from El Salvador

This paper examines the impact of parental migration on schooling outcomes for children left behind in El Salvador. Using cross sectional data collected in 2012, outcomes for children are analyzed for children with migrant parents. The outcomes are also analyzed by remitting behavior of the parents and gender of the migrant parent who left his or her child behind. Results are observed using instrumental variable estimations, as well as seemingly unrelated regressions to estimate the impact of migration on children's time allocation. Results show that children with at least one migrant parent will complete more years of school. The gender of that migrant parent has no significant impact. Lastly, parental migration has no significant influence on work time but does decrease time devoted to education. This paper studies the impact of both migration and remittances on a child's schooling behavior. Results suggest that the same factors that affect schooling may have a strong correlation with the propensity to migrate as well, hence the use of instrumental variables.

Does minimum age of employment regulation reduce child labor?

Regulation of the minimum age of employment is the dominant tool used to combat child labor globally. If enforced, these regulations can change the types of work in which children participate, but minimum age regulations are not a useful tool to promote education. Despite their nearly universal adoption, recent research for 59 developing countries finds little evidence that these regulations influence child time allocation in a meaningful way. Going forward, coordinating compulsory schooling laws and minimum age of employment regulations may help maximize the joint influence of these regulations on child time allocation, but these regulations should not be the focus of the global fight against child labor.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE AND CHILD LABOR-A MODEL OF COLLECTIVE BEHAVIOR

This paper theoretically investigates how community approval or disap- proval aects school attendance and child labor and how aggregate behavior of the community feeds back towards the formation and persistence of an anti- (or pro-) schooling norm. The proposed community-model continues to take aggregate and idiosyncratic poverty into account as an important driver of low school attendance and child labor. But it provides also an explanation for why equally poor villages or regions can display dierent attitudes towards schooling. Distinguishing between three dierent modes of child time allocation, school attendance, work, and leisure, the paper shows how the time costs of schooling and child labor productivity con- tribute to the existence of a locally stable anti-schooling norm. It proposes policies that eectively exploit the social dynamics and initiate a permanent escape from the anti-schooling equilibrium. An extension of the model explores how an education contingent subsidy paid to the poorest families of a community manages to initiate a bandwagon eect towards \education for all. The optimal mechanism design of

Child Time Allocation and Child Labour among Groundnut Traders in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Child Time Allocation and Child Labour among Groundnut Traders in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Child Time Allocation and Child Labour among Groundnut Traders in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Child Time Allocation and Child Labour among Groundnut Traders in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

How Does Credit Access Affect Children's Time Allocation?: Evidence from Rural India

Using a unique dataset obtained from rural Andhra Pradesh, India that contains direct observations of household access to credit and detailed time use, results of this study indicate that credit market failures result in a substantial reallocation of time use pattern by children, leading to a significant increase in remunerative work and a similarly significant decrease in leisure time. While the direct impact on schooling time per se does not appear to be large, longer work and shorter leisure could arguably constrain effective learning opportunities of children, hampering human capital formation.

‘See First, Think Later, Then Test’: How Children's Perspectives Can Improve Economic Research

Economists study many aspects of children's lives. They have been criticised by childhood studies researchers for failing to recognise children as agents, despite evidence that children act, within social constraints, to achieve outcomes they prefer. Childhood studies researchers also argue that economists neglect to use methods that capture children's perspectives on their lives, despite evidence that adult caregivers often describe children's views or behaviours inaccurately. Economists largely ignore such criticisms. In this article, I describe qualitative research on child time allocation in rural Ethiopia. I argue that in this research, children's perspectives, gathered through qualitative methods, challenged current microeconomic theory and suggested improvements to it. Insights from qualitative work demonstrated the inaccuracy of two assumptions made in standard theory models: that children cannot make decisions about their time and that families have uniform preferences about children's work. Qualitative research also highlighted factors not captured by theory that children and parents said affected decisions.