The housework and homework of 10 year olds Jennifer Baxter 12 th Australian Institute of Family Studies Conference Melbourne, July 2012

Presentation focus: year olds Uses the Longitudinal Study of Australian children to examine children’s time use  Housework (i.e. domestic tasks)  Homework (i.e. learning-related tasks for school)  Other activities  By child gender  By other child, parental and family characteristics (with a focus on maternal employment, maternal education and child receipt of pocket money)

Rationale Children’s time use provide insights on:  Developmental opportunities  Parental investments in children Variation in children’s time use:  By child characteristics – different preferences?  By parental characteristics – different priorities of parents, or opportunities or constraints related to time use of parents?

Acknowledgements This paper uses data from Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). LSAC is conducted in a partnership between the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The findings are those of the author and should not be attributed to FaHCSIA, AIFS or the ABS.

The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children Two cohorts of children, first interviewed in 2004, approximately 5,000 children in each cohort at Wave 1, then every 2 years B cohort, age 0-1 years at Wave years at Wave 4 K cohort, age 4-5 years at Wave years at Wave 4 K cohort Wave 4 (2010) used in these analyses. N=4,169 at Wave 4 (84% of the Wave 1 sample)  There are some biases in the sample due to initial survey non-response (at Wave 1) then attrition across waves. This is managed through use of survey weights in the analyses. LSAC includes parent, teacher and child interviews/questionnaires; direct assessments of children; time use diaries ; other matched data N=3,902 diaries at Wave 4 (94% of the Wave 4 K cohort sample)

Page 3-4 of the diary fill out the rest of the day The children’s time use diary, page 1 -2 Source: Longitudinal Study of Australian Children

Time use data 1,856 diaries for non-school days  902 girls, 954 boys 2,046 school-days  1,006 girls, 1,040 boys Activities all coded up by the interviewers Here the data are used to analyse average amounts of time in different activities – these averages will include those who spent zero time on these activities Based on whether child reported doing school lessons that day

Analyses Overall charts Ordinary least squares, amount of time per day  Housework  Homework Key variables Child gender Mothers’ educational attainment Mothers’ working hours Pocket money Other variables Mother rushed or pressed for time, number younger, older siblings, family form, fathers’ employment (if partnered), city/country

OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES

Children’s time in all main activities Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

Children’s time use on school days Sleep time is not shown Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

Children’s time use on non-school days Sleep time is not shown Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

HOUSEWORK

Children’s time doing housework - details Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4 Total housework time Girls =38 minutes per day Boys=28 minutes per day

Children’s time doing housework, by mothers’ work hours Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4 p <.01 n.s. p <.01

Children’s time doing housework, by mothers’ education Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4 n.s.p <.001p <.05 n.s.

Children’s time doing housework, by pocket money received for doing jobs Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4 p <.05p <.01p <.001n.s.

Housework: Results from multivariate analyses Children do more housework:  On non-school days (+18 minutes/day)  Girls compared to boys (+10 minutes/day)  Children living in the country compared to the city (+14 minutes/day)  When mothers say they are often rushed (+5 minutes/day) Children do less housework:  If they get pocket money that is not tied to doing jobs, compared to getting no pocket money (-7 minutes) No differences in time spent on housework according to:  Mothers’ hours of work and fathers’ employment status  Mothers’ educational attainment  Presence of older or younger siblings

HOMEWORK

Children’s time doing homework - details Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4

Children’s time doing homework, by mothers’ work hours Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4 p <.001p <.01p <.001n.s.

Children’s time doing homework, by mothers’ education Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4 p <.001 p <.01p <.001

Children’s time doing homework, by pocket money received for doing homework Source: LSAC K cohort Wave 4 p <.001 n.s.p <.001

Homework: Results from multivariate analyses No differences in time spent on homework:  Girls compared to boys  According to mothers’ work hours  According to indicator of mother being rushed or pressed for time Children do more homework:  On school days (+16 minutes/day)  If living in the city rather than the country (+6 minutes/day)  When mothers are more highly educated (+9 minutes/day if bachelor degree or higher compared to incomplete secondary) Children do less homework:  If they have older siblings (-4 minutes /day)  If their father is not employed (-5 minutes/day)  If they get pocket money that is not tied to doing homework, compared to getting no pocket money (-3 minutes/day)

Summary Housework and homework make up small proportion of children’s days at years Children’s housework Girls do more than boys No overall difference by mothers work hours but children do more when mothers say they are often rushed Mothers’ education not related to overall time in housework There is some (weak) evidence that children do a little less if they get pocket money that is not tied to doing jobs Children’s homework No gender difference No difference according to mothers’ work hours (once education and other factors taken into account) Children with more highly educated mothers do more There is some ( weak) evidence that children do a little less if they get pocket money that is not tied to doing homework compared to getting no pocket money

Analyses of time doing housework (OLS) All childrenBoysGirls School dayVersus non-school day-18.5***-14.4***-22.9*** MetropolitanVersus ex-metropolitan-4.1*-5.4*-2.8 BoyVersus girl-9.6***–– Mother employed part-time hoursVersus mother not employed Mother employed full-time hoursVersus mother not employed Mother often or always rushedVersus sometimes, rarely, never5.1**6.0**4.1 Single motherVersus couple, father employed Father not employedVersus couple, father employed Has younger siblingsVersus no younger siblings Has older siblingsVersus no older siblings Mother complete secondary/certificate/diplomaVersus mother incomplete secondary Mother degree or higherVersus mother incomplete secondary Gets pocket money, not for jobs doneVersus gets no pocket money-7.0* Get pocket money for jobs doneVersus gets no pocket money Constant44.7***29.0***51.4*** Model statistics Sample size3,8101,9421,868 R-squared Table shows OLS coefficients and model statistics legend: * p <.05; ** p <.01; *** p <.001

Analyses of time doing homework (OLS) All childrenBoysGirls School dayVersus non-school day15.6***12.6***18.7*** MetropolitanVersus ex-metropolitan5.8***3.9*7.8*** BoyVersus girl-2.0–– Mother employed part-time hoursVersus mother not employed Mother employed full-time hoursVersus mother not employed Mother often or always rushedVersus sometimes, rarely, never Single motherVersus couple, father employed Father not employedVersus couple, father employed-5.2* * Has younger siblingsVersus no younger siblings Has older siblingsVersus no older siblings-4.4**-4.3*-4.4* Mother complete secondary/certificate/diplomaVersus mother incomplete secondary Mother degree or higherVersus mother incomplete secondary8.7***6.9*11.3*** Gets pocket money, not for homework doneVersus gets no pocket money-3.4* * Get pocket money for homework doneVersus gets no pocket money Constant10.9***11.8**7.3 Models statistics Sample size R-squared Table shows OLS coefficients and model statistics legend: * p <.05; ** p <.01; *** p <.001