Time for Dinner? Determinants of Time Use in Food Preparation Constance Newman and Lisa Mancino Motivation Since 1975, USDA has used the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) to ensure that monthly food stamp allotments enable program participants to purchase a nutritious diet. By design, the TFP implicitly assumes that all households have equal and sufficient time available to prepare the meals. However, given that single-adults account for a high share of households receiving food stamps, many households may devote little time to preparing food. Objective We explore how the total amount of time allocated to food preparation correlates with household income, labor force participation, household composition and the presence of children to test the following hypotheses: H1: Individuals with lower income devote more time to food preparation because they are less able to purchase pre- prepared foods (which we assume to be time-saving and more costly than food prepared at home). H2: Households with fewer adults devote less time to food preparation than adults in other households. H3: The effects of household composition, presence of children in a household, and labor force participation on time devoted to food preparation are more pronounced among low-income individuals because of tighter income constraints and reduced likelihood of substituting money for time saving goods and services. Data and Methodology Data for this study come from the 2003 and 2004 American Time Use Survey. We include data from survey participants age 15 and up. Multivariate regression analysis is used to analyze the association between the amount of time allocated to food preparation and socioeconomic characteristics, such as household composition, labor force participation, number of children in a household, age, ethnicity, and education. The dependent variable, minutes spent preparing food, is the sum of the following four activities—food/drink preparation; food serving; food/kitchen cleanup; and food storage, We use a Tobit model to account for the fact that many respondents reported zero time in food preparation. Results of Chow tests suggest marginal effects differ significantly by gender and income. Thus, we provide separate estimates for men and women and three income categories—Low income: Income relative to poverty (IRP) 4.0. Regression Results Dependent variable-Minutes in food preparation Estimated EffectsKey Findings H1: Results for women support our first hypothesis. We see a significant association between income and food preparation that conforms to standard household production theory: the amount of time women spent in food preparation declined with household income and labor force participation. Results for men suggest the association between income and food preparation was not significant. However, men who worked allocated significantly less time to food preparation. H2: Again, results for women support our second hypothesis. Single women spent less time preparing food than women living in households as married or unmarried couples, or those living in households with other adults. Contrary to our hypothesis, we find that the effect of changing from a single to a partnered or extra-adult household actually decreased food preparation time among men. H3: Support for our third hypothesis is mixed. When employed either full or part-time, middle-income and high- income women spent an estimated 23 and 22 percent less time preparing food than unemployed women at the same income level, while low-income women spent 17 percent less time than unemployed women.. The association between food preparation and the number of children living in a household was more pronounced for low- income women than either middle- or high-income women. Similarly, the estimated effect of children was higher for both single and partnered low-income women than for high-income women. The effect of changing from a single to a partnered household increased food preparation time among low-income women by 75 percent compared, with 61- and 65- percent increases among middle- and high-income women. Conclusion We find support for our hypotheses among the time-use patterns of women. Low-income women spent more time in food preparation than women with higher incomes, and single women spent less time preparing food than women in households with more adults present. Also, the effects of household composition and presence of children in a household are more pronounced among low-income women. These results do not prove that anyone "lacks" the time to prepare TFP meals. However, they do suggest that the amount of time spent in food preparation varies significantly by gender, income, employment, and household composition. In future research, we will explore the use of non-parametric methods and modeling time choices as a full model. Women Men Women Men Women Men