Time Use Differences Between Low and High Income Children Sarah Leonard Master’s Candidate, Human Development and Family Studies Department Research Intern, Carsey School of Public Policy Background Present Study Preliminary Results Unsupervised youth display negative outcomes. Supervised extracurricular activities may be beneficial. Disparities between low and high income groups may affect participation. If low SES children are not participating in extracurricular activities at the same rate as higher SES children, what are they are doing instead? Source: Duncan, G. & Murnane, R. (2011). Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances. Russell Sage Foundation. Author’s calculations based on Consumer Expenditure Surveys (U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, various years). 1.How does income affect participation rates in extracurricular activities? 2.How do income groups differ in their time use in non- extracurricular activities, such as paid work and electronic use? Methods National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) which included multiple measures of child’s time use as well as income. N = 95, 677, Four income groups used. Bivariate description of rates of participation by SES and other key demographics. One-way ANOVAs were employed to determine any significant differences between group means in time spent using electronics and working. Conclusions Low income and high income children spend their out of school time differently. Low income children participate less in all extracurricular activities, including sports, clubs/organizations, and community service. Low income children also have lower rates of work participation, however those low income youth that did work, tended to work for longer hours than high income children. Similar trends emerged showing that youth from lower income backgrounds tend to use electronics for longer time periods than youth from higher income families, though their rates of use are similar. Next Steps What are the barriers that low income children face in engaging in extracurricular activities? What other differences in children’s time use patterns exist by SES? Why do children hold jobs? The trend was consistent across gender, race/ethnicity, and location (urban or rural); however females participate more frequently in other extracurriculars, such as dance and music, and males more frequently in sports. The pattern was consistent across gender, race/ethnicity, and location; however females participate more in community service than males. Whites were more frequently employed across income groups; however Hispanics work the longest hours. Rates of employment did not differ by location; however rural youth work far more hours than urban youth, especially in the lowest income group. The trend was consistent across gender, race/ethnicity, and location; however whites in lower income groups tend to use electronics for fewer hours than minorities. Acknowledgements I thank Erin Sharp (HDFS), Beth Mattingly and other staff at the Carsey School of Public Policy for aiding in this project. Limitations Only bivariate analyses conducted, without controlling for other variables. Video game and television use combined into one variable. Only one time point rather than multiple years.