Kiddie Time - study shows working mothers spend more time with children - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Reason, August, 2001 by Michael W. Lynch

It's often assumed that the rush of married women into the workplace over the past two decades came at the expense of time spent with their children. But that's just not so, according to a study conducted by two researchers at the University of Michigan. In fact, working mothers spent more time with their 3- to 12-year-old kids in 1997 than did stay-at-home moms in 1981. So did fathers, whether their wives worked or not.

The result: Children in today's fast-paced America are getting 10 more hours of parental attention each week than they used to. "A lot of popular culture has been saying that we're spending less time with our kids and that it's bad for our children," study co-author John F. Sandberg told The Washington Post. "And it turns out we spend more time with them."

Children's Mean Time with Mothers
      Non-working  Working
1981     26.06
         32.05
1997                22.52
                    26.54
SOURCE: Changes in Children's Time with Parents, 1981-1997, by John F.
Sandberg and Sandra L. Hofferth, Population Studies Center, University
of Michigan
Note: Table made from bar graph