Changing Effects of Education on Parents’ Time with Children

Satvika Chalasani, Pennsylvania State University

I examine differences based on (parents') education in the time that American parents spend with their children, and how these differences have changed between 1985 and 2003. I also examine educational differences in the ratio of mothers’ child time to fathers’ child time. The results indicate that better-educated parents used to and continue to spend more time with their children than the less-educated. Although parents at all levels of education have increased their time with children, the better-educated have made relatively larger gains. Further, the ratio of mothers’ to fathers’ child time was and continues to be lower for the better-educated than the less-educated. Finally, I find that the gap in parent-child time between mothers and fathers has narrowed at every education level between 1985 and 2003.