The University of Michigan
412 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1399
June 10, 1999 (7)
Contact: Diane Swanbrow
(734) 647-4416
[email protected]
Web: http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/
EDITORS: This is a two-part story. Part I has graphics which is available at http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/1999/Jun99/r061099a.html and Part II also has graphics which is available at http://www.umich.edu/~newsinfo/Releases/1999/Jun99/r061099b.html
AMERICAN FATHERS Part 1
How much time U.S. children spend with their fathers, and what they do together.
ANN ARBOR---American children spend an average of 2.5 hours a day with their fathers on weekdays, and 6.2 hours a day on weekends, according to a University of Michigan study that paints a national portrait of paternal behavior in two-parent, intact families.
For about half that time, fathers are directly engaged with their children---playing, eating, shopping, watching television with them or working together around the house. During the rest of the time, dads are nearby and available to their children if needed.
"Mothers still shoulder the lion's share of the parenting, especially on weekdays," says W. Jean Yeung, a sociologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research and first author of the study. "But fathers are slowly but surely assuming more active roles in their children's lives, especially on weekends."
Studies done in the late '70s found that the average father spent approximately one-third as much time directly engaged with his children as the average mother did. By the early '90s, Yeung estimates from these earlier studies, that proportion had jumped to 43 percent. According to the new study, fathers spend about 65 percent as much time with children as mothers do on weekdays, and about 87 percent as much time as mothers do on weekends.
The study is based on time diary data from a nationally representative sample of 1,761 children up to 12 years of age, who lived with both their parents in 1997. The data collection was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
About 40 percent of the total time fathers spend with their children is spent playing, Yeung and colleagues found. On weekdays, they spend almost half an hour playing, including watching television, going to movies, and playing computer and board games as well as rough-and-tumble indoor and outdoor play. On weekends, fathers spend about an hour and twenty minutes playing with their children, on average.
But today's dads do more than just play. They spend about 27 minutes on weekdays and 51 minutes on weekends on the work of parenting---feeding, bathing, changing diapers and clothes, brushing tangles out of children's hair. In addition, on weekend days they spend almost half an hour with their children and on weekdays about six minutes, taking care of household business---working around the house, shopping and running errands.
Fathers spend much less time helping children with their homework, reading to them, or getting them to art or music lessons, Yeung found. On weekdays and weekend days, they spend only about five minutes directly engaged with their children in these kinds of achievement-related activities.
Overall, Yeung found that the amount of time children spend with their fathers varies considerably with the child's age and gender. Fathers spend more time with younger children than with older ones, and on weekdays, they spend about 20 minutes more playing with their sons than they do with their daughters.
A father's education also affects how much time he spends with his children, and how he spends that time, Yeung found. On weekdays, fathers who have some college education spend eight minutes more in care-giving, 11 minutes more playing, half an hour more on achievement-related activities, and 15 minutes more in social activities with their children, compared with dads with similar characteristics who have not attended college. On weekend days, more educated dads spend 31 minutes more on achievement activities and 11 minutes more on care-giving than their less educated counterparts.
How much a father earns also affects the amount of time he spends with his children, Yeung found. Every $10,000 increase in his earnings is linked with a five-minute decrease in average weekday involvement with his children. But how much a father earns has no relation to how much time he spends with the children on weekends.
Instead, Yeung found, it's the mother's income that predicts how much time a father spends with the children on Saturday and Sunday. The more a mother contributes to the total family income, the more time a child spends with dad on the weekends.
It isn't just a mother's economic contribution to the family that influences a father's involvement, however. Yeung found that the more involved a mother is with a child, the more involved the father is, too. "Parents reinforce each other in the ways they interact with children," she notes.
While the study is based on data from a nationally representative sample of children living with both biological or adoptive parents, Yeung notes that this population represents only about 65 percent of U.S. children. "Paternal involvement in step-parent families and single-parent families headed by mothers is likely to be significantly different," she says.
Co-authors of the paper on the study are researchers John F. Sandberg, Pamela Davis-Kean, and Sandra L. Hofferth. The data are part of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, directed by Hofferth, a senior research scientist at the U-M Institute for Social Research.
Average time in minutes per day children spend with their fathers
Directly engaged
On weekdays On weekends
Caregiving 27 51
Play & companionship 28 78
Achievement-related 5 6
Household activities 6 24
Social activities 5 32
Other 2 6
TOTAL* 74 198
(*Figures reflect rounding)Directly engaged OR accessible
Caregiving 43 79
Play & companionship 70 190
Achievement-related 17 22
Household activities 9 34
Social activity 7 41
Other 3 6
TOTAL 149 372(Source: University of Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Child Development Supplement, 1997)
AMERICAN FATHERS Part 2
How they feel about fatherhood, and what they contribute.
ANN ARBOR---In addition to time and money, today's fathers contribute to their children's lives in a wide variety of ways, according to a new University of Michigan study of a nationally representative sample of 1,761 children living in two-parent, intact families.
About three-quarters of these fathers say they hug their children or show physical affection to them everyday, reports sociologist W. Jean Yeung, a researcher at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).
One-third of U.S. fathers in the study say they tell their children they love them every day and 60 percent say they joke or play with their children on a daily basis. Nearly 90 percent of fathers say that being a father is the most fulfilling role a man can have, and almost as many express a high level of confidence in themselves as fathers. About 87 percent agree or strongly agree that fathers are just as good as mothers at meeting their children's needs.
For the study, Yeung analyzed data from a variety of sources, including time diaries and questionnaires filled out by both mothers and fathers of children up to age 12. Collected in 1997 by researchers at the ISR, the data are part of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Eighty percent of the dads say they help choose their children's activities, while 67 percent help choose their children's day care and schools. But only 29 percent say they help their wives select a pediatrician and make appointments for their children, according to the study.
About a quarter of the fathers have attended at least one meeting of the PTA or similar organizations at their children's school, and about 22 percent have volunteered at school during the year they were interviewed, Yeung reports.
More than half the fathers know the first and last names of their children's close friends, and 77 percent say that when their children aren't at home, they always know whom they are with.
Almost 40 percent of the fathers say they often or very often set limits on how much time a child can spend watching television, and 60 percent set limits on what shows their children are allowed to watch. Fathers also report that they often or very often set the following limits: establishing when it is time for homework (62 percent); limiting snacks (63 percent), controlling whom a child spends time with (40 percent), and controlling how children spend time after school (46 percent).
While 65 percent of the fathers say they often or very often discuss rules with their children, most dads are not the main family disciplinarian. Only 5 percent of fathers say they are primarily responsible for disciplining their children, while 93 percent say they share this responsibility with their wives.
Three-quarters of the fathers earn more than half the family income, and 33 percent agree that a man should earn most of the money while a woman takes care of home and family. After controlling for a variety of family characteristics, Yeung found that a father's earnings and education are positively related to a child's math and reading scores.
But no matter how little money a father earns or what his educational level, Yeung found that several self-reported paternal characteristics are related to fewer behavior problems in children. Fathers who have a warm relationship with their children, who monitor what their children are doing in school, and who spend time with their children playing and socializing with others, are most likely to have children with fewer behavior problems, Yeung found. Among these behavior problems are lying, being overly active, crying too much, feeling no one loves them, being fearful or anxious, or having a tendency to withdraw.
"It's important to remember that these findings reflect the situation for children who live with both of their biological or adoptive parents," Yeung cautions. "About one-third of today's American children don't, and these children are likely to spend less time with their fathers and receive lower levels of support from them, both financially and emotionally."
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