Educational differences in fathers’ time with children in two parent families: Time diary evidence from the United States

Abstract

This paper examines educational differences in fathers’ time spent in primary and secondary childcare activities using the American Time Use Survey (2003–2013). Compared to fathers with lower educational attainment, well-educated fathers spend more engaged time with their children, where a child is the main center of attention. Although highly educated fathers are not more accessible to their children than fathers with less education, they spend more time in developmental childcare activities associated with positive outcomes for children. The effect of fathers’ education on time spent in routine childcare is completely explained by spouse’s education, whereas father’s time in managerial or developmental childcare activities is hardly affected. Overall, the results indicate distinct fathering practices by educational attainment, some of which are explained by spouse’s education.

Keywords:

• childcare
• fathers
• time use
• US
• class
• education

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Oriel Sullivan and the reviewers for their helpful comments on the earlier version of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the British Academy.