Education and time spent in primary care of children

Among married mothers and married fathers employed full time, those with higher levels of education tended to spend more time in primary care of their children than did their peers with less education in 2003-06.

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Among married mothers aged 25-54 who were employed full time and had children aged 12 or younger, those with bachelor’s degrees spent more time providing primary childcare per day than did those with a high school diploma or less (2.1 hours, compared with 1.3 hours).

Of married full-time employed fathers aged 25-54 who had children aged 12 or younger, those with a bachelor’s degree spent half an hour more providing primary childcare than did those with a high school diploma or less (1.3 hours, compared with 0.8 hour).

Primary childcare consists of physical care of children; playing, reading, or talking with children; travel related to childcare; and other childcare activities.

These data are for parents with biological, step-, or adopted children living in the household and are averages of all days of the week. They are from the American Time Use Survey. To learn more, see "Time use of working parents: a visual essay," by Mary Dorinda Allard and Marianne Janes, Monthly Labor Review, June 2008.