Table 5.

Hours spent by parents in primary childcare

	A Parent is Home Full-Time	All Parents Work Full-Time	Unadjusted Difference	Regression-Adjusted Difference
All Children
Married mothers
1975	10.6	5.3	5.2 ***	4.9 ***
(N = 693, 266)	(0.7)	(0.6)
2003–2008	15.9	8.2	7.7 ***	8.0 ***
(N = 18,437, 16,120)	(0.4)	(0.2)
Married fathers
1975	2.6	3.2	−0.7	−0.7
(N = 612, 249)	(0.3)	(0.9)
2003–2008	6.2	5.3	0.9 **	1.3 **
(N = 17,576, 15,721)	(0.2)	(0.2)
Single mothers
1975	10.6	5.7	5.0 *	4.5 *
(N = 103, 69)	(1.9)	(1.3)
2003–2008	12.1	6.9	5.1 ***	5.7 ***
(N = 2,331, 4,540)	(0.5)	(0.2)
Children Under Age 5
Married mothers
1975	13.9	9.1	4.8**	4.6 *
(N = 200, 52)	(1.2)	(1.3)
2003–2008	22.7	14.2	8.5 ***	8.7 ***
(N = 5,527, 3,445)	(0.6)	(0.5)
Married fathers
1975	3.6	6.0	−2.5	−1.6
(N = 181, 53)	(0.6)	(2.6)
2003–2008	8.4	9.8	−1.3	−0.3
(N = 5,207, 3,355)	(0.4)	(0.6)
Children Age 5–17
Married mothers
1975	8.9	3.9	5.0 ***	3.8 ***
(N = 493, 214)	(0.7)	(0.5)
2003–2008	12.2	6.1	6.1 ***	5.3 ***
(N = 12,910, 12,675)	(0.4)	(0.2)
Married fathers
1975	2.0	2.0	0.1	−0.8
(N = 431, 196)	(0.3)	(0.5)
2003–2008	4.9	3.8	1.1 ***	1.2 *
(N = 12,369, 12,366)	(0.2)	(0.2)

Notes: Numbers in parentheses are clustered standard errors. Regression-adjusted differences are obtained by regressing total hours in primary childcare per week on the mother’s (father’s) age, education, race/ethnicity, number of children in the family, and employment status.

Source: Time Use in Economic and Social Accounts 1975–1976 and American Time Use Survey, 2003–2008.

^*p < .05;

^**p < .01;

^***p < .001