Time Parenting Activities in Dual-Earner Families at the Transition to Parenthood

Time parenting was compared for new mothers and fathers in a sample of 182 dual-earner families. Parenting domains included positive engagement, responsibility, routine child care, and accessibility. Time diaries captured parents' time use over a 24-hour workday and nonworkday when infants were age 3 and 9 months. Parents were highly involved with their infants. Mothers were more involved than fathers in positive engagement and routine child care on days and at each assessment, and allocated more available time on workdays to these domains than fathers, with one exception. Fathers and mothers allocated similar shares of available workday time to positive engagement at 9 months. Greater equity in responsibility and accessibility was found; mothers spent more, and a greater share of, parenting time in responsibility than fathers on the 9-month workday only, and were more accessible on the 3-month workday only. Implications for parents in today's diverse families are discussed.