Time Use Conference

Temporal Dimensions of Structural Racism and Racial and Ethnic Inequalities

June 13-14, 2024
​University of Maryland
See 2023 Time Use
Conference pages

Time Use
Consortium

​The Maryland Time Use Laboratory
at the University of Maryland
​is the premier US institution on time use

The Maryland Time Use Laboratory (MTUL) was founded in 2014 to augment existing and build new interdisciplinary campus strengths in time use research. Time diary data provide a unique panoramic lens on the extent to which daily temporal routines expose individuals and families to disparate opportunity and risk contexts. Time is a critical but under-researched resource for and determinant of individual and societal health and well-being. Time diary research documents how adults, adolescents, and children spend time as well as who they spend time with – which can be used to study social isolation – and their emotional experiences during activities – which can be used to study loneliness, stress, fatigue, happiness, and meaning.

Although all individuals possess 24 hours per day, time as a resource is unequally distributed by gender, race and ethnicity, sexuality, age, disability status, and age. Investigating how time inequalities contribute to socially patterned health gradients over the life course, and especially for population subgroups such as women, ethno-racial minorities, sexual and gender minorities, children, and people with disabilities, is critical for understanding levels, trends, and disparities in health and well-being in the U.S. and globally. Lab research using time use data on daily activities, interactions, and experience addresses fundamental questions about the sources of change in time use, how and why time use varies across population subgroups.

Conducting innovative time use research using new methods and reaching new populations

​Facilitating community and collaboration among established time use scholars

​Providing training opportunities for graduate and post-graduate time use scholars
The MTUL is designed to be a resource on time use statistics, research, and events for academics, policy makers, journalists and the general public. The Lab conducts innovative research on time use in under-researched populations and investigates new methods and tools for time use data collection.