Current Projects
Pandemic Influences on Time Use and Well-being The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted daily work, family, and leisure routines, created new stressors for many adults and children, and exacerbated racial, gender, and social class inequities in health and well-being. MTUL investigations under this topic examine how women’s and men’s daily behaviors and interactions changed during and after the Pandemic and how patterns of change differed by employment, parental, and educational status. Prior widespread disruptions in economic and social conditions generated and accelerated shifts in women’s and men’s paid and unpaid work (Ruggles, 2015). With NICHD supported American Time Use Survey data (ATUS https://timeuse.ipums.org/), MTUL investigators are examining the paid and unpaid work dynamics of couples and families before, during, and after the pandemic, and how these patterns differ by living arrangements, employment and marital and parental status, social class, and across minoritized groups. Studies in progress include determining how increased unemployment, job insecurity, and shifts to remote work affected time in paid work, housework, childcare, elder care, leisure, and sleep, as well as how these activities are interspersed and multitasked over the course of the day. Collectively, projects in this stream will advance scientific evidence on the consequences of paid work location and timing for family-related work and health behaviors like exercise and sleep.
Future projects will explore how social and policy contexts differentiate influences of the pandemic on time use, well-being, and health. U.S. states varied in social distancing and lockdown measures, closure and re-reopening of schools and care facilities, business restrictions, and economic support provided to families. Before the pandemic, U.S. states also varied in family support (Ruppanner et al., 2019) and the time and energy required to secure unemployment and food assistance benefits (Herd & Moynihan, 2018). One study finds the negative effects of income loss on mental health are lower in States with more generous policies regarding unemployment, Medicaid, and utility shutoffs (Donnelly & Farina, 2021). Declines in women’s labor force participation were larger in countries with limited work/family support (Mooi-Reci & Risman, 2021). Facilitating new research on consequences of the COVID-19 pandemics for daily behaviors, interactions, and well-being is critical for advancing understanding of social determinants of children’s formative experiences, family processes, parenting, young adult transitions, and quality of life. Research investigating responses to and impacts of the pandemic across the U.S. and global context will provide insight into policy implications of public health crises on individual and family health and well-being.
Subjective Well-Being and Time Use Subjective well-being encompasses three concepts: evaluative well-being (life satisfaction), eudemonic well-being (beliefs that one’s life has a purpose), and experienced well-being. Research being done by MTUL affiliates investigates each of these concepts, using data from the ATUS and Well-Being modules (https://timeuse.ipums.org/ Sayer and Flood Co-PIs) and the National Science Foundation supported Assessing the Social Consequences of COVID study (Doan, Fish, and Sayer, Co-PIs). Experienced well-being (EWB), also known as emotional well-being, refers to the emotions felt during specific moments of the day. It provides granular assessments of time and context specific experiences of momentary positive and negative affect that collectively represent the “emotional quality” of daily life (Kahneman and Deaton 2010). Prior to the pandemic, research indicated that evaluative and experienced subjective well-being were strongly linked with a variety of positive physical and mental health outcomes, including stronger immune function, lower risk of cardiovascular disease, less mental distress, and lower levels of cortisol (e.g., a stress hormone) (Krueger 2009, NRC 2012). Research also conclusively documented positive associations of employment with evaluative well-being, and with better physical and mental health (Damaske, Smyth and Zawadzki 2014, Kamerāde et al. 2019). This is because employment provides material and social-psychological rewards, from establishing stable routines and interactions with others, spending time with people who share goals, and reinforcing identities as valued members of families and society. Employment may also enhance coping resources for dealing with stress, such as individual agency and self-efficacy. However, employment also increases stress for women, more than men, and research suggests that work-related tension and strain may affect women’s well-being more strongly than men’s (Nomaguchi and Milkie 2020, Perry-Jenkins and Gerstel 2020).
MTUL investigations address critical gaps in evidence about how employment affects EWB, how this might have changed during the pandemic, and the influence of employment-related time demands that compete with other activities and specific workplace stressors and environments. We also know relatively little about intersectional differences in EWB, in contrast to consistent evidence documenting higher rates of mental distress and depression among women compared with men (Simon 2020) and the pernicious damaging consequences of experiences of racism and discrimination for minoritized individuals health and well-being (Brown & Homan, 2024; Wingfield & Chavez, 2020).
Related work is exploring parental well-being. Parental well-being is affected by parenting demands (financial, emotional, and temporal) and rewards (Musick et al., 2016; Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2020) and time and strain-based demands of jobs and family responsibilities (Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2017). Parental well-being is critical for positive child developmental outcomes (Mackler et al., 2015; Turney, 2011). Long paid work hours and low control and instability of work schedules increase work/family conflict (Milkie et al., 2010), child care instability (Carrillo et al., 2017), perceptions of too little time with children (Milkie et al., 2019), and negatively impact mental health (Lee et al., 2017). Research projects in this area examine how parental well-being varies across types of activities (paid work, household and care work, leisure) and individual and household characteristics, including comparing single, two-parent, and multi-generation families, and considering variation educational attainment. Using ATUS and ASCC data spanning the pandemic and recovery periods, future work on this topic will leverage data from multiple sources to investigate influences of contextual factors such as local unemployment and COVID-19 infection rates, U.S. State variation in family and sick leave, availability and cost of non-parental childcare and early childhood education programs, and child and family related tax policies.
Time Use as a Social Determinant of HealthTime use is a finite health resource and sub-populations that experience time inequalities have worse health and well-being outcomes (Gee et al., 2019; Gorman et al., 2015; Read & Gorman, 2010; Shandra, 2018; Strazdins et al., 2011). Choices about how to allocate time across daily activities are constrained by work and family time demands, the value of individual time (e.g. what can be bought with a certain time input), and control over time (Venn and Strazdins 2017). Time constraints and feelings of time scarcity reduce time in health behaviors and related activities (eating fast food, driving instead of walking), and negatively affect subjective well-being and self-rated health (Strazdins et al., 2016).
MTUL research is investigating critical gaps in understanding how time use is associated with health and well-being disparities. Projects include using the comprehensive coverage of all activities and interactions across a 24-hour day provided by time diary to examine time trade-offs between work and family time, parenting, leisure, and physical versus sedentary activity. Another project uses activity energy expenditures estimated with Metabolic Equivalents of Task (METS) to document social class and gender differences in associations of employment with sedentary, pro-social, and active leisure. METs have been aligned with the ATUS time use activity codes and provide more valid and reliable measures of sedentary and physical activity at the population level than stylized responses on health behavior questionnaires. Future work will examine METS data in the U.S. and Europe for comparative analyses of how time use patterns and associated energy expenditures are associated with food and health behaviors, and how this varies in ways across population sub-groups. Research on sleep is exploring how the instability in daily family routines influences (exercise, sleep, pro-social interactions) and family relationships (time together, daily emotions during time with family and non-family individuals).
In other projects, MTUL researchers are investigating time use as a potential pathway through which structural racism produces racial health disparities (Gee et al., 2019). Black and Hispanic individuals spend less time seeking medical care but appear to encounter more barriers to accessing care (Carr et al., 2010), engaging in physically active leisure (Armstrong et al., 2018; Pepin et al., 2018; Ray, 2017; Saffer et al., 2013) and, among Black adults, housework (Sayer & Fine, 2011) but no differences in child care time (Pepin et al., 2018). Research also shows that Black individuals spend more time seeking non-parental childcare arrangements and navigating social service bureaucracies (Elliott & Bowen, 2018; Roy et al., 2004) with the racial disparities in these necessary daily activities resulting in less time autonomy and availability of time for social interaction and health behaviors (Gee et al., 2019; Kwate, 2017).
Innovations in Time Use Research MethodsTime diary surveys collect reliable and valid rich contextual data about the timing, duration, location, interactive nature of daily behaviors as well as experienced well-being during activities. These elements are essential for understanding the constraints and social meaning of time and influences on population health across historical time and economic, social, and policy contexts. Developing the potential of time diary research requires dedicated and sustained opportunities to share and discuss innovative methods for collecting and analyzing time use data in ways that are optimal for developing the substantive academic and translational expertise of senior and new time use researchers.
Additionally, identifying how and why specific time use patterns are associated with the behavioral substrate for experiences with disparate contexts requires systematic integration of daily life with measures of cognitive, emotional, and physiological states, geospatial coordinates, the context of place, social networks, and institutions. By taking the additional step of embedding time use data in macro-level contexts, studies can better explore dynamic individual and social temporal rhythms of activity and how those link up with mechanisms of spatial, institutional, and cultural differentiation. Understanding these contexts is of policy relevance in research on health behaviors, intergenerational transmission of family inequality, exposure to harmful work and neighborhood environments, and building community.
Time & Well-Being Inequalities Over the Life Course
Under development
Innovations in Time Use Research Methods
Future projects will explore how social and policy contexts differentiate influences of the pandemic on time use, well-being, and health. U.S. states varied in social distancing and lockdown measures, closure and re-reopening of schools and care facilities, business restrictions, and economic support provided to families. Before the pandemic, U.S. states also varied in family support (Ruppanner et al., 2019) and the time and energy required to secure unemployment and food assistance benefits (Herd & Moynihan, 2018). One study finds the negative effects of income loss on mental health are lower in States with more generous policies regarding unemployment, Medicaid, and utility shutoffs (Donnelly & Farina, 2021). Declines in women’s labor force participation were larger in countries with limited work/family support (Mooi-Reci & Risman, 2021). Facilitating new research on consequences of the COVID-19 pandemics for daily behaviors, interactions, and well-being is critical for advancing understanding of social determinants of children’s formative experiences, family processes, parenting, young adult transitions, and quality of life. Research investigating responses to and impacts of the pandemic across the U.S. and global context will provide insight into policy implications of public health crises on individual and family health and well-being.
Subjective Well-Being and Time Use Subjective well-being encompasses three concepts: evaluative well-being (life satisfaction), eudemonic well-being (beliefs that one’s life has a purpose), and experienced well-being. Research being done by MTUL affiliates investigates each of these concepts, using data from the ATUS and Well-Being modules (https://timeuse.ipums.org/ Sayer and Flood Co-PIs) and the National Science Foundation supported Assessing the Social Consequences of COVID study (Doan, Fish, and Sayer, Co-PIs). Experienced well-being (EWB), also known as emotional well-being, refers to the emotions felt during specific moments of the day. It provides granular assessments of time and context specific experiences of momentary positive and negative affect that collectively represent the “emotional quality” of daily life (Kahneman and Deaton 2010). Prior to the pandemic, research indicated that evaluative and experienced subjective well-being were strongly linked with a variety of positive physical and mental health outcomes, including stronger immune function, lower risk of cardiovascular disease, less mental distress, and lower levels of cortisol (e.g., a stress hormone) (Krueger 2009, NRC 2012). Research also conclusively documented positive associations of employment with evaluative well-being, and with better physical and mental health (Damaske, Smyth and Zawadzki 2014, Kamerāde et al. 2019). This is because employment provides material and social-psychological rewards, from establishing stable routines and interactions with others, spending time with people who share goals, and reinforcing identities as valued members of families and society. Employment may also enhance coping resources for dealing with stress, such as individual agency and self-efficacy. However, employment also increases stress for women, more than men, and research suggests that work-related tension and strain may affect women’s well-being more strongly than men’s (Nomaguchi and Milkie 2020, Perry-Jenkins and Gerstel 2020).
MTUL investigations address critical gaps in evidence about how employment affects EWB, how this might have changed during the pandemic, and the influence of employment-related time demands that compete with other activities and specific workplace stressors and environments. We also know relatively little about intersectional differences in EWB, in contrast to consistent evidence documenting higher rates of mental distress and depression among women compared with men (Simon 2020) and the pernicious damaging consequences of experiences of racism and discrimination for minoritized individuals health and well-being (Brown & Homan, 2024; Wingfield & Chavez, 2020).
Related work is exploring parental well-being. Parental well-being is affected by parenting demands (financial, emotional, and temporal) and rewards (Musick et al., 2016; Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2020) and time and strain-based demands of jobs and family responsibilities (Nomaguchi & Milkie, 2017). Parental well-being is critical for positive child developmental outcomes (Mackler et al., 2015; Turney, 2011). Long paid work hours and low control and instability of work schedules increase work/family conflict (Milkie et al., 2010), child care instability (Carrillo et al., 2017), perceptions of too little time with children (Milkie et al., 2019), and negatively impact mental health (Lee et al., 2017). Research projects in this area examine how parental well-being varies across types of activities (paid work, household and care work, leisure) and individual and household characteristics, including comparing single, two-parent, and multi-generation families, and considering variation educational attainment. Using ATUS and ASCC data spanning the pandemic and recovery periods, future work on this topic will leverage data from multiple sources to investigate influences of contextual factors such as local unemployment and COVID-19 infection rates, U.S. State variation in family and sick leave, availability and cost of non-parental childcare and early childhood education programs, and child and family related tax policies.
Time Use as a Social Determinant of HealthTime use is a finite health resource and sub-populations that experience time inequalities have worse health and well-being outcomes (Gee et al., 2019; Gorman et al., 2015; Read & Gorman, 2010; Shandra, 2018; Strazdins et al., 2011). Choices about how to allocate time across daily activities are constrained by work and family time demands, the value of individual time (e.g. what can be bought with a certain time input), and control over time (Venn and Strazdins 2017). Time constraints and feelings of time scarcity reduce time in health behaviors and related activities (eating fast food, driving instead of walking), and negatively affect subjective well-being and self-rated health (Strazdins et al., 2016).
MTUL research is investigating critical gaps in understanding how time use is associated with health and well-being disparities. Projects include using the comprehensive coverage of all activities and interactions across a 24-hour day provided by time diary to examine time trade-offs between work and family time, parenting, leisure, and physical versus sedentary activity. Another project uses activity energy expenditures estimated with Metabolic Equivalents of Task (METS) to document social class and gender differences in associations of employment with sedentary, pro-social, and active leisure. METs have been aligned with the ATUS time use activity codes and provide more valid and reliable measures of sedentary and physical activity at the population level than stylized responses on health behavior questionnaires. Future work will examine METS data in the U.S. and Europe for comparative analyses of how time use patterns and associated energy expenditures are associated with food and health behaviors, and how this varies in ways across population sub-groups. Research on sleep is exploring how the instability in daily family routines influences (exercise, sleep, pro-social interactions) and family relationships (time together, daily emotions during time with family and non-family individuals).
In other projects, MTUL researchers are investigating time use as a potential pathway through which structural racism produces racial health disparities (Gee et al., 2019). Black and Hispanic individuals spend less time seeking medical care but appear to encounter more barriers to accessing care (Carr et al., 2010), engaging in physically active leisure (Armstrong et al., 2018; Pepin et al., 2018; Ray, 2017; Saffer et al., 2013) and, among Black adults, housework (Sayer & Fine, 2011) but no differences in child care time (Pepin et al., 2018). Research also shows that Black individuals spend more time seeking non-parental childcare arrangements and navigating social service bureaucracies (Elliott & Bowen, 2018; Roy et al., 2004) with the racial disparities in these necessary daily activities resulting in less time autonomy and availability of time for social interaction and health behaviors (Gee et al., 2019; Kwate, 2017).
Innovations in Time Use Research MethodsTime diary surveys collect reliable and valid rich contextual data about the timing, duration, location, interactive nature of daily behaviors as well as experienced well-being during activities. These elements are essential for understanding the constraints and social meaning of time and influences on population health across historical time and economic, social, and policy contexts. Developing the potential of time diary research requires dedicated and sustained opportunities to share and discuss innovative methods for collecting and analyzing time use data in ways that are optimal for developing the substantive academic and translational expertise of senior and new time use researchers.
Additionally, identifying how and why specific time use patterns are associated with the behavioral substrate for experiences with disparate contexts requires systematic integration of daily life with measures of cognitive, emotional, and physiological states, geospatial coordinates, the context of place, social networks, and institutions. By taking the additional step of embedding time use data in macro-level contexts, studies can better explore dynamic individual and social temporal rhythms of activity and how those link up with mechanisms of spatial, institutional, and cultural differentiation. Understanding these contexts is of policy relevance in research on health behaviors, intergenerational transmission of family inequality, exposure to harmful work and neighborhood environments, and building community.
Time & Well-Being Inequalities Over the Life Course
Under development
Innovations in Time Use Research Methods
