ITS 10 P.M.

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Parents knowledge of childrens daily activities
in dual-earner families

• Ann C. Crouter
• Penn State University

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• The earliest article about work and family that I
  know of was published almost 100 years ago
  
• Weatherly, U.G. (1909). How does the access
  of women to industrial occupations react on the
  family? American Journal of Sociology, 14,
  740-765.

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• Ever since, there has been continuing academic
  interest in the implications of parents work for
  families and children.
  
• This issue is of great concern to the public, as
  illustrated by the furor in 2001 over results
  from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care.
  
• In my remarks, I zero in on one dimension of
  family life parents knowledge of their
  childrens daily lives.

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What is parental knowledge?

• We define it as being accurately informed, on a
  daily basis, about childrens activities,
  whereabouts, and companions.
  
• Acquiring this sort of knowledge is an important
  parenting task for mothers and fathers with
  school-aged children and adolescents.
  

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• Developmental researchers often equate parental
  knowledge with parental monitoring. They assume
  that parents know what is going on because they
  are vigilant and skillful at tracking their
  childrens experiences.
• Parental knowledge parental monitoring?

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• Researchers here and in Sweden have challenged
  this view, arguing that the most powerful
  correlate of parental knowledge is not parental
  behavior but the childs willingness to
  self-disclose.
• Parental knowledge child self-disclosure?

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• Our research group conceptualizes parental
  knowledge as a property of the parent-child
  relationship that requires input from both
  partners
• The parent must be accessible and interested.
• The child must be open with information.

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Parental knowledge matters

• In middle childhood and adolescence, lower levels
  of parental knowledge or monitoring are
  associated with
  
• Higher levels of delinquency and problem
  behavior
  
• Earlier onset of sexual activity
• Lower school achievement
• Higher levels of substance use

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• In todays presentation, I focus on the
  conditions under which mothers and fathers in
  dual-earner families know what their children are
  doing on a daily basis.
• I pay particular attention to mothers and
  fathers work circumstances.

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The Penn State Family Relationships Project

• A series of longitudinal family studies funded by
  the National Institute of Child Health and Human
  Development since 1985.
  
• Ann Crouter and Susan McHale,Co-Directors.

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Gender Socialization inMiddle Childhood

• A study of 201 dual-earner families, each with
  two school-aged children.
  
• Began in 1995 when target children were about
  ages 10 and 8.
  
• Now in Year 7 will follow them beyond the eldest
  childs high school graduation so that we cover a
  wide swath of middle childhood and adolescence.

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Sample Criteria

• Ages of two eldest children
• Non-divorced, mother-father dyads
• Both parents working at least part-time

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Why two children in each family?

• Permits within-family comparisons, particularly
  of brothers vs. sisters.
  
• Enables us to replicate results on older and
  younger children.
  
• Reveals of the complexity of family life.

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Sample Characteristics

• Recruited through school districts in central
  Pennsylvania
  
• Working and middle class
• Almost entirely European-American
• Reside in small cities, towns, and rural areas

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Timing of Data Collection and Ages of MC Siblings

• 1995/1996 1996/1997
  1997/1998
  
• Firstborns 10 11 12
• Secondborns 8 9
  10
  

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Procedures

• Annual Home Interviews
• Annual Series of Telephone Interviews

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HOME INTERVIEWS

• A team of interviewers travels to each home to
  interview older sibling, younger sibling, mother
  and father about work, family relationships,
  personality, attitudes, and psychological
  adjustment.

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TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS

• 7 evening calls (5 weekdays, 2 weekend days).
  Children interviewed all 7 nights. Mothers and
  fathers interviewed 4 nights each. Calls take
  30-45 minutes calls focus on
• Time use (What activities did they do that day?
  With whom?).
  
• Parents knowledge of their childrens
  experiences that day.

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Parents knowledge measure

• Focuses on immediate daily knowledge.
• 6 questions each night (24 in all).
• Questions change nightly to minimize parental
  reactivity.
  
• Is intrinsically dyadic because it captures the
  match between childs and parents answers.
  

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Sample Items
Did (siblings name) have any concerns or worries
at school today? In what subject(s)?
Did (siblings name) do anything fun with friends
today? What? Did (siblings name) have English
homework today? What was the assignment?
Did (siblings name) watch TV, videos, or movies
at home today? What was it?
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Parental work and knowledgeFindings

• How much parents work
• Perceived quality of parents work

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Work time

• One of our cheeriest findings is that mothers who
  work longer hours know as much about their
  childrens daily experiences as mothers who work
  fewer hours.

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• Even cheerier fathers with wives who work longer
  hours know significantly more than fathers whose
  wives are less involved in work.
  

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• Mothers involvement in work may pull the father
  into a more active role in the family either as a
  vigilant monitor of children, a confidante of
  children, or both.

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• Fathers work hours, however, are not linked to
  parental knowledge for either parent.
  
• In our sample, there is much less variability in
  how much time fathers devote to work, compared to
  mothers.
  
• For fathers, full-time employment is part of the
  script.

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Looking at work over time

• A traditional longitudinal design, with annual
  data points, may not capture the dynamic ways in
  which work involvement changes across the year.
  
• Important to consider the temporal patterning of
  family life.
  
• For families with school-aged children, the
  prominent pattern has to do with school year and
  summer.

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• In an early study of single- and dual-earner
  families, we collected data on families with
  school-aged children during three seasons
  
• -School Year
• -Summer
• -School Year

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• Examining patterns of work involvement at these
  three times, we identified three groups
  
• -Consistently single-earner (father continuously
  employed mother minimally employed, or not
  employed)
  
• -Consistently dual-earner
• -Father continuously employed mother cut way
  back during the summer

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• Fathers in consistently dual-earner families
  maintained high and consistent levels of
  knowledge about their childrens daily
  experiences across the three time points.

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• In contrast, the fathers whose wives cut way back
  on work during the summer knew much less about
  their childrens daily experiences during the
  summer but regained their original levels of
  knowledge during the following school year.

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• Together, these findings suggest that in
  well-functioning, two-parent families, father
  involvement may be calibrated to mothers
  availability. When mothers work demands call
  for it, fathers step up to the plate. But when
  mothers cut back their work involvement, fathers
  cut back their daily knowledge about their
  children.

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Why do these fathers know less during the summer?

• Some mothers may take over parenting by choice,
  sometimes deliberately excluding fathers, (i.e.,
  gate-keeping).
  
• Others may save their pushes and prods for
  greater father involvement for times of the year
  when they really need it.
  
• Children may confide more in the parent who is
  most available and least stressed.

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Work demands and strains

• We are also interested in the quality of parents
  work experiences.
  
• We asked, How are parents work demands and
  strain linked to how much mothers and fathers
  know about their offspring on a daily basis?
  

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• UCLA psychologist Rena Repetti has suggested that
  parents, especially men, withdraw from family
  interaction following stressful days on the job.
  
• We reasoned that, if parents withdraw, they may
  know less about whats going on with their
  children on a daily basis

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• We grouped families on the basis of the profile
  of mothers and fathers work time, job pressure
  (e.g., deadlines), and overload.
  
• We identified three groups of families
• -High Father Demands.
• -High Mother Demands.
• -Low Demands.

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We asked

• Are men in high father demands families less
  knowledgeable about their childrens daily
  experiences?
  
• Do their wives compensate by knowing more?

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We found

• Fathers in high father demands families did know
  less but so did their wives.
  
• No evidence that wives compensated.
• Marital quality mattered parents in high father
  demands families were less knowledgeable when the
  marital relationship was less loving if the
  marital relationship was more positive, they knew
  as much as other parents did.

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Why does marital quality make a difference?

• Marital tension may distract husbands and wives
  from skillfully monitoring their children.
  
• Happy couples may communicate more effectively to
  each other, including providing information about
  their childrens day.
  
• Children may see parents in happier marriages as
  more approachable and easier to confide in.

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Take home message

• Parental knowledge matters.
• Parental knowledge arises via a complex interplay
  of child characteristics, relationship qualities,
  and parental work experiences.
  
• The key to enhancing parental knowledge is to
  facilitate trusting parent-child and strong
  marital relationships.