Parent’s Time with Children: Does Time Matter for Children’s Cognitive Achievement?

Abstract

The time parents spend with children is the central construct in theories of child development and human capital formation. According to human capital theory, the amount of time parents spend with children can be seen as crucial inputs in the production of child wellbeing (Becker 1981). Parent-child interactions create social capital, or the social interactions that facilitate the intergenerational transmission of knowledge and skills (Coleman 1988). Conversely, theories in developmental psychology contend that long periods of daily separation, particularly during early childhood, can be disruptive, leaving parents less sensitive and responsive to their children's needs, thus leaving children less exposed to the stimulation necessary for their cognitive development (Vaughn et al. 1980; Belsky 2001).More importantly, the literature points to key disparities in the quantity and type of parent child interactions-the verbal interactions and the type of activities performed together, for example-that suggests that children are socialized in ways that reinforce existing inequalities (Lareau 2003;Hoff 2003). These studies suggest that there may be important differences in how time is used and that these differences may contribute to socioeconomic disparities in child outcomes.In spite of these studies, research that has sought to establish an empirical link between time with children and child outcomes is relatively limited. This article provides a brief review of the literature on parental time and child cognitive outcomes, relates recent, new findings by the author to this literature, and discusses how these findings may help guide future research. Disparities in Time UseResearch based on both naturalistic and laboratory settings show key disparities in the content and quantity of parental time children receive. These studies generally point to two important distinctions in how parents relate to children: language use and time use.

Income Inequality and Class Divides in Parental Investments

“…If rising inequality creates class gaps in parental anxiety about their children's future socioeconomic status, this could lead to increases in the class gap in parental investments in children. 1 Such anxieties and preferences could be magnified by playing out a time when residential segregation by income has been sharply increasing (Reardon and Bischoff, 2011), particularly among families with children (Owens, 2016) and with consequences for the income segregation of schools 1 Additionally, high-SES parents could increase their investments in children more strongly in reaction to rising income inequality than lower-SES parents because their investments of time and money in children are more effective (Guryan et al 2008;Hsin, 2009;Villena-Roldan and Rios-Aguillar, 2012) or because high-SES parents may be more informed about the benefits of such investment (Kalil et al, 2012). and districts (Owens, Reardon, and Jencks, 2016).…”

Inequality Begins at Home: The Role of Parenting in the Diverging Destinies of Rich and Poor Children

“…The studies largely support the conclusion that simply increasing the quantity of time that parents spend with their children is not likely to improve their child's achievement. Instead, the evidence seems to suggest that the returns of time investments depend on the amount of cognitive stimulation parents provide during that time (Booth et al 2002;Hsin 2009;Huston and Aronson 2005;Price 2010). Most of these studies use standard ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation models.…”

Time Spent with Children and Working Parents' Willingness to Medicate ADHD-like Behaviors

“…Although parental time is only mentioned in passing in the literature relating to parents of ADHD children, it certainly occupies a prominent position in the child rearing literature. As noted at the beginning of this dissertation, parental time with children is strongly associated with positive child development and wellbeing outcomes (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001;Hsin, 2009;Kalenkoski et al, 2007).…”

“…The possibility of a relationship between parental time and willingness to medicate problematic behaviors, and the pertinence of evaluating the relationship, rests on the importance of parental time with children emerging from numerous discussions in the scientific literature (Hsin, 2009;Sandberg & Hofferth, 2001). Stated simply, spending time with children is likely to influence parents' judgments of children's behaviors (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999) as well as the behaviors themselves (Kalenkoski, Ribar, & Stratton, 2007).…”

“…Spending time with children appears extremely important for their wellbeing, health, and academic performance (Hofferth & Sandberg, 2001;Hsin, 2009;Kalenkoski et al, 2007)-although such time is not always abundantly available for parents.…”