Parents’ Access to Flexible Work Arrangements and Time in Active Caregiving Activities

Abstract

Greater access to flexible work arrangements is considered a solution to many working parents’ challenges balancing the demands of work and family, yet it remains unclear whether such arrangements are associated with parents’ time in the active caregiving activities linked to children’s development and parents’ notions of quality time. We examine this question using data from the American Time Use Survey and Leave and Job Flexibilities Module (2017–2018) ( n = 1,874 mothers, n = 1,756 fathers) and linear regression and inverse probability weighting techniques. Results indicate that access to flextime is associated with more active caregiving time for mothers but not fathers. They also provide suggestive evidence that flexplace is associated with more active caregiving time for mothers and fathers and strong evidence that it is associated with more passive caregiving time for both parents. The findings highlight the importance of expanding parents’ access to flexible work options, and the limits of doing so.