Are Single Mothers Time Poor? Marital Status Differences in Mothers' Housework, Child Care, and Free Time.

This analysis uses the 2003 American Time Use Study to examine variation in mothers'time in housework, child care, and free time. The findings indicate that never married anddivorced mothers spend more time in paid work and less time in housework comparedwith married mothers. Child care time does not vary by mothers' marital status however,suggesting that all mothers make time-trade offs to preserve time with children. Contraryto the time-poverty thesis, however, married mothers have the least amount of leisuretime, suggesting that gendered dynamics in couple households may reduce marriedmothers access to leisure as much as time constraints from employment and otherobligatory time demands. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]