Mothers’ Time, the Parenting Package, and Links to Healthy Child Development

Assumptions about the importance of mothers’ time for children’s healthy development permeate policy debates over child care, maternal employment, and family leave. Studies consistently show that mothers’ time in particular activities with children relate positively to indicators of child well-being, but results are more mixed regarding associations between child outcomes and the sheer amount of time that mothers spend with children. Using time diary and survey data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement (1997, N = 2,022), the present study asks whether the benefits of mothers’ time may be mediated or moderated by other aspects of the parenting package. Mothers’ time directly engaged with children is found to be associated with some improvements in children’s behavioral and cognitive outcomes, but indicators of parenting and socioeconomic resources fully account for associations. Further, there is little evidence that associations vary across these indicators. Mothers’ Time, the Parenting Package, and Links to Healthy Child Development 3