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Parents' assessments of how much time they spend with their children at different ages

S Aman-Back1, K Björkqvist

  • 1Abo Akademi University, Vasa, Finland. suaman@abo.fi

Psychological Reports
|June 26, 2004
PubMed

Insights

Mothers reported spending more quality time with children than fathers. Parental engagement time decreased as children aged, with children reporting more time than parents did.

Area of Science:

  • Child Development
  • Family Studies
  • Parenting Research

Background:

  • Understanding parental engagement is crucial for child development.
  • Previous research indicates potential gender differences in time spent with children.
  • Quantifying quality time requires accurate parental and child self-reporting.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate self-reported active engagement time between parents and children.
  • To compare time spent by mothers versus fathers with their children.
  • To examine the relationship between child age and parental quality time.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized questionnaires to gather self-reported data from parents (n=1107) and children (n=773).
  • Analyzed reported active engagement time and quality time metrics.
  • Compared reported time across different parent-child dyads and age groups.

Main Results:

  • Mothers reported spending more time with their children compared to fathers.
  • Parental quality time decreased significantly as children's age increased.
  • Average daily quality time: 4.4 +/- 3.0 hours for mothers, 3.0 +/- 2.9 hours for fathers.
  • Children's reports of time spent with parents exceeded parents' self-reported estimates by approximately one hour.

Conclusions:

  • Significant differences exist in maternal and paternal reported engagement time.
  • Parental engagement diminishes with increasing child age.
  • Discrepancies in self-reported time highlight potential biases or differing perceptions of 'active engagement'.

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