Subjective Well-Being in Parental Time: Gender Differences among Italian Couples

Marina Zannella , "Sapienza" University of Rome
Alessandra De Rose, Sapienza University of Rome

The spread of “intensive-parenting” social norms in recent years has been associated with positive effects on the well-being and healthy development of children. However, the effects of child care giving on the well-being of parents are less clear. While a substantial body of literature has shown lower levels of subjective well-being among parents compared to childless people, only a limited number of studies have analyzed parental well-being in time with children. In this study, we use micro data from the latest edition of the Italian Time Use Survey (2013-2014) to measure couples’ gender differences in subjective well-being during parental time. We take advantage of the detailed survey’s information to distinguish between the different typologies of child care activities. We are particularly interested in understanding whether and to what extent mothers' and fathers' levels of well-being in child caregiving change according to the presence of the partner and of a parallel activity (i.e. multi-tasking).

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 Presented in Session 95. Challenges of Parenting