Informal Caregiving across the Gendered Life Course for Recent U.S. Cohorts

Erin Ice , University of Michigan

While past research has identified gender gaps in time spent in caregiving, that are wide in childbearing years, we know little about how these gaps change across the life course. This study uses the American Time Use Survey (2003-2017) to analyze men and women’s time spent in unpaid labor across age for multiple U.S. birth cohorts. The analysis implements a novel marginalized two-part model to estimate caregiving time use for the full population. The findings reveal distinct life course patterns of unpaid labor for men and women where women’s time spent in caregiving is most intense during childbearing and working ages, while men’s time use is stable age. The analysis will implement a cohort analysis and decomposition to consider if recent cohort’s caregiving time use has shifted primarily due to changing characteristics (labor force participation, childbearing, and marriage rates) or changing behavioral patterns (such as the rise of intensive parenting).

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 Presented in Session P1. Poster Session Fertility, Family and the Life Course