Volume 44 - Article 9 | Pages 225–238  

Japanese adolescents' time use: The role of household income and parental education

By Ekaterina Hertog, Muzhi Zhou

This article is part of the Special Collection 30 „Family Changes and Inequality in East Asia“

Abstract

Background: How children spend their day is closely linked to their social and developmental outcomes. Children’s time use is associated with their parents’ educational and economic capital, making time use a potential reproduction channel for socioeconomic inequalities.

Objective: We evaluate the correlation of natal-family economic resources, parents’ education, and children’s daily time use in Japan.

Methods: Analysing data from a 2006 Japanese time use survey, we use natal-family income, parental education, and the interaction between them to predict in-school and afterschool study time, leisure time, and sleep time for children aged 10‒18.

Results: Children from families with higher incomes and more-educated parents spend a longer time studying after school and less time on sleep and leisure. Parental income and mothers’ and fathers’ education are all independently associated with children’s daily patterns.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that available resources and parental education are important in shaping children’s daily routines and, through these routines, their eventual socioeconomic outcomes.

Contribution: This is the first article to simultaneously assess the impact of income and parental education on children’s study, leisure, and sleep time. It is also the first paper to analyse children’s time use and their natal-family characteristics in Japan.

Author’s Affiliation

• Ekaterina Hertog - University of Oxford, United Kingdom EMAIL
• Muzhi Zhou - Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), China EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Singlehood in contemporary Japan: Rating, dating, and waiting for a good match
Volume 44 - Article 10

Housework share and fertility preference in four East Asian countries in 2006 and 2012
Volume 41 - Article 35

A new family equilibrium? Changing dynamics between the gender division of labor and fertility in Great Britain, 1991–2017
Volume 40 - Article 50

Marriage in an immigrant society: Education and the transition to first marriage in Hong Kong
Volume 37 - Article 18

Domestic division of labour and fertility preference in China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan
Volume 36 - Article 18

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

How do fathers and mothers allocate their leisure time? Patterns and inequalities across 13 European countries
Volume 52 - Article 31    | Keywords: Europe, gender inequalities, parents, space-time dynamics, time use

Decomposing delayed first marriage and birth across cohorts: The role of increased employment instability among men in Japan
Volume 52 - Article 21    | Keywords: cohort analysis, delayed effects, delayed marriage, delayed parenthood, Japan, precarious employment

Is single parenthood increasingly an experience of less-educated mothers? A European comparison over five decades
Volume 51 - Article 34    | Keywords: age, children, cross-national comparison, education, Europe, family life course, inequality, single motherhood

Children under 5 in polygynous households in sub-Saharan Africa, 2000 to 2020
Volume 51 - Article 32    | Keywords: children, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), family demography, polygyny, sub-Saharan Africa

The influence of parental cancer on the mental health of children and young adults: Evidence from Norwegian register data on healthcare consultations
Volume 50 - Article 27    | Keywords: cancer, children, fixed effects, longitudinal, mental health, parents registers