Bureau of Labor Statistics Washington, D.C. 20212 

Technical information: (202) 691-6339 USDL 08-0619 

 http://www.bls.gov/tus/ 

 For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT) 

Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Thursday, May 8, 2008 

MARRIED PARENTS’ USE OF TIME, 2003–06 

Married mothers employed full time were more likely to do household activities and provide 

childcare on an average day than were married fathers employed full time, the U.S. Department of 

Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. While married parents spent their time in different 

ways, factors such as their employment status, the age of their youngest child, and their spouse’s 

employment status were related to the amount of time they spent in selected activities and their 

likelihood of doing those activities. 

The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data in this news release focus on the activities of married 

parents who live in the same household as their spouse and children under 18. The data refer to the 

amount of time these parents spent doing activities on an “average day,” a term that reflects the average 

distribution of time across all 7 days of the week. Many activities typically are not done on a daily 

basis, and some activities only are done by a subset of married parents. The analysis that follows uses 

time-use estimates that are restricted to specific population groups based on employment status, the age 

of youngest household child, and spouse’s employment status. For a further description of ATUS data 

and methodology, see the Technical Note. 

Work Activities of Married Parents

• Forty-three percent of married mothers and 88 percent of married fathers were employed full 

time. Full-time workers are those who usually work 35 hours or more per week. 

• Among full-time workers who are parents of children under 18, married mothers were less likely 

to work on an average day than were married fathers; this partly reflects the fact that married 

mothers—particularly those with young children―were more likely to be on leave from their 

jobs than were married fathers. Among married mothers employed full time, 65 percent of those 

with a child under age 6 worked on an average day compared to 71 percent of married mothers 

whose youngest child was age 6 to 17. About 73 percent of married fathers who were employed 

full time worked on an average day, regardless of the age of their youngest child. (See table 1.) 

• Among full-time workers who are parents of children under 18, married fathers worked about 1.0 

hour more per day than did married mothers—6.1 versus 5.1 hours. The estimates are averages 

of both workdays and non-workdays; on average, married fathers employed full time worked 

News United States 

Department 

of Labor 
2 

42.6 hours per week, and married mothers employed full time worked 36.0 hours. The 

difference between these estimates partly reflects married mothers’ greater likelihood of being 

absent from work. (See table 1.) 

• In households with children under 18, the amount of time fathers who were employed full time 

worked varied by their wives’ employment status. In households where both spouses were 

employed full time, fathers spent 17 minutes fewer per day working than did fathers whose 

spouses were not employed. (See table 2.) 

Childcare Activities of Married Parents

• Among full-time workers who are parents of children under 18, married mothers were more 

likely to provide childcare to household children than were married fathers. On an average day, 

71 percent of these mothers and 54 percent of these fathers spent time caring for and helping 

household children. Mothers spent more time providing this care than did fathers—1.2 hours per 

day versus 0.8 hour (49 minutes) per day. The difference in the amount of time spent partly 

reflects mothers’ greater likelihood of providing childcare on an average day. (See table 1.) 

• Full-time employed married mothers of children under 18 also were more likely to engage in 

travel related to childcare than were fathers with similar characteristics. Forty percent of these 

mothers and 23 percent of these fathers spent some time in travel related to caring for and 

helping household children on an average day. (See table 1.) 

• Regardless of employment status, both mothers and fathers of children under 6 spent more than 

twice as much time providing childcare on an average day as did their counterparts whose 

youngest child was age 6 to 17. Both mothers and fathers were more likely to provide childcare 

when their children were under 6 than when their children were older. (See table 1.) 

• In households with children under 18 where married mothers were not employed and married 

fathers were employed full time, mothers spent triple the amount of time providing childcare on 

average than did fathers—2.5 hours versus 0.8 hour (50 minutes). (See table 2.) 

Household Activities of Married Parents

• In households with children under 18, married mothers who were employed full time were more 

likely to do household activities—such as housework, cooking, or lawn care—on an average day 

than were fathers who were employed full time (89 versus 64 percent). (See table 1.) 

• Among married mothers of children under 18, those who were not employed spent an average of 

3.6 hours per day doing household activities; this was 1.6 hours more than married mothers 

employed full time, and 1.0 hour more than married mothers employed part time. (See table 1.) 

• On an average day, married fathers who had children under 18 and were not employed spent 2.3 

hours doing household activities, about 1.1 hours more than did fathers who were employed full 

time. In addition to spending more time doing household activities, married fathers who were 

not employed were more likely to do household activities on an average day than were married 

fathers who were employed full time—73 versus 64 percent. (See table 1.) 
3 

• In households with children under 18 where both spouses were employed full time, mothers 

spent an average of 2.1 hours per day doing household activities, while fathers spent about 1.4 

hours. However, fathers in these households spent more time doing household activities than did 

fathers whose spouses were not employed—0.3 hour (20 minutes) more per day. (See table 2.) 

Leisure Activities of Married Parents

• Married mothers who were not employed and had children under 18 spent 4.2 hours doing 

leisure activities on an average day, while married mothers who were employed full time spent 

2.9 hours. By contrast, married fathers who were not employed spent 6.3 hours doing leisure 

activities, and married fathers who were employed full time spent 3.7 hours. (See table 1.) 

• In households with children under 18 where mothers were employed part time and fathers were 

employed full time, mothers spent 3.4 hours doing leisure activities on an average day and 

fathers spent 3.6 hours. (See table 2.) 
Technical Note 

Survey methodology 

The data in this release are from the American Time Use 

Survey (ATUS). The ATUS is a continuous survey, conducted 

by the U.S. Census Bureau, that collects information about how 

Americans spend their time. In 2003–06, more than 60,000 

individuals were interviewed. Data from approximately 17,000 

interviews were used in this release, which shows estimates for 

a specific reference population—married parents age 15 or over 

who reside in the same household as their spouses and at least 1 

biological, adopted, or step child under 18. 

The ATUS survey sample is chosen from households that 

completed their eighth (final) interview for the Current 

Population Survey (CPS), the nation’s monthly household labor 

force survey. The ATUS sample is selected to ensure the 

estimates will be nationally representative of the civilian 

noninstitutionalized population age 15 and over. 

All ATUS interviews are conducted using Computer 

Assisted Telephone Interviewing. Procedures are in place to 

collect information from the small number of households that 

did not provide a telephone number during the CPS interview. 

ATUS respondents are preassigned a day of the week about 

which to report. Preassignment is designed to reduce variability 

in response rates across the week and to allow oversampling of 

weekend days, so that accurate weekend day measures can be 

developed. Interviews occur on the day following the assigned 

day. For example, a person assigned to report about a Monday 

would be contacted on the following Tuesday. Ten percent of 

respondents are assigned to report about each of the five 

weekdays. Twenty-five percent are assigned to report about 

each weekend day. Households are called for up to 8 

consecutive weeks (for example, 8 Tuesdays) in order to secure 

an interview. 

About the questionnaire 

In the core part of the ATUS interview—the time diary— 

survey respondents sequentially report activities they did 

between 4 a.m. on the day before the interview ("yesterday") 

until 4 a.m. on the day of the interview. For each activity, 

respondents are asked how long the activity lasted. If 

respondents report doing more than one activity at a time, they 

are asked to identify which one was the "main" activity. If none 

can be identified, then the interviewer records the first activity 

mentioned. After completing the time diary, interviewers ask 

respondents additional questions to clearly identify work 

activities. 

In addition, the ATUS includes an update of the household 

composition information from the last CPS interview (2 to 5 

months prior to the ATUS interview) and the employment status 

information of the survey respondent and his or her spouse. 

After completing the interview, primary activity descriptions 

are assigned a single 6-digit code using the ATUS Coding 

Lexicon. The 3-tier coding system consists of 17 major activity 

categories, each with multiple second- and third-tier 

subcategories. These coding lexicon categories are then 

combined into composite categories for publication, such as in 

this news release. Descriptions of categories shown in this 

release can be found in the Major activity category definitions 

section of this Technical Note. The ATUS Coding Lexicon can 

be accessed at http://www.bls.gov/tus/lexicons.htm. 

Concepts and definitions 

Average day. The average day measure reflects an average 

distribution across all persons in the reference population and all 

days of the week. 

Average hours per day, population. The average number of 

hours spent in a 24-hour day doing a specified activity. This is 

computed using all responses from a given population, including 

the responses of persons who did not do a particular activity on 

the day about which they were interviewed. These estimates 

reflect how many population members engaged in an activity 

and the amount of time they spent doing it. 

Employment status 

• Employed. All persons who, at any time during the 7 

days prior to the interview: 

1) Did any work at all as paid employees; worked in their 

own business, profession, or on their own farm; or 

usually worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in a 

family-operated enterprise; or 

2) Were not working but had jobs or businesses from 

which they were temporarily absent due to illness, bad 

weather, vacation, childcare problems, labormanagement disputes, maternity or paternity leave, job 

training, or other family or personal reasons, whether or 

not they were paid for the time off or were seeking other 

jobs. 

• Employed full time. Full-time workers are those who 

usually worked 35 hours or more per week at all jobs 

combined. 

• Employed part time. Part-time workers are those who 

usually worked fewer than 35 hours per week at all 

jobs combined. 

• Not employed. Persons are not employed if they do not 

meet the conditions for employment. The not 

employed include those classified as unemployed as 

well as those classified as not in the labor force (using 

CPS definitions). 

The numbers of employed and not employed persons in this 

release do not correspond to published totals from the CPS for 

several reasons. First, the reference population for the ATUS is 

age 15 years and over, whereas it is age 16 years and over for 

the CPS. Second, ATUS data are collected continuously, the 

employment reference period being the 7 days prior to the 

interview. By contrast, CPS data are usually collected during 

the week including the 19th of the month and refer to 
employment during the week containing the 12th of the month. 

Finally, the CPS accepts answers from household members 

about other household members whereas such proxy responses 

are not allowed in the ATUS. While the information on 

employment from the ATUS is useful for assessing work in the 

context of other daily activities, the employment data are not 

intended for analysis of current employment trends. Compared 

with the CPS and other estimates of employment, the ATUS 

estimates are based on a much smaller sample and are only 

available with a substantial lag since ATUS publication occurs 

during the year following data collection. 

Married fathers. Married men age 15 or over who reside in 

the same household as their spouses and at least one biological, 

adopted, or step child under age 18. 

Married mothers. Married women age 15 or over who 

reside in the same household as their spouses and at least one 

biological, adopted, or step child under age 18. 

Primary activity. A primary activity is the main activity a 

respondent was doing at a specified time. The estimates in this 

release reflect time spent in primary activities. 

Major activity category definitions 

The following definitions describe the main activity 

categories shown in this report: 

Personal care activities. Personal care activities include 

sleeping, bathing, dressing, health-related self-care, and 

personal or private activities. 

Household activities. Household activities are those done by 

respondents to maintain their households. These include 

housework; cooking; yard care; pet care; vehicle maintenance 

and repair; home maintenance, repair, decoration, and 

renovation; and household management and organizational 

activities. 

Purchasing goods and services. This category includes the 

purchase of consumer goods as well as the purchase or use of 

professional and personal care services, household services, and 

government services. 

Caring for and helping household members. Time spent 

doing activities to care for or help any child or adult in the 

respondent’s household is classified here. Household members 

under age 18 are classified as children. 

Working and work-related activities. This category includes 

time spent working, doing activities as part of one’s job, 

engaging in income-generating activities (not as part of one’s 

job), and job search activities. "Working" includes hours spent 

doing the specific tasks required of one’s main or other job. 

"Work-related activities" include activities that are not 

obviously work but are identified by the respondent as being 

done as part of one’s job, such as having a business lunch or 

playing golf with clients. 

Leisure and sports. The leisure and sports category includes 

sports, exercise, and recreation; socializing and communicating; 

watching television; reading; relaxing or thinking; playing 

computer, board, or card games; using a computer or the 

Internet for personal interest; playing or listening to music; and 

other activities, such as attending arts, cultural, and entertainment events. 

Travel. The category includes time spent traveling from one 

destination to another. 

Other activities, not elsewhere classified. This residual 

category includes: caring for and helping nonhousehold 

members; educational activities; eating and drinking; 

organizational, civic, and religious activities; telephone calls; 

miscellaneous activities not related to a specific category; 

ambiguous activities that could not be coded; and missing 

activities. Missing activities result when respondents did not 

remember what they did for a period of time, or when they 

considered an activity too private or personal to report. 

Processing and estimation 

After ATUS data are collected, they go through an editing 

and imputation procedure. Responses to CPS questions that are 

re-asked in the ATUS go through the regular CPS edit and 

imputation procedures. 

ATUS records are weighted to reduce bias in estimates due 

to differences in sampling and response rates across 

subpopulations and days of the week. Data in this release are 

weighted to ensure the following: 

• Weekdays represent about 5/7 of the weighted data, 

and weekend days each represent about 1/7 for the 

population as a whole. The actual proportions depend 

on the number of weekdays and weekend days in a 

given quarter. 

• The sum of the weights is equal to the number of 

person-days in the quarter (or the number of days in the 

quarter times the population) for the population as a 

whole and for selected subpopulations. 

Reliability of the estimates 

Statistics based on the ATUS are subject to both sampling 

and nonsampling error. When a sample, rather than the entire 

population, is surveyed, there is a chance that the sample 

estimates may differ from the "true" population values they 

represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies 

depending on the particular sample selected, and this variability 

is measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is about 

a 90-percent chance, or level of confidence, that an estimate 

based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.6 standard 

errors from the "true" population value because of sampling 

error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent 

level of confidence. 

The ATUS data also are affected by nonsampling error. 

Nonsampling error can occur for many reasons, including the 

failure to sample a segment of the population, inability to obtain 

information for all respondents in the sample, inability or 

unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, 

and errors made in the collection or processing of the data. 

Errors also could occur if nonresponse is correlated with time 

use. 
Table 1. Time spent in primary activities 1 and the percent of married mothers and fathers who did the activities on an 

employment status and age of youngest own household child, average for the combined years 2003-06

Own household children under 18

Activity

Average hours per day spent in primary activities 1 Percent doing the activ

Married mothers Married fathers 2 Married mothers 

Employed

full time

Employed

part time

Not

Employed

Employed

full time

Not

Employed

Employed

full time

Employed

part time

N

Emp

Total, all activities ..................................................................... 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 100.0 100.0 10 Personal care activities ........................................................... 9.00 9.08 9.42 8.62 9.66 100.0 100.0 10 Sleeping ............................................................................... 8.18 8.32 8.77 8.03 8.98 99.9 100.0 10 Household activities ................................................................ 2.05 2.63 3.64 1.24 2.32 88.6 92.4 9 Housework ........................................................................... .89 1.16 1.69 .22 .52 55.5 68.3 7 Food preparation and cleanup ............................................. .78 1.01 1.44 .28 .60 73.9 81.2 8 Lawn and garden care ......................................................... .10 .12 .14 .23 .35 6.4 8.8  Purchasing goods and services .............................................. .60 .77 .82 .38 .54 53.1 61.7 5 Grocery shopping ................................................................ .14 .19 .23 .07 .11 19.1 25.7 2 Consumer goods purchases, except grocery shopping ...... .37 .44 .47 .25 .26 38.9 43.7 3 Caring for and helping household members ........................... 1.22 1.87 2.48 .84 1.26 72.1 82.6 8 Caring for and helping household children .......................... 1.19 1.83 2.45 .81 1.21 70.7 81.1 8 Physical care ..................................................................... .52 .75 1.07 .26 .32 50.6 63.7 7 Education-related activities ................................................ .10 .16 .23 .06 .15 11.0 18.6 2 Reading to/with children .................................................... .04 .08 .09 .02 .03 9.0 14.5 1 Playing/doing hobbies with children .................................. .19 .35 .52 .26 .31 14.1 20.0 2 Working and work-related activities 3 ..................................... 5.18 2.74 .10 6.12 .50 69.1 53.8 

 Working 3 ............................................................................. 5.14 2.70 .02 6.08 .10 68.7 52.5 

 Leisure and sports .................................................................. 2.93 3.42 4.19 3.66 6.30 93.1 96.3 9 Socializing and communicating ........................................... .66 .81 .92 .64 1.07 41.1 48.3 4 Watching television .............................................................. 1.46 1.66 2.22 1.96 3.70 71.4 76.3 8 Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation .................. .16 .21 .23 .30 .24 13.3 18.2 1 Travel ...................................................................................... 1.39 1.40 1.17 1.47 1.21 94.5 93.0 8

 Travel related to caring for and helping household children .23 .28 .28 .12 .17 39.6 44.6 4 Other activities, not elsewhere classified ................................ 1.63 2.10 2.19 1.66 2.22 97.6 98.5 9

See footnotes at end of table.
Table 1. Time spent in primary activities 1 and the percent of married mothers and fathers who did the activities on an 

employment status and age of youngest own household child, average for the combined years 2003-06—Continued

Own household children, youngest under 6

Activity

Average hours per day spent in primary activities 1 Percent doing the activ

Married mothers Married fathers 2 Married mothers 

Employed

full time

Employed

part time

Not

Employed

Employed

full time

Not

Employed

Employed

full time

Employed

part time

N

Emp

Total, all activities ..................................................................... 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 100.0 100.0 10 Personal care activities ........................................................... 9.06 9.06 9.48 8.63 9.59 100.0 100.0 10 Sleeping ............................................................................... 8.31 8.38 8.89 8.06 9.02 100.0 100.0 10 Household activities ................................................................ 1.92 2.44 3.42 1.15 2.13 88.1 89.8 9 Housework ........................................................................... .84 1.09 1.61 .24 .42 52.5 64.9 7 Food preparation and cleanup ............................................. .77 1.00 1.41 .29 .64 75.3 80.1 8 Lawn and garden care ......................................................... .08 .08 .11 .21 .30 4.7 6.4  Purchasing goods and services .............................................. .61 .73 .76 .41 .54 52.7 57.4 5 Grocery shopping ................................................................ .15 .17 .20 .08 .12 18.9 20.9 2 Consumer goods purchases, except grocery shopping ...... .36 .42 .45 .27 .31 38.2 41.0 3 Caring for and helping household members ........................... 1.99 2.72 3.24 1.23 1.81 89.4 93.3 9 Caring for and helping household children .......................... 1.97 2.70 3.21 1.21 1.75 89.1 92.8 9 Physical care ..................................................................... 1.04 1.30 1.54 .45 .57 80.5 86.6 8 Education-related activities ................................................ .07 .10 .17 .05 .09 8.2 13.3 1 Reading to/with children .................................................... .08 .12 .12 .04 .05 18.4 22.3 2 Playing/doing hobbies with children .................................. .42 .70 .82 .46 .60 31.1 39.0 4 Working and work-related activities 3 ..................................... 4.84 2.58 .07 6.05 .48 65.6 50.7 

 Working 3 ............................................................................. 4.81 2.52 .02 6.01 .17 65.3 49.4 

 Leisure and sports .................................................................. 2.70 3.14 3.89 3.50 5.58 92.3 95.6 9 Socializing and communicating ........................................... .66 .84 .89 .68 .97 40.4 48.4 4 Watching television .............................................................. 1.38 1.50 2.10 1.87 3.18 70.2 74.2 7 Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation .................. .14 .18 .18 .27 .23 12.5 14.8 1 Travel ...................................................................................... 1.39 1.30 1.06 1.41 1.23 93.9 91.8 8

 Travel related to caring for and helping household children .28 .27 .25 .11 .19 45.4 42.8 4 Other activities, not elsewhere classified ................................ 1.50 2.03 2.09 1.61 2.63 97.3 98.0 9

See footnotes at end of table.
Table 1. Time spent in primary activities 1 and the percent of married mothers and fathers who did the activities on an 

employment status and age of youngest own household child, average for the combined years 2003-06—Continued

Own household children 6-17, none younger

Activity

Average hours per day spent in primary activities 1 Percent doing the activ

Married mothers Married fathers 2 Married mothers 

Employed

full time

Employed

part time

Not

Employed

Employed

full time

Not

Employed

Employed

full time

Employed

part time

N

Emp

Total, all activities ..................................................................... 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 100.0 100.0 10 Personal care activities ........................................................... 8.96 9.11 9.33 8.61 9.70 100.0 100.0 10 Sleeping ............................................................................... 8.09 8.27 8.61 8.00 8.95 99.9 100.0 10 Household activities ................................................................ 2.13 2.78 3.96 1.32 2.45 88.9 94.7 9 Housework ........................................................................... .92 1.22 1.80 .20 .60 57.3 71.2 7 Food preparation and cleanup ............................................. .78 1.02 1.47 .27 .57 73.1 82.2 8 Lawn and garden care ......................................................... .12 .16 .17 .25 .39 7.4 10.8 1 Purchasing goods and services .............................................. .60 .80 .90 .35 .54 53.3 65.2 6 Grocery shopping ................................................................ .13 .21 .27 .06 .11 19.2 29.7 3 Consumer goods purchases, except grocery shopping ...... .37 .45 .50 .23 .22 39.3 45.9 4 Caring for and helping household members ........................... .74 1.16 1.39 .47 .86 61.3 73.8 7 Caring for and helping household children .......................... .71 1.11 1.34 .43 .82 59.1 71.4 7 Physical care ..................................................................... .20 .30 .38 .08 .14 31.8 44.6 4 Education-related activities ................................................ .12 .21 .32 .07 .19 12.8 23.0 2 Reading to/with children .................................................... .02 .04 .04 .01 .02 3.1 8.1  Playing/doing hobbies with children .................................. .04 .05 .08 .08 .10 3.4 4.3  Working and work-related activities 3 ..................................... 5.39 2.87 .15 6.19 .51 71.3 56.4 

 Working 3 ............................................................................. 5.35 2.84 .03 6.15 .05 70.8 55.2 

 Leisure and sports .................................................................. 3.08 3.64 4.64 3.81 6.82 93.6 96.9 9 Socializing and communicating ........................................... .65 .78 .96 .61 1.13 41.5 48.2 4 Watching television .............................................................. 1.51 1.80 2.39 2.05 4.07 72.1 78.0 8 Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation .................. .17 .24 .29 .32 .25 13.8 20.9 1 Travel ...................................................................................... 1.39 1.48 1.32 1.53 1.20 94.9 94.0 8

 Travel related to caring for and helping household children .20 .29 .33 .12 .15 36.1 46.2 4 Other activities, not elsewhere classified ................................ 1.71 2.15 2.32 1.71 1.93 97.8 98.9 9

 1 A primary activity refers to an individual’s main activity. Other activities done simultaneously are not included. 2 Estimates for part-time workers are not shown because it is uncommon for fathers of household children to work part time. 3 Estimates include a small amount of work time done by persons who do not meet the ATUS definition of employed.

NOTE: Data refer to persons 15 years and over.
Table 2. Time spent in primary activities 1 by married mothers and fathers with own household children under 18 by e

self and spouse, average for the combined years 2003-06

Activity

Average hours per day

Differenc

fathers’ t

Both spouses work full

time

Mother employed part

time and father employed

full time

Mother not employed and

father employed full time Both spouses

work full

time

Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers Mothers Fathers 

Total, all activities ..................................................................... 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 24.00 0.00  Personal care activities ........................................................... 8.97 8.63 9.05 8.46 9.38 8.72 .34  Sleeping ............................................................................... 8.15 8.04 8.28 7.89 8.73 8.10 .11  Household activities ................................................................ 2.08 1.39 2.62 1.21 3.69 1.05 .69  Housework ........................................................................... .91 .28 1.16 .20 1.71 .16 .63  Food preparation and cleanup ............................................. .79 .32 1.01 .31 1.45 .22 .47  Lawn and garden care ......................................................... .10 .25 .12 .22 .14 .21 -.14  Purchasing goods and services .............................................. .62 .39 .77 .35 .81 .40 .23  Grocery shopping ................................................................ .14 .07 .19 .05 .24 .08 .07  Consumer goods purchases, except grocery shopping ...... .38 .25 .45 .24 .46 .26 .13  Caring for and helping household members ........................... 1.23 .81 1.92 .87 2.57 .86 .42  Caring for and helping household children .......................... 1.20 .79 1.88 .84 2.54 .83 .42  Physical care ..................................................................... .52 .25 .78 .28 1.10 .26 .27  Education-related activities ................................................ .10 .07 .16 .05 .25 .06 .03  Reading to/with children .................................................... .04 .02 .08 .03 .09 .03 .02  Playing/doing hobbies with children .................................. .19 .23 .36 .26 .54 .30 -.04  Working and work-related activities 3 ..................................... 5.14 5.98 2.72 6.17 .11 6.26 -.83 

 Working 3 ............................................................................. 5.12 5.94 2.67 6.13 .03 6.23 -.81 

 Leisure and sports .................................................................. 2.92 3.73 3.39 3.64 4.09 3.60 -.81  Socializing and communicating ........................................... .65 .61 .79 .65 .90 .68 .04  Watching television .............................................................. 1.44 2.05 1.63 1.90 2.15 1.90 -.61  Participating in sports, exercise, and recreation .................. .16 .29 .22 .30 .24 .30 -.13  Travel ...................................................................................... 1.41 1.47 1.42 1.51 1.17 1.46 -.06 

 Travel related to caring for and helping household children .24 .14 .29 .11 .29 .09 .10  Other activities, not elsewhere classified ................................ 1.63 1.61 2.11 1.79 2.17 1.66 .03 

 1 A primary activity refers to an individual’s main activity. Other activities done simultaneously are not included. 2 In each employment category, differences are calculated by subtracting fathers’ average hours from mothers’ average hours. 3 Estimates include a small amount of work time done by persons who do not meet the ATUS definition of employed.

NOTE: Data refer to persons 15 years and over.