DOI: 10.3886/e166961
title: Study on U.S. Parents' Divisions of Labor During COVID-19, Wave 1

description: The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically
altered family life in the United States. Over the long duration of the
pandemic, parents had to adapt to shifting work conditions, virtual schooling,
the closure of daycare facilities, and the stress of not only managing
households without domestic and care supports but also worrying that family
members may contract the novel coronavirus. Reports early in the pandemic suggest that these
burdens have fallen disproportionately on mothers, creating concerns about the
long-term implications of the pandemic for gender inequality and mothers’
well-being. Nevertheless, less is known about how parents’ engagement in
domestic labor and paid work has changed throughout the pandemic, what factors
may be driving these changes, and what the long-term consequences of the
pandemic may be for the gendered division of labor and gender inequality more
generally. 

 

<br><br>The Study on U.S. Parents’
Divisions of Labor During COVID-19 (SPDLC) collects longitudinal survey data
from partnered U.S. parents that can be used to assess changes in parents’
divisions of domestic labor, divisions of paid labor, and well-being throughout
and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of SPDLC is to understand both the short-
and long-term impacts of the pandemic for the gendered division of labor,
work-family issues, and broader patterns of gender inequality.

 

<br><br>Survey data for this study
is collected using Prolifc (www.prolific.co),
an opt-in online platform designed to facilitate scientific research. The
sample is comprised U.S. adults who were residing with a romantic partner and
at least one biological child (at the time of entry into the study). In each
survey, parents answer questions about both themselves and their partners. Wave
1 of SPDLC was conducted in April 2020, and parents who participated in Wave 1
were asked about their division of labor both prior to (i.e., early March 2020)
and one month after the pandemic began. Wave 2 of SPDLC was collected in
November 2020. Parents who participated in Wave 1 were invited to participate
again in Wave 2, and a new cohort of parents was also recruited to participate
in the Wave 2 survey. Wave 3 of SPDLC was collected in November 2021. Parents
who participated in either of the first two waves were invited to participate
again in Wave 3, and another new cohort of parents was also recruited to
participate in the Wave 3 survey. This research design (follow-up survey of
panelists and new cross-section of parents at each wave) will continue through
2024, culminating in six waves of data spanning the period from March 2020
through September 2024. An estimated total of approximately 6,500 parents will
be surveyed at least once throughout the duration of the study. 

 

<br><br>SPDLC data will be
released to the public two years after data is collected; Wave 1 will be
publicly available in April 2022, Wave 2 will be publicly available in November
2022, Wave 3 will be publicly available in November 2023, etc. Data will be
available to download in both SPSS (.sav) and Stata (.dta) formats, and the
following data files will be available: (1) a data file for each individual
wave, which contains responses from all participants in that wave of data
collection, (2) a longitudinal panel data file, which contains longitudinal
follow-up data from all available waves, and (3) a repeated cross-section data
file, which contains the repeated cross-section data (from new respondents at
each wave) from all available waves. Codebooks for each survey wave and a
detailed user guide describing the data are also available.
description: To help provide estimates that are more
representative of U.S. partnered parents, we also constructed weights. Weight
variables are included to be representative of U.S. parents who reside with a
romantic partner (married or cohabiting) and a child aged 18 or younger based
on age, race/ethnicity, and gender. National estimates were obtained using data
from the 2020 Current Population Survey (CPS). Weights were calculated using an
iterative raking method, such that the full sample in each data file matches
the nationally representative CPS data in regard to the gender, age, and
racial/ethnic distributions within the data. This variable is labeled <b>CPSweightW1
</b>in the Wave 1 dataset.
description: Presence of Common Scales: The following established scales are included in the survey:<br><b>Self-Efficacy</b>, adapted from Pearlin's mastery scale (Pearlin et al., 1981) and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 2015) and taken from the American Changing Lives Survey<b>Communication with Partner</b>, taken from the Marriage and Relationship Survey (Lichter & Carmalt, 2009)<br><b>Gender Attitudes</b>, taken from the National Survey of Families and Households (Sweet & Bumpass, 1996)<br><b>Depressive Symptoms </b>(CES-D-10)<b>Stress</b>, measured using Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983)<br>Full details about these scales and all other items included in the survey can be found in the user guide and codebook<br>
description: Prolific panelists who met these eligibility criteria
were provided with the option to take the survey. Participants were informed
that the survey would take approximately 18-20 minutes to complete. All
panelists were provided monetary compensation in line with Prolific’s
compensation guidelines, which require that all participants earn above minimum
wage for their time participating in studies. To increase sample diversity, we
oversampled men, Black individuals, individuals who did not complete college,
and individuals who identified as politically conservative.<b></b>

<br><br>A
total of 1,207 parents participated in the study. Data quality checks were
employed in line with best practices for online surveys (e.g., removing
respondents who did not complete most of the survey or who did not pass the
attention filters). A total of 4% of the initial respondents were removed from
the sample for failing to pass data quality checks. As such, Wave 1 includes a
final sample size of 1,157 parents.
description: To be included in SPDLC, respondents had to meet
the following sampling criteria: (a) be at least 18 years old, (b) reside in
the United States, (c) reside with a romantic partner (i.e., be married or
cohabiting), and (d) be a parent living with at least one biological child. Smallest Geographic Unit: U.S. State
description: This work is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a
copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
In accordance with this license, all users of these data must give appropriate
credit to the authors in any papers, presentations, books, or other works that
use the data. A suggested citation to provide attribution for these data is
included below:

            <br><br>Carlson, Daniel L. and Richard J.
Petts. 2022. Study on U.S. Parents’ Division of Labor During COVID User
Guide: Wave 1.