A Study On Differences And Determinants Of Child Care Time In Chinese Families

The development of children determines the future of society,and the time invested by families in child care has a promoting effect on children's development.More and more scholars begin to pay attention to family child care time.Using the 2017 Chinese Time Use Survey data,examining the influencing factors of child care time from the micro and macro levels.At the micro level,the impact of family capital on child care time is measured through family cultural capital,social capital and economic capital.At the macro level,the impact of the regional economy on child care time is measured through per capital GDP,per student education funding,and the number of off-campus training institutions.This study combines the relevant methods and theoretical support of ethnology,sociology and economics.On the basis of reading the literature about child care and time utilization,the social survey method was used to obtain personal time utilization and personal information data,case analysis was carried out based on the findings in the process of in-depth interviews,descriptive statistics were further used to examine the differences in the care time of children in the family,and the influencing factors of the care time of children in the family were analyzed by the Tobit regression method.This study analyzes the problem of family child care from the perspective of time input,and finds that there is an obvious "education gradient" and "income gradient" phenomenon in child care time at the family level,and the investment in child care time in western regions,rural areas and ethnic areas is relatively small,and the impact of family capital and regional economy on child care time is estimatedThe main findings of the study as follows.1.From the micro level,parents with different education levels,employment status and family income have differences in child care time investment,and parents in urban and rural families also have differences in child care time.At the macro level,there are differences in the care time of children in the family between different economic regions,provinces,urban and rural,ethnic areas and other areas.2.Parental education significantly increases the time spent in childcare,especially in educational child care and recreational child care.When controlling the educational level of parents,the mother's education level significantly increase the travel related to child care time of father,and the father's education level significantly increase the educational child care time of mother.When both parents are highly educated,the length of child care time in the family increases significantly,including in all types of child care.Parental education level did not have a significant impact on the child care time of grandparents.Fathers' educational attainment significantly increases their preference for childcare.In urban and rural families,there are differences in the impact of parental education on the child care time.3.Employed parents have significantly reduced their time in childcare,with mothers spending less time on basic child care and fathers spending less time on basic and educational child care.Parents of different employment statuses,professions and workplaces have different degrees of reduction in child care time.The employment situation of the parents will significantly increase the child care time of the grandparents.Parents' employment situation has significantly reduced their preference for child care.In urban and rural families,there are differences in the impact of parental employment on the child care time.4.The total child care time in high-income families has increased significantly,particularly in parental educational care.The effect of family income on the time spent in the child care of grandparents was not significant.The probability that parents in high-income families will be willing to spend more time on child care has increased significantly.In urban and rural families,there are differences in the impact of household income on the time spent in childcare.5.The per capita GDP of the region has increased,and the total child care time in the family has increased significantly,especially in educational care,recreational care and travel related to child care time.The expenditure on education per student has increased,the time spent on the child care by fathers has increased significantly,the basic child care time has decreased significantly,and the educational child care and recreational child care has increased significantly.The number of off-campus training institutions has increased,and the total child care time in the family has increased significantly,of which the parents and grandparents child care time has increased significantly,the educational child care,recreational child care and travel related to child care has increased significantly.According to the above conclusions,this paper puts forward relevant policy recommendations from the family and social.With the increase in the demand for family child care,at the family level,family members should be encouraged to participate in child care,and strengthen scientific guidance and support for vulnerable families.At the social level,open all kinds of public welfare places such as education,science and technology,culture,and sports,provide environmental conditions for family parent-child activities,especially in the western region,rural areas and ethnic areas,narrow regional differences in family and child care time,and promote coordinated regional development.